A founder-led skincare brand got the full treatment — identity, packaging system, art direction and a high-craft headless storefront that earns its premium price.
Lift in average order value
Growth in repeat-purchase rate
Days to sell through launch run
Mobile LCP improvement
01 / Background
Maison Velar is a small-batch skincare brand built around clean formulation and a quiet, considered aesthetic. The founders had product-market fit on a basic Shopify theme — but the brand and the site weren't carrying the proposition. We rebuilt both, end to end.
02 / Challenges
A premium formulation was being sold through generic packaging and a templated storefront — pricing was held back by perceived value.
No proper type system, photography direction or motion language — every marketing asset looked slightly different.
The themed Shopify site was slow on mobile and conversion was hurting on paid traffic.
The brand had a real point of view but no surface for it — no journal, no rituals content, no founder voice.
Replenishment was a manual nudge by email instead of a first-class part of the experience.
03 / Solutions
Wordmark, custom display lockups, a paper-and-ink palette with a single warm accent, motion principles and a tightly-defined art-direction brief.
Tactile, reductive packaging — amber glass, uncoated stock, foil-stamped marks — that does most of the convincing on the shelf.
Built a fast headless commerce front on top of Shopify — sub-second LCP, immersive PDPs, integrated journal, considered checkout.
Journal, ritual guides and founder essays — content that earns the audience and builds repeat purchase intent.
Replenishment cadence, swap-in-cart and pause flows built into the product, not bolted on.
Photography, video and lookbook for the launch — one consistent voice across paid, organic, packaging and PR.
04 / Stack & apps
05 / Outcomes
The visual system and packaging let the brand price where the product belongs — without softening conversion.
Faster storefront and considered PDPs lifted both first-purchase conversion and average order value.
Subscription mechanics and editorial content turned first purchases into a cohort that comes back.
One coherent system that the team can extend without us in the room.
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