In the heart of London’s Claridge’s Hotel, I had the privilege of meeting Sarah Creal for the first time in the spring of 2016. At the time, she held a prominent role at Estée Lauder, and the event we attended was the hush-hush press launch unveiling the brand’s collaboration with the iconic Victoria Beckham. Throughout the presentation, Creal captivated the audience with her witty and insightful commentary, exuding an unmatched passion for beauty. While her name may not have been widely recognized at that time, Creal’s influence on the beauty industry was undeniable. As one of the industry’s most respected product formulators and brand builders, she has been the driving force behind some of the world’s most renowned beauty companies, including Prada Beauty, Estée Lauder, Tom Ford, L’Oréal, Bobbi Brown, Aerin Lauder, and Victoria Beckham Beauty. “Nobody really knows me outside the beauty industry,” Creal acknowledges with a laugh. However, with the launch of her eponymous line, Sarah Creal Beauty, she is poised to change that. Her revolutionary, high-performance luxury beauty and skincare brand is powered by superior formulas focused on moisture, wear, and repair. Most importantly, they are specifically created to respond to the complex beauty needs of women over 40. From the campaign imagery to the language and the products themselves, everything about Sarah Creal Beauty intentionally and unapologetically speaks to and represents an older demographic. In an industry actively built around courting, desiring, and selling youth, it’s a strategy that seems positively audacious. But Creal is undeterred. “I couldn’t think of a single luxury brand specifically creating products for women like me. So this brand is about me saying, right, fuck it,” she says with a laugh. Creal’s journey into the world of beauty began in “a tiny town in the middle of nowhere” in northwestern Pennsylvania, far removed from the glamour of the beauty scene. Yet, her foray into the industry seemed almost predestined. At the tender age of eight, she was “making eyeshadow out of baby powder and food coloring.” As a teenager, she spent her weekends immersed in the beauty aisle of her local drugstore, meticulously reading the ingredients list behind every product. “One day,” she recalls, “I looked behind three different mascaras, and they were exactly the same formulation. And so my 13-year-old brain was like, ‘it has to be the brush, the brush is the thing that makes the difference. Does someone have the job of creating this? I want that job.’ I thought it might be in beauty marketing. And then it took another 10 years to understand that what I wanted to do really existed.” During those formative years, Creal almost pursued a different path. When applying to college, her father, an architect and art history undergraduate, encouraged her to follow her love of reading and writing. So she embarked on a journey into British Literature. “He said, ‘you’ll never have the chance to study great works of literature again. You’ll be able to learn marketing in beauty on the job. You won’t have an issue getting an entry-level position in marketing,'” recalls Creal, roaring with laughter. “And he was wrong.” The road to success was paved with rejections until Clinique offered her a job working behind their counter at Bergdorf Goodman. “But you know it was informative and formative,” Creal says. “The women that were coming in—a high-end clientele—were smart and discerning. I quickly realized that if I wanted to be successful in my job, I really needed to understand what the women’s needs were. That has made a difference to my entire career.” Now 54, after years of building some of the world’s most desirable beauty brands, Creal felt ready to build her own. “When I left Victoria Beckham, I knew I was ready to be my own boss,” she says. “But it wasn’t until the fifth of December in 2022 that I woke up with this idea for the brand fully formed. I was like, ‘why is luxury beauty not talking to me?’ I was 53 at the time, and I thought, no one is formulating for me, educating me, reflecting back at me, and really curating this beauty landscape—which is a disaster—for women our age. I was craving a brand that was going to excite me, inspire me… I asked my sister, who was 55 at the time, whether she had a hard time finding products that work for her, and she said, ‘my vanity is a graveyard of formulations that don’t work.’ And that was it. That was the spark. Sarah Creal Beauty was born.” While Creal enthuses over the support and collaboration that made her dream a reality, she also acknowledges the challenges she faced in launching her brand, particularly when it came to raising funds—a world notoriously dominated by men. “You know that is generally the dirty secret about beauty,” she says with a raised brow. “It is run by men. And I was reminded of this when I had to go out to investors and raise money. I’d never done it before; it was daunting, and a lot of the experience was highly discouraging. One man actually said to me, ‘I just don’t think older women want to look at older women,'” she recalls with incredulity. “And I had to say to him, I have the data that proves you wrong. I asked 2,000 women this question, and you know what their answers were? Ninety-nine percent agreed that providing education, age representation, and age-specific formulations were essential for women over 40 plus. And 89% said a beauty brand addressing the unique needs of women 40 plus is necessary. I was respectful, but I was furious, absolutely furious,” she adds with a chuckle. Still, she reasons that, considering wider society, ageism and misogyny within the beauty industry shouldn’t come as a surprise. “Yes, it permeates our industry, but it is totally reflective of the patriarchy in which we live, where, when a woman is no longer a vessel for reproduction or sex, she is suddenly no longer relevant.” She shakes her head and adds with a wry smile, “You know, I’ve spent a lot of time in my career in a lot of situations explaining to men what women want. I’m so glad that is over.” In her own words, Creal delves into the inspiration behind her innovative products, addressing specific concerns and offering solutions tailored to the needs of women over 40. From the mascara designed to prevent “panda eyes” to the barrier cream that provides deep hydration without stickiness, each product is a testament to her deep understanding of the beauty challenges faced by this demographic. Sarah Creal Beauty is a culmination of Creal’s passion, expertise, and unwavering belief in the power of beauty to empower women at every stage of their lives. Her journey is an inspiration, and her brand is a testament to the transformative power of inclusivity and innovation in the beauty industry.
Sarah Creal, the Beauty Industry Innovator, Launches Her Eponymous Brand
