Skin in the game: How a first-time founder built a $60-million beauty empire

Samantha Appel is disrupting the beauty industry with The Skin Bar, her rapidly growing chain of non-surgical skincare salons, but her founder journey is profoundly personal.

In an industry dominated by the quest for eternal youth, cosmetic injectables have become de rigueur for women of all ages. Once a tightly held secret, treatments such as Botox, dermal fillers, and fat injections are worn now with pride, a taut, plump badge of honour. Not everyone is on the bandwagon, however.  

Meet Samantha Appel, an Australian entrepreneur disrupting the beauty industry and pioneering the “Notox” movement, which promotes non-invasive, non-toxic aesthetic procedures such as massage, LED light therapy, and products with active ingredients such as peptides and retinol.  

Founder of The Skin Bar, a rapidly growing chain of non-surgical skincare salons, Appel has taken the business from scratch to a $60 million valuation in just a few years. From a young, struggling single mum to sole owner of 10 thriving clinics across three states in four years, her business journey is the stuff of legend. With an in-house product line, ten more clinics due to open this year and international expansion touted for the next, she’s not slowing down.  

“We’re also building a virtual skin clinic for people unable to access our brick-and-mortar clinics,” says Appel. “Utilising our expert therapists and, potentially, AI technology, we’ll provide clients with personalised skin analysis and advice, no matter where they are.”  

More than skin deep

Appel’s founder story is profoundly personal. The skincare mogul has battled severe cystic acne since her teens, a condition characterised by pus-filled bumps formed under the skin that can cause pain and scarring. Living with this chronic condition can crush anyone’s confidence, and treatment typically combines medications and invasive procedures, with negligible efficacy.  

Frustrated with traditional skin and laser clinics that jumped from zero to expensive, invasive procedures as soon as she walked in the door, preying on vulnerable young people, Appel decided to take matters into her own hands.  

“I remember dermatologists and therapists prescribing quick fix treatments like injectables, fillers, and lasers,” she says, “and none of it worked; they were Band-Aid solutions at best. I also noticed a fundamental lack of understanding of my condition, and it felt like no one ever took me seriously. That feeling of powerlessness became my driving force.”  

At 25, Appel was disillusioned with her advertising job and consumed with finding effective treatment for her persistent acne. She’d always dreamed of owning a business, but lacked inspiration for the right product or service.  

“Then that lightbulb flickered,” she says, “and I thought if I could just find someone to help me with my skin, I’d love to do the same for others.”  

Appel soon left the corporate world for student life, enrolling first in beauty school and later in a general science degree. Once qualified, she started an entry-level position in a franchise beauty clinic where she experienced first-hand the lack of training and education often afforded staff in such establishments.  

Eventually, she branched out alone, offering mobile beauty services “from Newcastle to the Southern Highlands”, and working gruelling 14-hour days to make ends meet. Armed with a strong, loyal customer base, she opened the flagship The Skin Bar in Cronulla in 2020. While this timing could have been a disaster, Appel adapted and innovated, using the pandemic to her advantage.  

“During COVID-19,” says Appel, “I did virtual consults and sold customisable face care kits, connecting with customers and leveraging lockdowns as best I could. I was busy! Then, when lockdown restrictions ended, we opened our Double Bay clinic and another three soon after. So I look at that time as a positive.”  

Setting a high Bar

The Skin Bar is Australia’s only dedicated skin needling chain. Also called microneedling, this toxin-free, minimally invasive procedure stimulates collagen  

and elastin production, refining fine lines, reducing scarring and pigmentation, and improving overall texture.  

Needling is how Samantha Appel finally successfully treated her own skin, and her mission is to help others do the same. Each client receives a customised treatment  

plan based on their unique skin concerns and goals, and a dedicated team of Senior Dermal Therapists are as passionate about boosting their clients’ confidence as they are about treating their skin.  

The Skin Bar also specialises in other non-injectable skincare solutions that complement skin needling, including clinical-grade facials, LED light therapy,  

and peels. Appel’s ground-breaking, results-driven approach prioritises consistent, innovative, and science-backed treatments and promotes customised long-term skin health over generic superficial stopgaps.  

As the wellness movement grows and the beauty industry slowly shifts from aggressive treatments and artificial aesthetics to holistic, skin-first methodologies that prioritise skin health and celebrate natural beauty, Appel isn’t riding the trend; she’s setting it.  

Young love

The Skin Bar’s doors are open to teens with skin concerns, with consent from parents or guardians. Appel is passionate about helping young people through injection-free treatment and encouraging healthy relationships with their skin. She is “horrified” by how social media influencers and beauty brands push anti-injectables onto teens, capitalising on their naivety and self-consciousness.  

“You see teenagers buying those cheap products and their faces burning, or spending hundreds of dollars on makeup they don’t need. We shouldn’t be encouraging young girls to cover up their skin. It should be about wearing sunscreen, cleansing, and moisturising.”  

Appel uses The Skin Bar’s social media to counter pro-anti-injectables marketing and widespread misinformation concerning early intervention and preventative treatments.  

“The messaging is ‘inject now and prevent wrinkles from forming,’ which is untrue. They’re going to form wrinkles anyway, and if anything, they’re going to build up a resistance to the product, and it’s going to be completely ineffective when they may need it in their late 30s and 40s. It’s just leveraging their vulnerability.”  

A world of opportunities 

Samantha Appel founded The Skin Bar with nothing but ambition and hope. Five years later, with a $60-million valuation and sights on international expansion, she will soon take it global. In a world obsessed with anti-aging, The Skin Bar is unashamedly pro-skin. And for anyone seeking an alternative to needle-first, short-term solutions, Appel’s injectable-free ethos is undoubtedly the future. 

Learn more at theskinbar.com.au