Rachaelle Rempe’s Auraïha is changing the game with affordable, clean skin care

In a market saturated with buzzwords and new products, how can you find a routine that caters well to your skin? Navigating the balance between makeup and skin care can entail endless trial and error and can easily drain your bank account. After observing a gap in the market for accessible and affordable makeup centered on skin care, Rachaelle Rempe embarked on a grueling but rewarding journey toward founding Auraïha.

Rempe, an entrepreneur in the beauty industry, created what she calls a “5-minute face routine made clean.” Her professional experience with product management and her personal experience with her skin exposed Rempe to the reality of mainstream beauty products, which often contain toxins and pollutants that creep into your pores and slowly ravage your complexion. She discovered that a plant-based, natural routine worked best for her skin. And she wasn’t alone.

The beginnings of Auraïha skin care

Armed with a stash of her products and packaging, Rempe signs onto our call in a high ponytail and a peach-colored top. Her clear skin with a soft glow is a testament to her new products. As a former New York City transplant, she’s no stranger to the beauty industry and the flaws to which consumers fall prey.

“I was living in New York and working as a fashion designer. I couldn’t afford the Sephora brands,” says Rempe. “I was constantly going into CVS and Walgreens, and I would find mainstream plastic, affordable brands like L’Oreal and Revlon. It was obviously an easy sell, but when I did a deeper dive, I realized they didn’t have any clean-focused products. Now, brands will have one EWG-verified product, and then they’ll identify as a ‘clean brand,’ which I don’t think that qualifies. To me that says, ‘Oh, we did it. We ticked that box.’

I wanted to make an affordable brand that anybody could get their hands on. I don’t think you should have to spend a hundred dollars on your face cream because it’s clean. The people that are shopping at CVS deserve quality products at an affordable price. That was a huge thing for me. I’ve already been asked to up the prices a couple times because the quality of the ingredients is so high. But there’s no way I’m straying from my vision.”

Unearthing the crossroad between affordability and all-natural ingredients proved an arduous task, but finding a balance between skin care and makeup for consumers also posed a challenge. “I wanted to do a hybrid brand, so it included makeup and skin care,” shares Rempe. “There’s a lot of people out there who don’t like to wear makeup, and there’s a lot of people who don’t know what to do for their skin care, and they don’t understand their skin type. Most people have either bare minimum or excess skin care routines. A lot of people use so many products that their face just ends up exploding with acne.”

Rempe spent the bulk of the pandemic researching how to create a clean, affordable brand that provided a bridge between skin care and makeup. The result was Auraïha skin care. With the help of an experienced chemist, Rempe released two EWG-verified products: a brightening serum and a setting spray.

Glass face brightening serum

The glass face brightening serum comes in a 1-oz. glass bottle. It contains squalane, AHA fruit acids, aloe, green tea and cucumber. The serum gently exfoliates your skin while providing enough moisture to help leave your face with a light glow. It’s perfect for those with sensitive skin. If you use the serum before putting on makeup, the post-application tackiness also acts as a natural primer.

“My chemist and I worked tirelessly to find the right combination of ingredients and the right level of formula to create the two products,” sighs Rempe, running a hand through her ponytail. “The big puzzle was how to make them clean, affordable to manufacture and effective for all skin types. We also had to make sure each ingredient would meet the EGW verification for clean beauty, and we couldn’t use certain percentages of ingredients or they wouldn’t qualify for that verification. It was a really interesting journey to make that happen with [my chemist]. The product development side is my favorite part.”

Naturally luminous mist and set spray

The naturally luminous mist and set spray blends ingredients like witch hazel and papaya to retain moisture and ensure skin hydration throughout the day. “The setting spray is my personal favorite product,” admits Rempe. “It came out so much better than I expected. I had this idea of what I wanted it to look like, and we had to tweak it a bunch so that it came out scentless and hydrating. It was really difficult and it worked at the last minute.” Consumers can apply the mist and set spray under or over makeup throughout the day.

Sustainable packaging

Rempe scoured the internet for eco-friendly and functional spray bottles, tape and more. Every element of the packaging works toward Auraïha’s goal of sustainability. The products arrive in personalized recycled cardboard boxes sealed with biodegradable, water-activated tape. The logo appears through the packaging in soy and water-based ink. While the serum bottle is made of reusable glass, the spray bottle is composed of recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic.The minimal logo printed on light blue and green backgrounds exudes the aesthetic of the clean beauty movement.

“The mister for the bottle was difficult to find,” says Rempe. “I searched so many companies, from overseas to American and Canada to find a recycled spray bottle that would work for a good price point.”

Subscribe to Auraïha’s newsletter at their website to receive 10% off, and be sure to follow @auraiha on Instagram for information on Rempe’s two upcoming products.

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