Care competition brewing

JOLT OF ENERGY: Stephanie Additon, CEO of Java Skincare, founded the company in 2013. Its products are now sold in 45 spas and boutiques in five states, as well as through its website. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
JOLT OF ENERGY: Stephanie Additon, CEO of Java Skincare, founded the company in 2013. Its products are now sold in 45 spas and boutiques in five states, as well as through its website. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

COFFEE IS THE SECRET WEAPON in many a morning routine. It’s also the inspiration for a Rhode Island business that is using a coffee-based extract to power its natural skin care line.

Stephanie Additon started experimenting with coffee extracts after she read the label of her go-to brand of skin cream, and discovered it contained caffeine. With an established family business in coffee, she figured she had plenty of the raw material on hand, and could develop her own skin cream.

After a year of research and development, she launched Java Skincare in 2013. The company, based in North Kingstown, now sells products in 45 spas and boutiques in five states, as well as through its website. 

Java Skincare produces four products and plans to launch 10 more this year. It now features a body serum, body wash, exfoliating scrub and a soap, all with a coffee extract as the key ingredient. The company will launch a line of facial creams and men’s products in 2015, said Additon.

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The young company scored a major marketing coup recently, when it was selected as one of the vendors to provide products for gift bags for nominees and presenters at the 57th annual Grammy Awards held earlier this month. It was a huge honor, Additon said, for a Rhode Island startup that has only recently entered one of the most competitive industries in the world.

For the event, Java Skincare will provide its Coffee Bean and Raw Sugar Body Scrub, Green Coffee Infused Body Serum, moisturizing Sweet Almond Oil Body Wash and its Exfoliating Body Bar.

The secret to her success? It’s the coffee, she said.

The signature ingredient in the skin care line is green coffee, which is derived from pre-roasted, unprocessed coffee beans. It is naturally high in antioxidants, which are good for skin because they fight damaging free radicals, which can break down the appearance and smoothness of skin, Additon explained.

She already knew a lot about coffee before launching the skin care company.

She and her husband, Mark, own the artisan roasting company, Updike’s Newtowne Coffee Roasting Company and Cafe, in North Kingstown. The coffee roaster provides the beans that she uses in the distinctive skin care line.

Of the orange-scented scrub, for example, which includes tiny bits of ground coffee beans: “When you use the scrub, it has coffee grinds in it. It’s a mess. It’s a wonderful, delicious mess.”

Since launching product sales in 2013, Additon and her staff have focused on specialty stores, including spas and boutiques.

In addition to stores in Rhode Island, the product is sold in California, Connecticut, Florida, New York and Vermont. Although she won’t disclose sales for the company, she said the number of stores carrying the line increased from “zero to 45” in less than 15 months.

“I have an amazing team who work with me,” she said. “We know this is a competitive market.” •

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