BARRIÈRE*

Before launching Barrière, Cleo Davis-Urman had already built a solid understanding of how people respond to image, detail, and emotion. Her decade in fashion, from Moda Operandi to Saks Fifth Avenue, was an education in curation, presentation, and how storytelling shapes behavior. The shift to wellness came later, triggered not by a trend but by a blood test that revealed severe nutrient deficiencies and exposed the limits of traditional supplementation.

Barrière began during the early pandemic with protective face masks, but the idea expanded quickly. What started as a practical response evolved into a broader look at how we absorb nutrients, how routines are formed, and why format matters. Cleo’s strength is the combination of two worlds: fashion’s understanding of how people want to feel, and wellness’s focus on what the body actually needs. The result is a patch designed for both effectiveness and daily use. Transdermal delivery sits at the center of the brand. By bypassing the digestive tract, the patches offer steadier absorption for vitamins, adaptogens, and compounds like NAD+.

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You spent almost a decade at luxury fashion retailers like Moda Operandi and Saks Fifth Avenue. How did that experience in fashion and editorial styling prepare you to launch a wellness-oriented direct-to-consumer brand?

At Moda Operandi, which I joined shortly after its launch, I got a front-row seat to building a brand from the ground up. It was a startup environment, so I learned how to disrupt a traditional category, in this case, retail, to better serve and empower the customer. Lauren Santo Domingo’s approach showed me how thoughtful curation, attention to detail, and presentation create an elevated, seamless experience. No detail was ever too small, and every choice was made to make the customer feel confident and inspired.

At Saks Fifth Avenue, I honed skills in trend forecasting, brand strategy, and the full customer journey, while gaining deep insight into context and lifestyle—how products fit into people’s everyday lives and aspirations. My experiences in editorial and celebrity styling further reinforced the importance of storytelling that is visually compelling and desirable. Every image, ensemble, and display was designed to connect emotionally with the audience and inspire action.

Alongside my professional journey, I continued my education in my free time, taking courses like Disruptive Innovation with Clayton Christensen and Brand Strategy with Scott Galloway to hone my skills in entrepreneurship, strategy, and bringing a product or idea to market. These experiences complemented each other, and while no one is ever truly prepared to be a founder, I’ve found them incredibly helpful in shaping how I approach building Barrière.

Combining lessons from startup innovation, luxury retail, editorial storytelling, and continued education prepared me to launch Barrière. It taught me how to create a brand that feels both aspirational and accessible, visually compelling, and rooted in a deep understanding of customer needs, all while bringing together science, wellness, and personal expression in a direct-to-consumer format.

Barrière started with masks during the early days of COVID-19. Can you take us back to that moment?

My focus shifted at the beginning of the pandemic when, like many people, I became obsessed with self-protection. I was searching for masks and realized that the stylish ones weren’t effective, and the medical-grade ones were unattractive. Together with my partner, Alexa Adams, who has a background in technical design and healthcare supply chain, we created Barrière to provide products that were both protective and beautiful.

Masks were our first product, but very quickly, the project evolved. We realized that our customers weren’t just looking for protection, they wanted products that supported holistic self-care and wellness, items that made them feel empowered, confident, and intentional in their daily routines. That insight became the foundation for Barrière’s broader mission: creating functional, thoughtfully designed wellness products that are as beautiful as they are effective.

Your own iron and B12 deficiencies led you to seek better delivery methods. What did you learn about nutrient absorption, and how did those insights shape the design of your patches?

A standard blood panel revealed I was dangerously deficient in iron and B12, even though I’d been taking a multivitamin daily for over a decade. I learned that just taking a supplement doesn’t guarantee absorption. After months of injections and infusions, I wanted a reliable way to maintain my levels.

My doctor suggested transdermal delivery, which bypasses the digestive system and delivers nutrients directly through the skin. I tried existing patches, and while they worked, they were bulky, medical-looking, and inconvenient, you couldn’t get them wet, and I didn’t enjoy wearing them.

I realized that if I wanted my dream patch, we’d have to create it ourselves. That’s exactly what we did: developing a patch that is effective but easy to wear, sustainably made, hypoallergenic, water-resistant, vegan, and nearly invisible, yet still injects joy into the daily routine. I didn’t consider myself a wellness person before, but now I’m healthier than ever, and sticking to my routine has never been easier.

Patches bypass the digestive tract and deliver nutrients over 8 to 12 hours. Can you explain the science behind transdermal delivery and how you ensure consistent dosage and effectiveness?

Transdermal delivery is all about allowing active ingredients to be absorbed gradually through the skin and directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system. That means the nutrients aren’t broken down by stomach acid or first-pass metabolism, so they can be delivered more efficiently and consistently over time. Our patches are designed to release ingredients steadily over 8 to 12 hours, providing a slow, sustained absorption that supports optimal effectiveness without spikes or crashes.

Quality and consistency are absolutely core to what we do. Every batch is third-party tested to confirm that ingredient dosages match our packaging and claims, and all of our patches are manufactured in an MHRA-registered facility in the UK to ensure the highest standards of safety, quality, and precision. That level of rigor allows us to confidently deliver wellness solutions that are both effective and trustworthy.

Barrière recently achieved a breakthrough with NAD+ encapsulation in transdermal patches. Can you walk us through the technical challenges of stabilizing NAD+ for skin delivery, and what makes this innovation significant for anti-aging skincare?

Our NAD+ patch launched in May and quickly became our bestselling product, with the most subscriptions and one of the fastest sellouts we’ve seen. We developed it with Dr. Sogol Ash, a functional medicine practitioner and Medical Director of Concierge MD and Drip Hydration. Her experience with NAD+ IV therapy helped us translate the benefits into a patch while addressing the pain points of traditional delivery methods.

The patch uses micronized NR+, an NAD+ precursor that converts to NAD+ once absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream. The micronization process reduces particle size to allow effective transdermal absorption. We designed it for both experienced and new NAD+ users, strong enough for clients like Dr. Ash’s to use between appointments or while traveling, yet accessible for first-time users. Unlike IV therapy, which requires hours and appointments, the patch is simple, just two patches every other day, and in some cases can even be “felt” shortly after application. We spent extensive time testing and refining to balance efficacy, comfort, and accessibility.

Our goal was a dosage that’s effective, without common side effects, while keeping the patch practical in size, affordable (under $20 for a month’s supply), and made with high-quality, plant-powered ingredients in sustainable packaging.

What’s especially exciting about NAD+ from a skincare and longevity perspective is that it supports cellular energy, repair, and regeneration, all of which decline naturally with age. By helping replenish NAD+ levels, we’re supporting skin vitality from within, improving texture, elasticity, and overall radiance over time. It’s a true inside-out approach to anti-aging that complements topical skincare beautifully.

We’re thrilled with the results, both the data and customer feedback—and this innovation opens up a new category for us. We’re continuing to develop additional products that support healthy aging and “beauty from within” through transdermal delivery.

Your beauty routine patches combine biotin with other actives for hair, skin, and nail support. How do you approach formulating multi-benefit patches, and what feedback have you received from users integrating these into their beauty rituals?

We generally work on two tracks of development, which often overlap for customers. One track is single-ingredient vitamin patches—targeted daily recommended doses of essentials like vitamin D or B12. The other is multi-ingredient patches, which are designed around lifestyle goals or specific benefits.

Our Brains & Beauty patch is a great example of a formula that bridges both tracks. It contains iron, a common deficiency especially among women, while also addressing other concerns they may have—biotin for stronger hair, nails, and teeth; hyaluronic acid for hydration; and B12 for energy metabolism. We’re always thinking about how to make our customers’ lives easier, and patches like this allow them to address multiple needs in one simple step.

Many of our customers actually use both single- and multi-ingredient patches together, creating their own “stack” based on their goals and lifestyle, which is exactly the kind of flexibility we aim to support.

Beyond vitamins and beauty actives, your portfolio includes Travel Well and Daily Defense patches. How do you identify which wellness concerns translate effectively to patch format, and what categories are you exploring next?

When we identify new wellness opportunities, we focus on everyday needs that can be addressed with ingredients shown to work transdermally, and actually enhanced by being delivered in patch form. It’s not just about what’s possible scientifically, but what makes sense practically.

For example, our Travel Well and Daily Defense patches were created to simplify routines that would otherwise require taking multiple supplements in a variety of forms. Travel Well combines powerful adaptogens and botanicals, including horse chestnut seed extract, ashwagandha, and elderberry, to support circulation, calm, and immunity while traveling. Daily Defense blends minerals like zinc, herbal remedies such as elderberry and echinacea, and vitamin D for daily immune and stress support.

Having these formulas available in patch form makes wellness incredibly convenient, you can simply apply one at the first sign of feeling run down or before a long flight, instead of managing multiple pills or powders.

You view wellness products as wearable art. How do you balance aesthetics with functionality, and why is self expression important in wellness?

If a product is hard to wear, difficult to incorporate into daily life, or unattractive, people often won’t keep using it or enjoy using it. That’s why we focus on balancing aesthetics with functionality by designing patches that are both beautiful and effortless to wear. They go on as easily as a sticker, look like wearable art, and are comfortable and water-resistant—all while delivering a precise, effective blend of vitamins and adaptogens.

Self-expression is important in wellness because health routines are deeply personal. By making patches visually appealing and customizable, we allow people to express themselves while caring for their body. When wellness feels like an extension of your style, it transforms daily self-care into a joyful, empowering ritual. Plus, the visual nature of the patches makes them a conversation starter, often prompting our customers to share a bit about their wellness journey.

Barrière's patches use blends of vitamins, adaptogens and herbs. How do you select ingredients?

Transdermal delivery has been FDA-approved since 1979, but not all ingredients—whether vitamins, minerals, nutrients, or adaptogens, are suitable for this method. Because the skin is a natural barrier, active ingredients need to be small and stable enough to pass through and enter the bloodstream effectively. That’s why we focus exclusively on ingredients that are clinically studied and shown to work in transdermal form. For example, ingredients like magnesium, vitamin C, or collagen aren’t currently included because their molecular size prevents effective absorption through the skin. At our manufacturing facility, we ensure this by micronizing ingredient particles to under 50 microns and carefully selecting hydrophobic or hydrophilic forms depending on the ingredient’s properties.

When selecting ingredients, we are constantly looking for ways to bring solutions to everyday wellness problems or improve upon existing options. This starts with identifying gaps in the market, listening to our customers, and researching cutting-edge ingredients. From there, we collaborate closely with our lab to determine what is actually feasible in a patch. We always lead with the science—even if an ingredient is extremely popular or trending, like GLP-1s, we won’t pursue it unless there is evidence supporting its safety and effectiveness in a patch.

While this approach sometimes means we can’t deliver trendy products on demand, our customers appreciate our transparency and commitment to offering only the most effective, thoughtful solutions. Our goal is to ensure that every patch we create is not only innovative but genuinely works.

Convenience is a core pillar. What feedback have you received from customers about wearability, and how have you improved the design based on their input regarding comfort, adhesion or style?

Convenience is a core pillar for Barrière, and our customers’ feedback has been instrumental in shaping our products. People are looking for wellness solutions that integrate seamlessly into their lives—they don’t want to feel like self-care is a second job. Many have shared that overly complicated routines, dozens of single-ingredient products, and constant launches create fatigue. They want simplicity, trust, and breathing room in their wellness practices.

In response, we’ve focused on:

Multi-functionality: Creating products that truly solve multiple issues in one step.
Transparency: Clear, approachable ingredients and benefits, supported by simple infographics, short videos, and guided routines.
Ease of use: Optimizing adhesion, comfort, and wearability so that patches are intuitive to apply and unobtrusive throughout the day.
Consistency & ritual: Designing a product that feels effortless and fun to incorporate, helping it become a natural part of a daily routine.

By listening closely to our customers, we’ve refined our patches to be not just effective but stylish, comfortable, and reliable—so wellness can feel effortless, wherever someone is in their journey.

Looking beyond vitamin patches, what long term role do you see Barrière playing in the broader wellness ecosystem? What innovations are you excited to explore?

Looking beyond vitamin patches, I see Barrière shaping the future of wellness by fully leveraging the patch as a versatile delivery method and focusing on the patch category as a whole. The patch format itself has virtually unlimited potential, allowing us to develop innovative formulas, target diverse wellness goals, and create personalized self-care experiences that are convenient and engaging.

We’re carving out a new category where self-care meets self-expression, and by focusing exclusively on patches, we can continue to push the boundaries of what this format can do for people at every age and stage of life. In the long term, I see Barrière as a brand that empowers people to take control of their wellness in a way that’s personalized, seamless, and uniquely theirs.

Fashion is about storytelling and identity. How has your fashion background shaped Barrière's brand identity, packaging and communication?

My background in fashion has profoundly shaped Barrière’s brand identity, packaging, and communication. Fashion taught me how to tell stories visually and emotionally, how to connect with customers through design, and how every detail, from packaging to messaging, can reinforce a brand’s purpose and values.

At Saks, I focused on understanding what customers truly value—their needs, aspirations, and how they want to feel. That insight directly informed how we built Barrière: a brand centered on empathy, accessibility, and elevated design. At the same time, my experience in luxury retail clarified what I didn’t want Barrière to be. I wanted to create a brand that feels artistic and aspirational but is inclusive, approachable, and uncompromising in quality.

With a lifelong appreciation for aesthetics and a background in Art History, I approach Barrière as both a creative and a strategist. Our patches are functional but also visual statements—wearable works of art. Through thoughtful design, packaging, and communication, we blend the emotional intelligence of fashion with the science of wellness, creating a brand that helps customers feel supported, confident, and unapologetically themselves.

What does your personal skincare routine look like?

These days, my skincare routine is much more simplified, and a lot of that is thanks to Barrière. The patches have helped me maintain healthier levels of essential vitamins, which means I actually need less in my topical routine. They’ve also made wellness so easy that I find myself less interested in complicated routines and more focused on cycling through my “hero” products based on changing needs, goals, and seasons.

Since it’s cold and dry here in New York, hydration is key. In addition to my daily essential patch stack, I wear Skin Support patches formulated with hyaluronic acid, niacin, and copper peptides. It’s such an easy way to get extra hydration and skin support in just one step.

Every morning, I submerge my face in ice, a ritual wake-up call that I like to think does more than just wake me up! I’m diligent about sun protection, wearing SPF daily, and I get regular facials with Elizabeth Hand (Stalle Studios) for cleanups and to address seasonal concerns like hydration.

As we transition from fall to winter, these are some of my go-to products that I rotate or alternate depending on the time of day, keeping it to only a few steps, never all at once.

Cleanser: I like to keep it simple for everyday, usually CeraVe or the Anua Rice Enzyme Powder, which can double as a brightening mask when my skin looks dull. This time of year, when I need extra hydration, I reach for the Dr. Loretta Gentle Hydrating Cleanser.

SPF: Beauty of Joseon or Prequel Sun Barrier

Serums/Creams:

Prequel Multiquench Hydrating Serum

Environ C-Quence 1

Janine Knizia Superlifstar NAD⁺ Cell Energizing & Lifting Power Serum and facial elixir

Dr. Jason Diamond Metacine Instafacial

Sophie Pavitt Mandelic Clearing Serum or Sachi Clarifying Accelerator (when breaking out)

Glytone Lipid Repair Cream (this time of year especially!)

Are there any exciting projects or new formulas you're looking forward to launching?

So many! We’re launching the first of several new formulas in January, and it’s the perfect one to kick off the new year. We’ve been expanding our longevity-focused range and developing some really exciting, innovative formulas with Dr. Sogol Ash, one of which will be a follow-up to our NAD+ patch coming later next year. There’s also a patch I’m especially excited about that addresses a completely new wellness and lifestyle concern that many people deal with daily. It’s unlike anything we’ve done before and will launch with a new retail partner in Q2 of next year. We’ve been developing and testing it for a while, and it’s been a total game-changer for everyone who’s tried it.

Beyond product launches, we’re also exploring new collaborations and partnerships that take advantage of the patch as a creative medium. The format opens up amazing opportunities to co-create with different types of brands, medical experts, and partners—whether that’s custom limited-edition product collaborations, patches for events, or experiences, even corporate initiatives. We’re fortunate to be working with incredible experts like Dr. Sogol Ash and Dr. Cranston Klein, and with our lab team, to continue bringing the most innovative and thoughtful wellness, skincare, and lifestyle solutions to our community.