The Interview: Shari Jafari, CEO of Simon Ourian M.D., on infusing skincare with AI expertise

Beauty industry veteran, Shari Jafarai, is currently the CEO of Simon Ourian M.D. You may recognise the name 'Simon Ourian', who is famously known for his cosmetic work on Hollywood's most famous faces, such as the Kardashians. Dr. Ourian, combined his cosmetic dermatology expertise together with a skincare expert, Shari Jafari, to create a bespoke line of skincare.

Jafari tells TheIndustry.fashion about Simon Ourian M.D.'s use of AI to fully personalise skincare and provide at-home consultations for consumers as well as why they have stuck to selling globally through a direct-to-consumer site, rather than expanding into third-party retailers.

Can you tell us about your background in the beauty industry?

I’ve spent 20 years of my career in the prestige cosmetics industry, working for one of the largest beauty brands in the world, Clinique, across three different continents. I’ve worked across North America, the Middle East and now in Europe. I  have seen and experienced many different skin tones, types, cultures and traditions around skincare and it has always been a fascination of mine. This is what has led me to where I am today.

Dr. Ourian is a cosmetic dermatologist famously known for working with the Kardashians. How did you end up working with him and creating the skincare brand?

There are a lot of consumers out there who, surprisingly, still do not have a skincare regimen and when Dr. Ourian and I met we discussed this.  We talked about the fact that there are a lot of women who would love to see Dr. Ourian and are unable to, whether that might be because of the cost of travel, the fact that they can’t get an appointment or fear of the treatment itself.

When we put our heads together, we realised that we could utilise his 25 years of practical experience and my market understanding of consumer needs.

We decided to create a skincare brand that is not an ordinary skincare brand, where you choose your own products and hope that they’re right for you. We make skincare personalised.  Dr Ourian’s expertise informed our technology, which customers can use from the comfort of their own homes. What's more, this personalised skincare regimen sits at a price that is very affordable and accessible. It’s essentially giving every woman the opportunity to benefit from Dr. Ourian’s experience.

What makes the brand different to others on the market?

We know that there is a lot of consumers who shop through traditional channels, such as brick-and-mortar store or online. However, when using these channels, it is often they don’t get the right recommendation and have to go through purchasing two, three or four different products until they find one that’s right for their skin.

What sets us truly apart from the brands that exist today is that we are working with millions of data points, and the experience of Dr Ourian, to consult consumers in their own homes to find what is right for their personal skincare needs. For example, we can target skin texture, which is one of our USPs.

Once a customer has a Simon Ourian M.D. regimen at home, it’s the right regimen for them based on what they've told Dr. Ourian through the consultation avatar online.

How do you incorporate AI into skincare and what are its benefits?

We regenerate the offline consultation online, so that’s already using AI. The consumer takes a photograph as well as answers multiple questions and is then given a prescription by Dr. Ourian’s avatar.

In the back end, we have a highly complex matrix and algorithm that has been set through the experience of Dr. Ourian combined with the data points that we’ve set. The more consumers that go through the consultation, the more enriched the data becomes and the more finetuned the personal regimens become. But it doesn’t stop there, we can start to predict trends such as seasonal concerns. AI and technology play a big role in these areas in terms of future innovation and future trends and that’s what we’re most excited about. For now, with the launch, we’ve focused our research on understanding the main concerns of consumers.

What are your best-selling products and why?

As we're a personalised brand, our best-sellers are very based on individual concerns and what the client's needs are. However, I can tell you that what we see as the highest concerns are areas of concern around the eye area, such as dark circles, bags, and wrinkles around the eyes - this is one of our main focus points. The second one is centred around acne, linked to either age-related hormones or acne scarring. So, I would say those were the three main concerns; around the eyes and acne.

Have you got any exciting upcoming launches you can tell us about?

We have a very rich pipeline of products! The wand is not available yet in the UK and that will be made available in November. But what’s super exciting is that we have a product Dr. Ourian created, which is skincare with a tint. If you have concerns like acne, pigmentation oe pores, this tint gives you a filtered look. It’s very light and not only covers imperfections but also treats the skin with high-quality ingredients.

Where can readers get hold of your product in the UK and are you planning to expand into third-party retailers?

Our distribution model is very different to traditional brands, you can’t find us in retail or in any of the department stores. You can find us on our website, which ships across 28 markets. The other way that you can get hold of the brand is through our currently 7,000 onboarded micro-entrepreneurs and micro-influencers.

Following our launch we’ll be opening the Beyond Beauty Club, the club you become a part of once you become a micro-influencer or micro-entrepreneur, in new markets every month. We want to keep the distribution to our ambassadors and stay loyal to that because we’re not only building a brand based on trust and users, but we’re also empowering women to go out there and build a bit of a small business for themselves. We believe that everyone is an influencer in their own community. If you have the ability to tap into your community through the power of personalised skincare and give your network the confidence of beautiful skin, we should also hold true to our distribution model and maintain this social sharing model that we have.