Gender-neutral Pure Beauty skincare by makeup artist Dillon Pena.
Dillon Pena was working at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics when he started making his own products, starting with facial oils. Seven years later, he has a clean skincare range that reflects what he’s learned from nearly two decades in the beauty business—and he’s aiming to make it plastic-free and suitable for men and women of all skin tones.
Born and raised on a farm in Oklahoma, Pena named the company after his great-grandfather, Leland Francis, and pays tribute to his roots. “To me, that’s an extension of who I am. My roots are Mexican and I grew up in a nature-oriented environment,” he says.
In the year In 2015, as a celebrity makeup artist, Pena created a few bottles of face oil to give away to clients. Back then, he had no intention of building an extensive skin care line. While working in New York, though, he dropped off a bottle of the product at Brooklyn-based Shane Beauty, a popular destination for clean beauty brands, to get some feedback.
“Thirty minutes after I dropped off the bottle, I got a phone call while I was at lunch, and they said they wanted to buy bottles to carry in the store. I didn’t even have boxes or a properly established company yet,” he recalls.
With that first order secured, Pena began thinking about not only expanding his business, Leland Francis, but also about branding and working with independent retailers. He cold email a dozen; Many did not accept it.
However, he was doing makeup for artists, models and musicians as a day job and working on Leland Francis in his private time. Pena realized the need for many of his customers to have a healthy foundation, so he wanted to turn it into a business – and that started with skin care. Plus, many of the models he’s worked with know what they’re putting on their skin. “Often they would turn the bottle over and read the contents. So I know pure beauty is important to them.
The epidemic played a major role in the business. When filming was canceled, and filming and performances were put on hold, Pena had to take a break as a freelance makeup artist. Instead, Leland used that time to develop Francis.
He used his savings and earnings to invest in more inventory, and primarily a few consultants to help him grow the company. With sustainability and pure beauty on the rise, Pena felt the business was more relevant than ever.
“As a makeup artist, you see the amount of plastic produced by the beauty industry. And I’m the kind of person who doesn’t want to bring any plastic into my house. I’ll get rid of it if I can. So I did the same thing with Leland Francis, trying to find the best suppliers despite the high cost of packaging and a lot of work on our end.
The company’s products are all packaged in aluminum lids with glass, if necessary, and therefore, the containers are reusable and beautiful. With a note about Pena’s Oklahoma roots, packing is kept to a minimum with the essentials. It’s a classic, luxurious approach to pure beauty, and that’s what Pena has been championing. “When I started creating Leland Francis, I noticed that most clean beauty brands were only available in the beauty section of Whole Foods, which was great. But they didn’t have the luxury experience I wanted to offer my clients and customers.
It also refuses to compromise on the packaging’s durability. For example, part of the company was delayed for two years because they could not find an environmentally friendly solution to introduce the Radiance product.
In addition, Peña, being Mexican himself, thought more about how his style would be placed on men and women. Working with a chemist who is herself a woman of color helped a lot, he said. “I ask her to try the products on herself and if it doesn’t work for her skin, we don’t continue with it. I want this brand to be for everyone, not just a select few who have so many options to choose from.”
So far, Pena has turned down investment, relying on her mentors, including Bobbi Brown herself, to create products that are premium, but not entirely “impossible.” However, with increased costs during the Covid period, he admits that, like many businesses, he will have to raise rates to reflect issues in the supply chain.
The tamanu oil is very useful in his line. “It’s a versatile ingredient that serves a variety of purposes,” he explains. “It brightens, helps with clarity, removes imperfections. It’s just an all-around wonderful ingredient for the skin.
Pena refers to the collection as based on plants. Most of the pure beauty industry is unregulated due to low government restrictions, so it prefers the term “plant-based” or “plant-based” and this applies to the new addition: perfumes and candles. Most fragrance brands, they argue, don’t disclose ingredients with real transparency: “They can’t list all the ingredients and the name of each scent. We only use natural oils and organic sugarcane alcohol.
He has more products in the works that will allow him to share this makeup knowledge even more. But it is yet to gain a foothold in major cosmetics retailers in the country. He likes the small business approach and prefers to support mom and pop businesses himself. “I like the idea of supporting a little thing that’s done with thought and kindness. I try to be kind. And I think that’s an important value in business today,” he says.
