Meet the founder behind the incredible skincare brand, Dew of The Gods!

Say hello to Dew Of The Gods– the Canadian-born, LGBQT+-owned mindful skincare brand you need to get on your radar! Featuring a wide range of 20+ luxe blends that include the best on-trend ingredients designed with purposeful formulations, this brand is a fit for all skin types.

The brand was established in 2020 by Tiktok star and global luxury branding CEO, Ryan Dubs. Ryan has a long-stading history in the beauty space, having helped develop all of the online branding for Kylie Cosmetics. As a result, Ryan became Kylie’s second-in-command when her brand launched in 2015.

It’s time to level up your skincare game and learn all about Ryan and his must-try brand, Dew Of The Gods!

As the man behind the Kylie Cosmetics brand- in addition to your incredible background in the celebrity skincare space- what inspired you to start your own brand?

As a brand builder, creativity and expression is in my job description. For years, I have been a part of building the brands that we know and love in both big and small ways. On the agency side (with my luxury digital branding agency ULTRABRAND), there’s always the inevitable “no” from a client. I’ve learned to tailor my creativity to the specific clients we work with, and understand when our visions don’t align, even when I know my vision has the potential to disrupt a space or propel a brand. 

When thinking about starting my own brand, one aspect that excited me the most from a creative standpoint was having nobody to tell me “no” — being able to use the colours, fonts, tone of voice and models that I wanted. To build precisely the brand I wanted that promotes inclusivity, expression, mindfulness and self care. 

I also feel strongly about ingredients. Iit’s truly unbelievable how the beauty industry has left it up to the small brands like mine to choose high-scoring, ethically-sourced and high quality ingredients for our formulas. I knew that I wanted to build a brand whose products were 100% Google-proof. That is, using ingredients that would never return negative reviews or complaints from a quick Google search. I wanted to create formulas that encouraged our customers to understand what’s going onto their skin, and inside their bodies. 

Finally, being a boy in beauty is exciting to me. Every single day, I get questions from men asking if they can use Dew products. It’s a subtle thing in the world of beauty but it’s important to me to build an inclusive brand that everyone feels welcomed by!

Dew Of The Gods, which is based in Toronto, was born from TikTok. How has the platform helped you reach your audience and market your products in an authentic way? 

We’re living through “The Great Resignation.” Platforms like Shopify, Amazon and TikTok are allowing people of all backgrounds and levels of experience to start and grow their own e-commerce brand. That sentiment makes “BTS content” highly desirable, because it’s highly aspirational, and also, motivational. My followers thrive on the authentic, real life and behind the scenes content of running Dew of the Gods.

There’s one thing that won’t work on TikTok, and that’s peddling product. If I posted a video showing the selling features of my brand’s products, the video would 100% flop. The secret is that IF people care, they’ll figure out those selling features on their own. They’ll go to your website, they’ll read a bit, and add to cart. The real “top of funnel conversion” starts with getting the viewer to fall in love with YOU. I think people relate to both my vulnerability in sharing not only Dew’s successes (like our sales, big orders and celebrity sightings), but also the major failures we’ve had as a brand (damaged products from mass cargo shipments, getting rejected by a major retailer, or printing mistakes on our packaging). It’s not to say that people buy Dew to support me as a founder; it’s more that now that they know me. My brand then becomes a part of their consideration set for a category that everyone loves — skincare. 

What sets Dew Of The Gods apart from other skincare brands?

It might just seem like a diversity checkmark, but being LGBTQ+ owned is something that truly resonates in every part of our brand. Growing up, I had to hide who I really was to my friends and family for so many years of my life. My brand is not only an expression of me and who I am, but of the brand I wish I had access to as a young LGBTQ+ person, trying to relate to the world around me. You can hear it in our brand voice, and you can see it in our colors and our models. You can also feel it in the way we put diversity and inclusion above all else. 

Our brand was also born at the time of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and right at the start of the global pandemic. We were born in a different time than the big brands we all know and love. You can feel it at every touch point of our brand. 

Another aspect that sets us apart from other brands is our commitment to ingredients, and product stability. We go above and beyond to vet our formulas. The cosmetics industry is the Wild West. In Canada and the United States, beyond a few banned ingredients, there is very little regulation on product safety. It’s up to the brands to ensure their products are safe. We take this very seriously, starting with only using EWG-Verified ingredients that score a 1-3 on their ranking list (the “green zone”, with 1 being the best score and 10 being the worst). We also ensure all of our products go through the stability test, challenge test and microbial tes. This ensures that they’re both safe for our customers, and for long-term storage and usage. 

What are some must-have products we need to try from Dew Of The Gods?

We just launched our new cleanser called Fog, it’s a beautiful Cashew Milk x Icelandic Charcoal formula that uses vegan squalane and cold-pressed lavender to give a luxe, milky clean; it’s sooooo good. 

Another one of our icons is Fijifuji, our Collagen Whip Vitamin Mask. It’s an unforgettable electric turquoise color and it brightens your skin and leaves it feeling super soft, refreshed and hydrated. 

I am also obsessed with Feels, our Microdermabrasion Facial Scrub. It uses magnesium oxide crystals (the tiniest little exfoliant, smaller than sand) to deeply scrub out all the dead skin. It then repairs it with the oat milk and squalane. 

What’s next for Dew Of The Gods? Can you let us in on any hints in regards to what your future goals are for the brand?

This past year has been huge for us as we now have major campaigns with Ipsy, Boxycharm and FabFitFun. The biggest beauty subscription boxes in the world. My biggest goal is to get into traditional retail, especially Sephora! On my Tiktok, I documented my bold move of driving to the Sephora headquarters and dropping off all of my products with a note to their buying team. The official Sephora account even responded to it! It’s any brand’s dream to get into big retail. As a small Canadian brand with a bright future, I really see it in the cards for us this year.

We’re also still in the stage of packing orders ourselves — and although it gets overwhelming at times, I think it’s super important for us to stay grounded to our products, customers and our brand by putting in the work and touching and feeling our products every day. That being said, our future might involve moving to a fulfillment center and really ramping up our distribution. It’s a dream for any e-commerce brand!

Published by HOLR Magazine.