Habit Founder Tai Adaya on Why You Should Have a Midday Skincare Routine

Did you know that it takes 21 days to create and form a new habit? HABIT Founder Tai Adaya knew this and, of course, a hundred other things on how to improve on your skin’s youthfulness. Launching on March 19th will be HABIT’s first product on the market, N°41 Mister ($30 / $24 for monthly subscription), which is a hydrating face mist with sunscreen. We sat down with Tai to discuss how we should be applying N°41, why she’s educating millennials on anti-aging, and the million-dollar question - how did she create a facial spray with SPF without that sticky residue.

N°41 sounds like a new skincare essential in my beauty routine. Can you use it with any foundation? And could you spritz before applying foundation or it’s best to do after you’ve finished applying your full makeup?  
You can apply before or after any foundation --- N°41 is a versatile and lightweight mist that you can use alone or layer. At HABIT, we like to think of N°41 as the go-to product for your midday skincare routine. So many women invest in products to support multi-step night and morning routines, but you're not getting maximal benefits of your skincare investment if your skin is not protected from UV throughout the day. 

Education is so important when it comes to skincare and anti-aging. Was your marketing approach more challenging considering you wanted to target millennials for anti-aging benefits? 
Consumers hyper-spend into the Anti-Aging category in their 30s, when the first signs of visible aging are noticeable. For women, exploration and consideration of Anti-Aging products starts earlier, often in their mid to late 20s, if not sooner. We see this in the trend of 'preventative' botox rapidly growing in the 20-30 age bracket. 'Anti-Aging' isn't a cool buzzword, but it's a huge category. American consumers spend $32 billion dollars on Anti-Aging products annually and only $2 billion on suncare, despite sunscreen being the most effective Anti-Aging topical product. 

Additionally, because kids tend to spend so much time outdoors, people often head into their 20s with a lot of UV damage already done. Prevention is key and we should be instilling good UV protection habits in children and teens as well as adults.

Often when using face sunscreen sprays, it leaves the skin feeling sticky or dry. How did you come up with a formula to spray over makeup yet treat the skin at the same time? 
N°41 is lightweight, moisturizing, and leaves a light glow. The formula itself is very minimal, with only 16 clean ingredients, with 4 of those being active drug ingredients to protect skin against UV. Our inspiration for N°41 was facial toners sprays that so many people keep at their desks (Mario Badescu Facial Spray, Herbivore Rose Hibiscus). Our goal was to develop a refreshing product that packs a powerful punch of active UV protection. 

I’m already excited about your next products – caffeine-infused sunscreen stick for the eye area and an SPF water gel item. When will these products release? 
Our new products will start going out to our product tester and feedback group, Creatures of Habit, this spring. With suncare, these products are over-the-counter drugs, so the product development lifecycle can be longer than traditional skincare products. Clinical testing is required to validate that products are effective in protecting against UV. But we hope to get these out to the general public soon!