Mānuka honey is entering the spotlight with Aunu.
Former Victoria Beckham Beauty chief operating officer and chief financial officer Jennifer Krouse is launching Aunu, a skin care brand centered around medical-grade Mānuka honey. The lineup includes the Mānuka Cleanser, $58; Mānuka Cream, $88; Mānuka Essence, $110; Mānuka Mask, $76, and Mānuka Salve, $68, which is formulated for concentrated areas of irritation such as acne or dry patches. The products are EWG-verified and approved by the National Eczema Association. The brand is estimated to reach $5 million in sales its first year, per industry sources.
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The brand, created in partnership with New Zealand-based medical-grade Mānuka honey producer Comvita, is now direct-to-consumer and at a network of dermatologists and aestheticians, including Dr. Adam Geyer’s Tribeca Park Dermatology, New York Dermatology Group and Ställe Studios. Geyer also worked with Krouse to develop the formulas, which he has been testing on post-treatment patients.
While Krouse, who is also the brand’s chief executive officer, is gearing up to launch Aunu, Mānuka honey has always been a staple in her life.
“I grew up in Asia, and holistic wellness was more common in households,” she said. “My mother always had it in the house, and we would always take it.”
Following her pregnancy and evolving career, Krouse began dealing with sensitive, irritated skin and was struggling to find safe, but effective products. In 2024, she met the CEO of Comvita, which is now the exclusive supplier for Aunu and the only one to provide medical-grade Mānuka honey called Medihoney that is FDA-cleared for wounds and burns.
“Learning about [Mānuka honey’s] incredible properties as a topical skin treatment and ingredient was eye-opening,” she said.
Geyer added: “It’s an antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, efficient hydrator and a powerful source of antioxidants.”
According to Geyer, its antimicrobial property is the most unique and unlike any other ingredient on the market, given its additional benefits. The antimicrobial property is also unique as it doesn’t remove beneficial bacteria from the skin.
Given its multiple use cases, Krouse said the brand has “trademarked something [called] the Mānuka effect, which is what you get with these four synergistic activities that are always working together.”
To prove the efficacy of the products, the brand held clinical trials validated using skin-testing devices and expert grading, as well as consumer perception studies on a population of people with at least 50 percent reporting sensitive skin. The results were overwhelmingly positive, showing improvements in skin quality, elasticity, hydration and texture.
Geyer has also been testing the products in his practice and is seeing success amongst patients who have recently undergone treatments like lasers and peels.
“We’re planning on doing more split face work, where we can actually have photographic comparison of some of the more obvious lasers that have extended healing time, like Moxi, where someone has debris on the skin for about seven to 10 days,” he said. “It’s making the healing much faster.”
Krouse added: “We feel strongly that this professional network is something that’s important to us, because the way that the products are developed and the ingredient is meaningful for consumers that may be going to those providers.”
Aunu’s ability to sit in a dermatologist’s office, aesthetician’s studio and traditional retail is a key differentiator for Krouse.
“Aunu’s distinction here in the market is taking this position of a medical-grade natural skin care brand,” she said. “The Mānuka honey that we use is exclusively the same ingredient base as the Comvita Medihoney.”
This is further demonstrated by the concentration of Mānuka honey Aunu is using in conjunction with complementary ingredients.
“The average active ingredient in skin care can be generally around 1 to 3 percent,” Krouse said. “We use 8 to 20 percent in our formulas.…To develop around the Mānuka, we’ve taken this approach of augmenting it with other ingredients that are beneficial for that product-type use.”
In terms of what’s next for the brand, Krouse and Geyer both see a plethora of additional use cases for Aunu’s medical-grade Mānuka honey.
“There’s so many different areas of opportunity here, of how we think about starting with this ingredient and expanding it into other product,” Krouse said. “I would love to go into [acne,] children’s, even pet care, body and hair.”
