Meet Tiffany Buzzatto, Founder of DEW MIGHTY

Hydrate skin, check. Clear space on vanity and reduce water consumption — double check! Amazon named "waterless beauty" as one of the top beauty trends for 2021, and it’s no surprise we’re seeing more and more beauty products being packaged as solid, waterless formats.

Water-free beauty is about the art of formulation and achieving legitimate sustainability goals, so we thought to follow up on our deep dive with an interview featuring a waterless beauty brand founder. We turned to Tiffany Buzzatto, creator of DEW MIGHTY, to get more insights on formulating sans aqua and what it’s like to strive for zero waste.

Q: Your innovation, waterless serum bar, is unlike anything on the market. Can you tell us a little bit about how this came to fruition? Why a serum bar? Or how it is made?

A: It was many years of testing new ingredient technologies and pivoting. We put some of our original concepts on the back burner because raw materials did not exist yet for what we were trying to achieve. What always remained true to us was the concept of Unbottled, Undiluted, and Uncomplicated.

Regardless of the formula we created, we wanted a refill system that didn't require packaging to be bought over again, and to conserve water by removing it from the formula. The product had to be tested for even the pickiest skin types because a minimalistic routine always spoke to my core beliefs and behavior. Since packaging and formula needed to be married together, we had to look at the packaging options for sustainable friendly, non-plastic materials. That led me to discover that you could create a serum product in bar form.

Q: User experience (i.e. sensory) is paramount in beauty — what was your thought process in creating a serum bar and how it would impact the user?

A: I knew the uniqueness and ease of application for the Jelly Serum Bar would be key to its overall customer experience. First and foremost, the performance value of the product had to be equal or greater to other serums or hydrating skin care products in the marketplace. We tackled that hurdle by using clinically tested ingredients at use levels for nourishing and calming benefits to promote healthy skin (proven by our safety study, reviewed by dermatologists, to show zero irritation on all panelists).

We also wanted to stand out in efficacy and focus more on education around best application techniques as a solid product. This is where experience in the lab made a big difference. I knew that balancing the level of product deposition per swipe, leave on value, texture, and number of uses before fully consumed would be highly scrutinized. Each featured category was tackled in a scientific way of variable testing and process of elimination to hone in on the right ingredient balance.

My 15 years of experience helped immensely to expedite this overall process. By the time we landed on our final formula, equipment, and processing techniques, only small tweaks were required and fine tuning vs conducting thousands of unique trials.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in waterless formulating? Are there limitations on certain formats, specific ingredients, cost margins, and elegant sensory?

A: You mention many of the main challenges in this question, but I would say for what we wanted to achieve, we found cost, packaging choices, and format education were the main issues. Many raw material suppliers already know that water-free technologies have been available for some time. One easy example are the main ingredients for cleansers like sulfates and isethionates that have been around for decades.

In my experience, it was the contract manufacturers that favored buying diluted or pre-hydrated products to ease their manufacturing steps. They had little regard for shipping thousands of pounds of water across the globe as long as they could cut down on their manufacturing hours or energy costs. There always seems to be an initial sticker shock in buying pure actives in grams for thousands of dollars versus in a diluted bottle for hundreds of dollars, regardless of calculated concentration. We ran into this equation for our BLOOM Jelly Serum Bar. There is something fundamental in the human brain that speaks to a larger size with a lower price tag per purchase order — never mind the concentration value.

Cost margins will always be higher selling a water-free product given our specialized manufacturing process and packaging. Plus, the labor costs are higher than something that runs fully automated through machines. We believe this human element is a big reason why our product is successful and unique, so it’s more a matter of making sure to highlight those properties. For example, did you know it's our standardized botanical extracts that contribute our color and natural scent? Without these qualities the product wouldn’t be nearly as active or effective.

Q: Zero waste/carbon footprint is one of your key brand tenets. As this is no easy feat, can you tell us anything about the challenges you face with your supply chain?

A: We handle nearly every aspect of our sourcing and supply chain, which is what we found worked best for what we wanted to achieve as a company. As you mention, the goal of zero waste (we like to say, always striving for zero waste) is directly linked to managing the supply chain. This includes all of our R&D, sourcing, manufacturing, shipping, and working in direct contact with our suppliers to have the highest level of transparency. We don’t believe we could build such a unique company without a dedicated community tracking the results. We plan to continue to grow steadily and add to our team so we can manage the aspects that make us so unique.

Q: Beyond waterless beauty, what is your mission?

A: Water is merely one of many scarce resources on Earth but is also essential to human life and commonly overconsumed or wasted in the beauty industry. With that in mind, our mission at DEW MIGHTY is to create essential, highly effective products that are healthy for your skin and our planet. We want to build a framework and mindset around promoting circular consumption and prevention of hyper consumerism. Epitomized by our slogan USE LESS. DEW MORE™

Q: What does the future of waterless beauty look like to you?

A: I think consumers will start to normalize unique product formats as long as the performance isn’t compromised and pricing is somewhat comparable. The acceptance by consumers will help drive market growth, more innovations, new manufacturing processes, and packaging options because at the end of the day, it’s the dollars we spend that change industry norms.

Q: Your journey in the cosmetic industry is very inspirational. What is the one piece of advice you’d give a budding beauty entrepreneur?

A: Find what you are most passionate about and take the leap. There is never the perfect timing or the safe bet when you are choosing to build your own business. Time waits for no one. Live with no regrets and use the passion to feed your drive. Take the time to prepare but still make the leap!

My experience in beauty was fundamental for my invention of the Jelly Serum Bar, but so were all of my life experiences. Walk your journey one step at a time and choose to learn and gain expertise with every day that passes. If you count in small steps, you will be surprised how much momentum you can gain towards your goals in a short amount of time.

Q: Can you give us a sneak peak to your exciting future plans in terms of Dew Mighty or any other projects you may have in the pipeline?

A: Absolutely! We have another product launch planned for late Summer 2021 to cover another essential skin care step within the daily regime. We are very excited for this launch and have been working hard to fine tune the formula and packaging to uphold our very high standards.

We also look forward to growing our presence within retailers in the US and Canada for accessibility. There has been a rise in locally owned, package-free companies, aka refill shops, and we are huge supporters of these small businesses. We also love subscription boxes like FabFitFun (we were a Spring add-on for 2021!) who are taking steps to become more sustainable and offer eco-friendly products. We want to continue pushing the boundaries of product innovation for the best in healthy skincare and a less trashy planet!