15-05-2025
I'm Super Skeptical About Celebrity Skincare Lines—but Savannah James May Have Just Converted Me
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Half of my job as a beauty editor in 2025 is testing out celebrity beauty brands. My inbox is full of emails announcing the next new popstar, actor, model, nepo baby, or random Hollywood someone coming for my beauty routine. At this point, I'm definitely more than a bit tired of it...I'm frickin' exhausted. But two names in one subject line piqued my interest: Savannah James and Nick Axelrod-Welk.
You might know her as the wife of LeBron James; I know her as a hometown hero. Like her, I also hail from Northeast Ohio (a mere 20 minutes from where she grew up and met her husband in high school), where we know of the James family as so much more than basketball stars, but also philanthropers, parents, and entrepreneurs. Nick Axelrod-Welk, on the other hand, is somewhat of a modern-day beauty pioneer. He cofounded Into the Gloss, the editorial platform for Glossier, and worked as their editorial director before cofounding bodycare brand Nécessaire and homecare line Homecourt with Courteney Cox.
Now, the two are joining forces on Reframe Beauty: A skincare line that takes a clinical approach without the same cold exterior. Launching with three products on May 15, Reframe Beauty is meant to be a brand for everyone. They partnered with Howard University's College of Medicine to run a first-of-its-kind clinical study on every single Fitzpatrick skin tone, ensuring that all products were not only safe but effective for the deepest skin tones that are often left out of medical conversations.
Ahead of the launch, I spoke with Savannah about what it was like launching a new beauty brand, the story behind her obsession with skincare, and her go-to self-care practices amidst being a (very) busy person.$115.00 at $95.00 at $135.00 at
I've been an avid beauty lover. I'm a Sephora VIB Rouge. I love browsing the aisles and looking at all the latest and greatest and trying all of the things.
What really started this journey was my daughter. She told me she wants to be like me. It was so sweet, but so terrifying. And her reasons were super cute. "Mom, you do your makeup so well!" But that hit me like a ton of bricks, and I really had to reevaluate who I was outside of being a mom and wife. I kind of took a step back. I started to go on a personal development journey and realized that I want to make my mark in the beauty space. It's always been super fascinating. It's ever-evolving, and I think that I can contribute to the industry.
I like to work from the foundation up. So with this brand, I wanted to start the foundation and be able to build on top of it. I love going to my aesthetician. I love going to dermatologists to be recommended things that I know will work for me, because they usually have a higher level of active ingredients. They work, but they don't look great. But then, while I'm in Sephora and I'm seeing all these amazing, beautiful products, I don't really understand how they work or what they'll do for my skin. Then, I'm thinking about my daughter, who is using products that don't necessarily speak to me.
I kind of wrapped all of those things into thinking about what I want this brand to be, and I feel like we've executed that with highly clinically studied products.
I want it to be digestible to the real world. It's clinical skincare for the real world. Skincare that you can understand. We want to keep things really simple. I'm very much still learning. I'm very curious, so I'll stay on an ever-evolving journey of knowledge and curiosity. So, even with this product, I am not an expert, but I surrounded myself with experts to be able to help me gain knowledge.
I wanted to make sure that we were coming out of the gate with an accredited institution. Yeah, there are many ways to do clinical trials and studies, but we wanted to make sure that ours was going to solidify that we're really putting our money where our mouth is, and making sure that we are creating a product that is going to work across the Fitzpatrick scale was important.
Exactly. So we've been very intentional with that. That's another reason why I wanted to create this brand is because I didn't feel spoken to in that way as well. I wanted to make sure that everyone felt seen.
He's brought in his expertise, his vision, his edge—all of those things are what we have been able to collaborate on and bring life to this brand. He has been amazing to work with because he's very blunt and dry. This is gonna work, this isn't right, he'll say, and I appreciate that. Like I said, I'm still evolving, so getting education from him has been invaluable.
The name did not come easily. When naming my children, it just flies off the top of our heads. But because this meant so much to me, and I also wanted it to mean something to other people, it was so hard to think of a name. I was going back and forth on whiteboards. But I do my best thinking in the shower. And one time, in the shower, I thought of it and knew, oh my gosh, this is the name.
It's basically just coming from the fact that we want to reframe the way that clinical skincare is looked at in its approach. We're making sure that the entire Fitzpatrick scale is accounted for, making sure that we are really intentional with our clinical studies, and also just the way that we're looking at skincare. When you think of clinical, it's not pretty or fun. But we're fun and cute. I wanted to reframe the way people look at skincare in that way.
Since formulation, these are the only products I've used. We've gone through so many iterations of what works, what doesn't, and different textures. But I have a very simple routine, and that's part of the reason why we started with three products, because we want you to be able to try things and just incorporate a product or two into your regular routine. You don't have to buy a 12-step system to feel confident. Any incorporation of these products will work.
Every day, I wash my face and use our Pigment Processor serum. I'm a skin picker, so I've got some hyperpigmentation I want to work on fading, and this has an overall brightening effect on my skin. I follow up with our Compression Complex, which is our day cream. It has amazing hydration benefits, but also some really cool technology that keeps all the good in but blocks blue light. It's also instant gratification and has an immediate snatching effect, which I love. At night, I'll use our Circadian Cream, which is our night cream, after washing my face and using my actives (I love peel pads with chemical exfoliants). And this locks in everything and puts my skin to sleep.
It looks like making time for myself. I'm a firm believer that you cannot work from a cup that's half full in any capacity. So I enjoy my moments. I tell my kids all the time, if you can't find me, don't look. I love hanging out with my friends, and I love self-care practices, getting a lymphatic drainage massage, or sitting in the sauna—little things like that. That's where I find my balance and my peace.
I know it doesn't seem like a beauty practice, but drinking water. I'm a water girlie. Yes, I do drink coffee on a daily basis, but I make up for it with how much water I drink. I think detoxing is really important. I love sweating things out, getting lymphatic drainage massages.
I don't know if it's that crazy, but I think that something that's really beneficial is moisturizing while you're wet. That's one thing that I read once, and I was like, oh, that makes so much sense. And I've done it ever since.
This interview has been edited and condensed for Might Also Like
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