02

FORMULA — BEAUTY WELLNESS BRAND & RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

FORMULA — BEAUTY WELLNESS BRAND & RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

FORMULA — BEAUTY WELLNESS BRAND & RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

formula. is a beauty wellness brand built around everyday rituals, skin balance, and quiet functional care. Positioned between product retail, skin consultation, and light ritual treatments, the brand creates a calm and structured approach to self-care through minimal products, precise routines, and an elevated wellness space.

CLIENT

FORMULA BEAUTY WELLNESS LAB

ROLE

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & SPATIAL DESIGNER

LOCATION

TORONTO, ON

YEAR

2026

FORMULA BEAUTY WELLNESS LAB

FORMULA — BEAUTY WELLNESS BRAND & RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

THE BRIEF

formula. was conceived as a beauty wellness brand that resists the dominant aesthetics of the category — the clinical white of medical spas, the saturated femininity of mainstream beauty, the corporate sterility of pharmacy retail. The brief asked for a brand world that could hold three different experiences under one quiet identity: a retail environment for everyday skincare essentials, a consultation space for personalized routines, and treatment rooms for light restorative rituals.

formula. was conceived as a beauty wellness brand that resists the dominant aesthetics of the category — the clinical white of medical spas, the saturated femininity of mainstream beauty, the corporate sterility of pharmacy retail. The brief asked for a brand world that could hold three different experiences under one quiet identity: a retail environment for everyday skincare essentials, a consultation space for personalized routines, and treatment rooms for light restorative rituals.

The challenge: how do you make a beauty wellness brand feel calm without being cold, precise without being clinical, and elevated without being intimidating?

The challenge: how do you make a beauty wellness brand feel calm without being cold, precise without being clinical, and elevated without being intimidating?

THE CONCEPT

The concept of formula. is rooted in the idea of care as a daily system — beauty not as transformation, but as the quiet, repeated rhythm of taking care of oneself. The brand world is built to feel less like a store and more like a personal apothecary: structured, considered, and never demanding.

The identity uses a restrained palette of black, white, and warm grey, paired with off-white packaging and large typographic anchors. Materials carry the same restraint into space — pale plaster, soft-grained timber, brushed steel detailing — chosen for how they age, soften, and recede rather than demand attention. Every element was chosen to disappear into the ritual rather than perform around it.

The concept of formula. is rooted in the idea of care as a daily system — beauty not as transformation, but as the quiet, repeated rhythm of taking care of oneself. The brand world is built to feel less like a store and more like a personal apothecary: structured, considered, and never demanding.

The identity uses a restrained palette of black, white, and warm grey, paired with off-white packaging and large typographic anchors. Materials carry the same restraint into space — pale plaster, soft-grained timber, brushed steel detailing — chosen for how they age, soften, and recede rather than demand attention. Every element was chosen to disappear into the ritual rather than perform around it.

THREE ZONES. ONE RITUAL.

formula. studio is organized around how a customer moves through her own beauty routine — from discovery, to learning, to the experience itself. The retail gallery, the skin consultation bar, and the treatment rooms share one continuous material language, so the experience deepens without ever feeling transactional.

The product range follows the same logic as the space — quiet, structured, and built around use rather than display. Skincare, body care, scent, and tools all share one visual restraint: a system you can read at a glance, and trust without thinking

The product range follows the same logic as the space — quiet, structured, and built around use rather than display. Skincare, body care, scent, and tools all share one visual restraint: a system you can read at a glance, and trust without thinking

BRAND EXPERIENCE

formula. ultimately positions beauty wellness as a quiet practice rather than a performance. By stripping away the visual and spatial cues that the category typically depends on — the clinical brightness, the decorative excess, the over-engineered femininity — the brand allows the everyday ritual itself to take center stage. The space, the product, and the identity all do the same work: they create permission to slow down.

What's distinctive about formula. is not what's in the space, but what's been removed from it — and what that absence makes room for.

formula. ultimately positions beauty wellness as a quiet practice rather than a performance. By stripping away the visual and spatial cues that the category typically depends on — the clinical brightness, the decorative excess, the over-engineered femininity — the brand allows the everyday ritual itself to take center stage. The space, the product, and the identity all do the same work: they create permission to slow down.

What's distinctive about formula. is not what's in the space, but what's been removed from it — and what that absence makes room for.

BACK TO WORK
BACK TO WORK

© KATHRYN XU

© 2026