LA-based beauty brand Ciele Cosmetics is a relatively new entry to an increasingly busy marketplace of clean beauty brands. But it aims to stand out by focusing on what it calls “clear beauty.” Within a year of its launch, it’s already being used on film sets and at Hollywood events to help those with acne-prone skin.

Co-founders Nikki DeRoest and Cerre Francis came together to launch Ciele. The two had been friends for years and even worked together previously. Francis, a rock climber, and outdoor enthusiast originally from Utah, came out to LA over a decade ago when her husband’s job relocated him to the West Coast. She sold her business (a bridal gown store) in Utah and began teaching Pilates classes in LA while figuring out her next career move. In one class, she met the founder of Hourglass, Carisa Janes. Francis was not a makeup junkie or someone who lived in the world of beauty, she says. But she knew how to run a business and that too, one with a retail storefront.

Meanwhile, DeRoest had been doing makeup for Hollywood celebs and for those in the entertainment industry. She recalls getting into the makeup industry at 18 and has become a very sought-after artist over the last two decades. While Francis was helping Janes and the Hourglass team build out their retail storefronts, DeRoest was fine tuning her skincare and makeup skills, working on countless sets. During this time, DeRoest saw two gaps in the market: one, a makeup line that included SPF in all its primary products, and a brand that had stricter guidelines on what it could and could not include — even in the realm of clean beauty.

“I previously have suffered from acne,” she explains. “It’s always been something that I’ve been intrigued with my entire career because I think the psychology of what problematic skin does to how you feel about yourself and your self-esteem goes really hand-in-hand. So I had a really big list of no-no ingredients that I included on top of being ‘clean.’ That’s what we call clear beauty, which is our version of clean beauty, clear of those ingredients that if you are acne-prone could possibly break you out. So I’m really proud to say that, if you’re using Ciele, you really don’t have to worry about your makeup being something that’s going to trigger a breakout.”

Thus, DeRoest went back to the drawing board to create a product that fit the gaps she saw, and meet the needs of customers like herself. One of the most common ingredients found in beauty products, coconut oil, didn’t work for DeRoest. And she knew that while it’s considered to be safe for many folks, it can aggravate acne for sensitive skin. Similarly, shea butter, a readily-used ingredient, didn’t make the cut. The full list of 80 or so ingredients that Ciele avoids can be found on their site.

The other key element was a high-level mineral-based SPF for DeRoest. While several cult sunscreen brands such as Supergoop do offer tinted products, there was still room for a makeup brand to excel at SPF in color-based formulates, Francis explains. Their first trial run was with a blush.

“Once we got the blush back from the formulators, it was like, oh, we can do this. We can make a color cosmetic with SPF mineral 50 in it, and there isn’t a white cast. So that led to everything else.”

And while it does cost more to formulate products with such ingredients, they explain, it hasn’t deterred them from striving for what some in the cosmetics industry have considered inconceivable.

Moreover, their retail brand partner, Sephora, has been happy to learn about Ciele’s approach to skincare and makeup and support the founders. DeRoest had cofounded a company earlier called Roen Beauty; when she exited that company, she went to Sephora to let them know that she was no longer going to be with the brand. “And they told me, ‘Call us when you’re working on your next thing.’ So it was nice to know that someone really believes in what I was doing. It was a huge trust lever,” she recalls.

Last year, when Ciele launched, Sephora put the product in 270 stores nationwide. Plus, they’ve been able to win over makeup veterans, such as Hourglass founder Carisa Janes who ended up investing in the company.

That said, the duo self-funded the company till April of 2024 and then took on some investment from their inner circle. Even then, Francis says, “We are scrappy. I’m very scrappy. I love being scrappy. That is definitely the mindset we have.”

DeRoest shares that she learned alot after her first experience with entrepreneurship. “I was young and naive when I started my first company (Roen). This time around I definitely did things a bit differently.”

A conversation with a banker who works in beauty, and later became a friend, helped DeRoest and Francis find the right investors for the brand. “He did personal introductions. So it was as if he was already doing the vetting for me. Very different from before when I perhaps just took money from whomever offered.”

While the two have been lean with their operations and self-funded as far as they could go, they said that if they were going to be able to stock Sephora shelves and meet the MOQs of manufacturers, they needed to take on investment. “But you do have to be very careful about who you take money from. Their vision and your vision have to match,” iterates DeRoest.

Today, one of the other challenges they face is an increasingly chaotic, and noisy, world of social media for beauty marketing. Though it allows them to connect with many more customers directly, Francis also says that it’s become hard for consumers to find vetted information on skincare and cosmetics.

“The amount of information out there and the amount of information that isn’t accurate can be daunting. But people want to believe, right? They see something and they’re like, I saw this, it’s real.”

Thus, DeRoest has become the educator of the brand, working with influencers, creating content, and hosting events to help educate consumers on what is best for their skin. “Coming from her, I think it really resonates and it’s truthful,” Francis adds.

And the young brand is already cutting through the noise. DeRoest recounts that an actress shared with her recently that Ciele was being used on the sets of her film — not even realizing that DeRoest was behind the brand.

“She just casually shared with me that she was a fan of the line and that everyone wore it in her last movie. In fact, it was the only makeup they’d use on the set. That’s my best compliment because when you have the belief of other makeup artists, then you’re like, okay. I have something good. That’s my Super Bowl basically.”