Beirsdorf, the German manufacturer of La Prairie and Nivea products, has launched a skincare brand targeted at people with tattoos, writes Jenny Berich.

Created by the multinational’s new business unit, Oscar & Paul, the Skin Stories range is made up of four products (defining serum, rapid repair balm, daily lotion and colour protection sun stick) containing ‘Inkguard Technology’ (“an active ingredient combination that helps to optimally care for tattoos”) .

Oscar & Paul director Hauke Voß said that he and his team spent close to two years “engaging in in-depth research, creating an ‘Expert Circle,’ and working closely with external partners” to help people “maintain tattoos and their stories on the skin in all their glory for as long as possible”.

“Tattoos are becoming more and more popular and have long since ceased to be a symbol of rebellion,” he said, citing the fact that almost one in five Germans now has a tattoo, and among 25 and 34-year-old women, the proportion is closer to half, with both numbers likely to continue to rise.

“Tattoos are now a personal accessory but few people know how to look after them properly,” he said.

“However tattoo wearers and tattoo artists all want the same thing – for the work of art on the skin to stay looking great, even for decades.”

Voß said that now the company had “conquered a new skincare category”, the challenge was to gain a firm foothold in the niche market by offering “the consumer crucial added value and breathing life into the brand purpose of ‘making tattooing better and safer’.”

He said that a key aspect of the brand strategy was therefore educational work.

“As tattooing is not an occupation that requires official training, there is no standard means of acquiring expertise in the field of dermatology, even though precisely this expertise would further improve the art of tattooing,” explains Voß.

“Which is why, in addition to product development, Skin Stories established the Expert Circle, the first think tank for modern-day tattooing. This will now bring various disciplines in the fields of skin research and tattooing craftsmanship together.”

The new brand will be available in retail stores and at selected certified tattoo studios from the end of this month.

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