Kate Somerville

Kate Somerville is an American prestige skincare brand founded in 2004 by the aesthetician of the same name, who built it out of her medical skin clinic in West Hollywood, Los Angeles [3]. The brand pairs clinical-grade formulas, developed in collaboration with dermatologists, with the heritage of a clinic long associated with Hollywood clientele. Its portfolio spans skincare and body care, sold internationally through retailers such as Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom, Space NK, Mecca and Amazon.

The brand is no longer independently owned. It was acquired by Unilever in 2015 and sold to Rare Beauty Brands in 2025, the deal expected to close that year [6]. It continues to operate under the Kate Somerville name, alongside the West Hollywood clinic.

The brand grew directly out of its founder's clinical career. According to the company, Kate Somerville struggled with painful eczema growing up and could find no existing remedy, which led her to esthetician school and later to providing medical skin treatments in a leading plastic surgeon's office. There she built a reputation for science-backed treatments and custom formulations, and Hollywood clients became among her most loyal.

In 2004 she opened her own medispa in West Hollywood, combining medical skin science with a deliberately glamorous treatment setting. The brand describes the venture as the first medispa of its kind, and the clinic — at 8428 Melrose Place — has since served as the testing ground for product development.

The brand's first retail product followed a few years later. The company recounts that an A-list client, about to travel to an overseas film set, asked to take Somerville's in-clinic "super facial" with her; that request produced the ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment, the brand's first signature product.

The clinic marked 20 years of operation as of 2024. Two ownership changes define the brand's later history: its 2015 acquisition by Unilever, where it sat within the company's prestige division, and its 2025 sale to Rare Beauty Brands [6].

Industry coverage noted that the sale price was undisclosed; Women's Wear Daily estimates cited by trade press placed the combined annual sales of Kate Somerville, Ren and Garancia at under 50 million dollars.

Kate Somerville's current parent company is Rare Beauty Brands, which agreed to acquire the brand and its West Hollywood clinic from Unilever in 2025 [6]. Unilever had owned the brand since 2015; sources differ on which entity to name as the present owner, with Unilever still cited in some references, but the most recent published reporting records Rare Beauty Brands as the buyer and current parent. Chris Hobson, chief executive of Rare Beauty Brands, described the company in trade coverage as "a widely loved, prestige skincare brand built from the unique heritage of the med-spa clinic in West Hollywood" [6].

Under Unilever, Kate Somerville sat among a large portfolio of personal-care and beauty brands including Dove, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Dermalogica and Murad.

The brand positions itself as clinical-grade skincare informed by its clinic. Its stated philosophy holds that "healthy skin is not a sign of vanity or privilege — healthy skin is every person's right," a quote attributed to its founder, and it summarises its mission as "We heal skin + transform lives" [1]. Recurring themes in the brand's own materials include the idea that skin health underpins confidence, and an emphasis on skin education through its blog, a podcast and a network of estheticians, nurses and dermatologists.

According to the company, its formulas are science-backed and developed with dermatologists. It also states three core commitments for its ingredients — non-toxic, cruelty-free and paraben-free [4].

The brand's range is organised into trademarked product lines, several built around a play on the founder's name: ExfoliKate (exfoliation), EradiKate (acne care, built on a 3% sulfur formulation), HydraKate (hydration), KateCeuticals (clinical treatments), DeliKate (sensitive skin) and Mega-A (serums), among others. Hero ingredients cited by the brand include glycolic, lactic and salicylic acids, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, retinol and retinal, peptides and vitamin C.

The ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment remains the brand's best-known product. Other frequently cited items include the EradiKate 3% Sulfur Daily Foaming Cleanser and the DeliKate Recovery Serum, which one editor named among her personal top picks [7].

The exact founding-versus-launch chronology is recorded inconsistently across sources. The brand and trade press date the company's founding to the clinic's 2004 opening [3], while one editorial review instead places the launch in 2005, referring specifically to the debut of the ExfoliKate treatment rather than the brand's founding [7].

Several of the brand's products have received Allure Best of Beauty awards: the ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment and EradiKate 3% Sulfur Daily Foaming Cleanser in 2025, and the ExfoliKate Resurfacing Body Scrub in 2022 [5][7]. In an editorial review, Who What Wear characterised Kate Somerville as "one of the most adored skincare brands by beauty editors and skincare insiders" and described the ExfoliKate treatment as "possibly one of the most iconic skincare products of the 21st century" [7]. Editorial coverage has also linked the brand to a roster of celebrity users, among them Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Olivia Wilde and Paris Hilton.

Kate Somerville remains commercially active. As of 2025 the brand was launching new products, running sitewide promotions and winning industry awards, and its skincare is distributed across major beauty retailers internationally [5]. It is no longer an independent company: owned by Unilever from 2015, it was sold to Rare Beauty Brands in 2025 and continues to operate as a distinct brand under that ownership [6].