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Martha Stewart Courtesy of Elm Biosciences Just one day after Martha Stewart turned 84 years old, she launched her first skincare brand, Elm Biosciences, with board-certified dermatologist Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali. Described as a “system that brings next-generation science directly to consumers—delivering potent, simplified formulas that rival in-office results,” the two co-founders partnered with an advisory board of more than 350 dermatologists, scientists and medical researchers and worked behind-the-scenes for five years to perfect the line, which debuted with a lean roster of just two SKUs. After announcing Elm Biosciences on August 4, it became available on September 17 with its A30 Elemental Serum and its Inner Dose Daily Skin Supplement, meant to “work together from the inside out to restore skin clarity, strengthen the barrier and build long-term resilience,” Stewart tells me. “I’ve been using our system for quite a while now, and people remark on the vibrancy of my skin all the time,” Stewart says. Stewart is a longtime patient of Bhanusali, and tells me she was intrigued by his biotech work. “I’m very curious about science and chemistry, and I wanted to partner with him to create a skincare line unlike any other,” she says. “We started doing our research and development, and I’ve been testing our products for the last five years and am extremely pleased with the results.” Stewart has been using Elm Biosciences' products for five years. Courtesy of Elm Biosciences Elm Biosciences is so personal to Stewart, in fact, that its name comes from Elm Place, the street she grew up on. Skincare is personal, too, to the lifestyle entrepreneur—not just what she puts on her skin, but what she eats and drinks, too. “I think of it as living well through taking care of yourself with a healthy diet, exercise and self-care,” Stewart says. “We begin aging the minute we’re born—cells die, skin ages—and we have many opportunities to prolong the health of your skin, which is what we’re trying to do with Elm Biosciences.” MORE FOR YOU “I care a lot about skin,” she adds. “I have always really paid attention to the maintenance, the cleansing and the nurturing of my skin.” But she hasn’t stepped into the skincare game with her own brand—until now, that is. Elm Biosciences is Stewart's first skincare brand. Courtesy of Elm Biosciences “The science is a celebrity, and it always will be” Speaking with me on Zoom, Bhanusali tells me that Stewart is “heavily involved” in all aspects of the brand, calling her “the definitive American woman of the last century” and “truly family.” The two have known one another for around eight or nine years—“we always argue about this,” he jokes—and he adds that he learns so much from his co-founder every single day. “She is everything you would expect and then some,” Bhanusali says. “Her energy is infectious. Her level of detail—I feel like it helps me elevate what I do and my game. She’s so thoughtful about things. She really is the best of the best and I’m so grateful, not just as a business partner, but really as a friend and somebody who’s in my life as a mentor and somebody I genuinely respect so much.” Martha Stewart and Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali Courtesy of Elm Biosciences Bhanusali is a veteran of working with famous women in beauty—he has also worked with Hailey Bieber on her brand, Rhode—and, like his co-founder Stewart, his standards are high. As he tells me, Elm Biosciences isn’t going to release a product until it’s best in class, “and I think a lot of times, less is more,” he says. When I mention that “intentional” seems to be the best way to describe the brand, he wholeheartedly agrees. “I think the average consumer doesn’t want to buy 10 things, they want to just buy one that works,” Bhanusali says. “And we’re mindful of that.” Calling Elm Biosciences “a biotech, science-first skincare brand,” Bhanusali says “the goal with this line is to push science forward.” “It’s interesting, because we have arguably one of the most iconic humans on earth as part of this brand, but the science is a celebrity, and it always will be,” he adds. “I don’t think there’s been any brand that’s ever done it like this” Stewart, for her part, is no stranger to a recipe. That through line from recipes she makes in the kitchen to recipes Elm Biosciences is cooking up in the lab is evident—as is the importance of both. “Much like a Martha recipe, every little ounce of everything, a pinch of salt can make all the difference in what you think of the meal,” Bhanusali tells me. “In a very similar way, with the formulation we did, that’s the star of the show. The formulation itself is so unique. We want to put that on the pedestal.” Elm Biosciences launched with two SKUs in September. Courtesy of Elm Biosciences The brand’s hero SKU, as Bhanusali puts it, is its A30 complex, which he says will be found “in most, if not all, of our launches moving forward.” To that point, he adds, more SKUs are coming—“a lot more,” he says—but, back to the word intentional again, “every single one will be done the right way,” he adds. In addition to having Stewart as his co-founder, Elm Biosciences is also backed by an advisory board numbering 350-plus. “At least as far as I know, I don’t think there’s been any brand that’s ever done it like this,” Bhanusali says. On November 3, the company is rolling out its debut national TV campaign, which will spotlight its dermatological advisors. One day after the campaign launches, a billboard in New York City will follow on November 4. “I think if we do our job over the next however many years, you guys are going to learn about the incredible minds in dermatology,” Bhanusali tells me. “And I really hope that people understand that these dermatologists are truly stars. They’re brilliant minds.” Before they were co-founders, Dr. Bhanusali was Stewart's dermatologist. Courtesy of Elm Biosciences “There’s a level of excellence you must strive for, and there’s no compromise on that” Maybe on its face, the work of Martha Stewart and the work of a board-certified dermatologist might not mirror one another, but on a deeper level, it does: both Stewart and Bhanusali have been obsessed with ingredients their entire careers. When it comes to their products, “Every ingredient that goes in there is very, very intentional and useful,” Bhanusali says. “Every single thing that goes in there is on purpose. And you’ll see in the future, even the ingredients—we come out with a lot of them nobody’s ever seen before. And we’ve done the data, we’ve done the research, we are hopefully bringing to market things that nobody’s ever seen before.” “We always joke about Martha being farm to table,” he adds. “I believe in lab to patient. And so you’ll see a lot of very unique, cutting-edge ingredients coming out and products that hopefully move the needle and push the field forward as a whole.” Elm Biosciences plans to launch more SKUs in the future after its first two were released in September. Courtesy of Elm Biosciences Another commonality between Elm Biosciences’ co-founders? “There’s a level of excellence you must strive for, and there’s no compromise on that,” Bhanusali tells me. Stewart, he adds, “doesn’t put her name on anything just to do it,” and “she knows every detail about every product she’s part of, whether it’s sheets, what the thread counts are, where they come from to the pots and pans and how they’re manufactured and everything. She has a deep understanding of her world.” “My job,” he adds, “is to lend my expertise in my world and really bring it to that same level of excellence.” Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
