When Cat Chen was a child, she suffered from itchy eczema. The only relief from the pain of eczema was when her grandmother rubbed scented lotions into her skin. She discovered that certain scents pleased her so much, they made her feel beautiful, even if her skin wasn’t very nice to look at.
Chen’s daughter was allergic to many types of lotions and scents, which saddened Chen when she realized she wouldn’t be able to share the joyous experience of scents with her daughter unless she found a way to do so.
In 2017, Chen founded Skylar. The company creates its own hypoallergenic perfume scents based on a client’s preferences. New clients fill out a survey and new scents are mailed to the client each month.
A former member of The Honest Company, Chen had some experience in operating an e-commerce store, but she did not expect the tremendous success that occurred so quickly. Within one year, Skylar’s sales had boomed more than 2,000%.
Even during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Skylar saw substantial and strong growth.
Skylar maintains a corporate office in Marina Del Rey, California.
