Marc Gallagher on Facetheory's Malaysian debut, rebranding, and the biggest skincare trends of 2025

Launched 10 years ago, Facetheory has been a champion of sustainable, vegan and active-focused skincare. Now, with its big rebrand, it has finally entered the Malaysian market. 

The skincare game has evolved enormously in the last few years. With technology and ingredients improving year upon year and with information more accessible than ever before, the average beauty enthusiast is more demanding than ever before. 

In some cases, brands haven’t been able to keep up with the changing tides of the new skincare consumer. In others, new brands launching for a quick cash grab have quickly found themselves shutting their doors once exposed to the court of beauty TikTok. Essentially, shoppers are no longer settling for the bare minimum. 

So, what exactly is the new beauty consumer looking for? For a start, products that, well, work. A scientifically-backed, efficacious product is the first step to hooking in a customer. If they don’t see results, they won’t be returning. Of course, the next step is to create ethically conscious products. With every brand leveraging its own version of the hottest new retinol or the strongest dose of vitamin C, what can really help to set a brand apart is its philosophy.

Facetheory first stepped onto the scene 10 years ago with its vegan and sustainable line of active-focused skincare. This year, it has undergone a major overhaul ahead of its launch on our shores in Sephora Malaysia. We spoke to Marc Gallagher, the Chief Marketing Officer of Facetheory, to glean his insights into the new brand. “We’ve overhauled our website, developed all-new product packaging, introduced collection categories and more! We did all of this to allow customers a more intuitive and results-driven routine-building experience, specifically to launch into Sephora,” he explains. Ahead, find out more about Facetheory in our exclusive.

What goes into developing a Facetheory product from conception to execution?

“We obsess about every little detail to make sure that we bring the best possible product to our

customers. It all starts with the identification of a trend or gap in the market, or analysis of our customer feedback and social commentary, and from there, we create the concept for the product. We study the science behind the result we want to achieve, identify key actives and innovations, and start developing the functional chemistry. 

“In the lab, we review multiple submissions from our chemists (we do this all ourselves, highly unusual in the beauty industry!) working out the perfect texture, balance of ingredients and efficacy on the skin. Once we approve the formulation, it goes into the testing stage to make sure it is stable and works perfectly with our chosen packaging. We then do user trials and real-world focus groups to glean early feedback before finalising it all. 

“Once we have a working product, the content creation engine starts. In the digital landscape, how the product shows up on your phone is essential in whetting the customer’s appetite. The creative process is just as important as the chemistry, and can be as complicated!”

Facetheory champions potent, science-backed active ingredients—how can consumers know which products are best for them? Do you have any advice on how they can properly diagnose their skin to buy the right products to treat their issues?

“In our flagship store in London we have a FaceLab Skin Scanner. This is a diagnostic tool which takes images of your skin to show several metrics including hydration levels, pores, UV damage and lines and wrinkles. From that, our expert store team can create a personalised skincare prescription for you, completely and precisely tailored to your results. 

“If you can’t stop by the store, we’ve developed a product architecture which should clearly guide you to the right set of products, whether you’re shopping online or in-store. If you want brighter skin or have hyperpigmentation concerns, start with our Glow range.  If you are blemish-prone, the Clear range of products would be right for you. We’ve added a lot of information onto product packaging, including a robust set of benefit icons to facilitate education and selection. 

What are the logistics that go into creating truly sustainable packaging? What do consumers have to consider when trying to shop ethically?

“The new packaging design has been completely re-imagined, taking many products into new vessel types based on years of customer feedback and the brand’s relentless pursuit of delivering the most sustainable offering on the market. Cleansers and moisturisers have been moved to fully recyclable aluminium tubes, complete with an industry-first fully recyclable metal cap, eliminating unnecessary plastic in the packaging.

“For other products, the recyclable amber glass bottles and jars remain, chosen at the brand’s inception as highly sustainable and the best vehicle to maintain product efficacy. No airless pumps or complicated plastic gimmicks here!

“Fans of the brand will notice that the colour banding and labels on the bottles have disappeared, replaced with an intuitive icon system. Every product now comes in an updated carton made from FSC card stock printed in the UK with eco-friendly vegetable inks, complete with crystal-clear usage instructions and key benefits.”

As the beauty industry grows increasingly saturated and trend cycles get shorter and shorter, where do you see the industry going from here? 

“There is an overwhelming amount of choice on the market, and I think brands will need to uplevel their stance on ethics, formulation practices, and value for money. We’re proud to be the Sustainable Skincare Standard, as we firmly believe that the environment needs our commitment to less resource-intensive ways of procuring raw materials and packaging products. Our customers expect that we overdeliver on value for money, and we hope our stance encourages more brands to be less profit-driven and more environmentally conscious.”

With TikTok fostering a rapid rise in beauty microtrends recently, we’ve seen countless buzzwords and trends come up in the skincare space. What skincare trends do you predict will come up in the next year?

“SPF and Vitamin A reign supreme!  We’re not in the quick trend business, as we are guided by the science of skin. That said, we are predicting even more activity in the barrier repair market and the rise of sensitive skin.  The ‘skinification’ of body care will continue to grow and recent innovations or popular ingredients from facial skincare in 2024 will start to appear in bodycare formulations. There can be a lot of fleeting trends on Tiktok which can really confuse customers, but we’re here to help you navigate the noise.”

From DIY microneedling to sunscreen contouring, what is your least favourite viral skincare trend to come up in recent memory?

“Making DIY sunscreen in your kitchen has to be one of the most ridiculous, misleading and damaging viral skincare moments I can think of. DIY skincare in general just doesn’t work, let alone for a highly complex, technical and literally life-saving product like sunscreen.”

What are three skincare philosophies you believe everyone should follow? What’s the secret to truly great skin?

Facetheory is available to shop here at Sephora Malaysia. For more beauty reads, click here.

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