Backed by a $3 million angel investment from avid customers later that year, the brand is broadening into a lifestyle business spanning retail, fragrance and services. It has returned to Nordstrom in five of the department store’s top-performing doors following a launch at Beauty Heroes, where its products are featured in Hero Worship and brand-specific facials. May Lindstrom had already resumed selling at The Detox Market and Citrine Beauty. Its nine-product face and body care assortment ranges from $75 to $220.

The brand partnered with retail consultancy KSJ Collective on its return to retail and Nordstrom rollout. KSJ Collective founder Kelly St. John says, “May has always built with a level of intention and integrity that’s rare, and our role at KSJ Collective has been to support that as the brand enters this next phase of growth. We have taken a highly selective approach, prioritizing partners who can deliver on the experience and care that define May Lindstrom Skin, rather than pursuing scale for its own sake.”

Lindstrom recently completed aesthetician training to personally lead education sessions and treatment experiences, reflecting the brand’s enduring emphasis on touch and ritual. She completed the program despite health setbacks tied to the skin sensitivities that originally inspired the brand. Lindstrom, whose mother was a Reiki healer and bodyworker, is a big believer in the power of touch. She’s a big believer in fragrance, too. May Lindstrom Skin previously included scent samples in DTC orders, a prelude to two fragrance launches slated for later this year.

The angel investment is helping finance the brand’s move into fragrance. Lindstrom long resisted outside capital, explaining that because the company had been profitable since year one, fundraising was never a necessity despite regular inbound interest. The backers, an unnamed married couple, enthusiastic customers and experienced angel investors, approached Lindstrom after hearing her describe her ideal investment partner on the podcast “What Beauty Founders Don’t Know” from Jump Accelerator. Their chief request was ensuring bestselling balm The Blue Cocoon would exist for future generations.

“In the early years, I had my very hardcore reasons why I was a no,” says Lindstrom. “In later years, I’m mostly a no because I’m a pain in the ass. I don’t want to answer to anybody.”

The fragrance rollout has faced significant hurdles, including international standards limiting how much jasmine one scent could contain. Using less, Lindstrom says, felt like “taking the heart out” of the fragrance. The original formulas also would have carried what she described as an “obscenely expensive” price tag, and she was unwilling either to charge it or alter the recipes.

Launched in 2011, May Lindstrom Skin quickly became a prestige retail favorite, expanding to roughly 100 doors by 2018, including Barneys New York, Nordstrom, Goop, Space NK, Cult Beauty, The Detox Market, Neiman Marcus and Net-a-Porter. To preserve the freshness of its formulas, the brand maintained strict standards for the duration the products could remain in storage before they weren’t eligible to be sold. If retailers failed to meet them, Lindstrom was willing to pull inventory. She ultimately exited wholesale during the pandemic to focus fully on direct-to-consumer operations.

“We spent a lot of time in our kitchen lab refining our core principles,” she says. “We improved some equipment. We improved the working spaces. We added 401(k)s for our team. We gave everybody raises.”

The operational reset helped pave the way for the company’s selective return to retail beginning in 2024. Lindstrom says Nordstrom devoted a dozen senior leaders to planning her brand’s reentry. Beauty Heroes has expanded the partnership beyond shelves to spa treatments. Beauty Heroes founder Jeannie Jarnot teases that the Bay Area retailer will launch a May Lindstrom Skin facial experience extending below the neck to incorporate the brand’s body oils. “You’ll just be bathed in May Lindstrom,” she says.

Lindstrom is leading immersive training sessions with retail partners herself following completion of aesthetician training. In addition, she’s developing a private “care house” and education atelier at May Lindstrom Skin’s Los Angeles headquarters for treatments and practitioner education. Valentina Belova, founder of the now-shuttered Glove Beauty and a microcurrent specialist, has collaborated with the brand on its practitioner education. The care house is currently open for a handful of appointments each month, but Lindstrom’s vision is for it to evolve into a Willy Wonka-esque immersive beauty destination.