Why Bubble Skincare Isn’t Just Riding the Viral Wave, It’s Redefining It

From boardrooms to bubble wrap: a cross-sector beauty journey

Bonnie Szucs didn’t come up through the typical beauty marketing track. Her early career began in analytics at Deloitte before moving into finance roles at MAC Cosmetics, where she climbed quickly and then consciously pivoted. Encouraged by a mentor to “leave the Monopoly money” of corporate giants and experience real ownership, Szucs joined Bleach London during its early startup phase. That shift, she said, gave her a complete operational view, from supply chain chaos to P&L pressure, just as COVID hit.

It’s that mix of commercial acuity and startup resilience that now shapes her approach at Bubble, one of Gen Z skincare’s most closely watched breakout brands.

What makes a modern mass skincare brand actually matter?

Founded just four years ago by Shai Eisenman, Bubble isn’t built like most mass-market skincare brands. It’s still founder-led, still independent, and still community-driven, something Szucs views as a strategic edge in a market increasingly dominated by private equity and corporate consolidation.

She attributes the brand’s growth to three pillars:

1. Clinical efficacy through in-house chemist-developed formulas

2. Community-led product development, with nearly 100,000 engaged users

3. Accessible retail presence, from price point to tone of voice to in-store rollout

Szucs calls it “older sibling energy”, approachable, knowledgeable, but never preachy. That sensibility carries through everything from packaging to TikTok captions.

Educating without gatekeeping: the under-18 skincare dilemma

Bubble is deliberately entering territory others treat as taboo: skincare for teens and tweens. But Szucs is clear this is not about pushing product on kids. It’s about meeting them where they already are and doing it responsibly.

The brand conducts clinical safety testing on products for users as young as eight, one of the only indie skincare brands to do so and pairs that with parent-focused education on ingredients, routines, and skincare literacy.

Rather than gatekeep skincare as something for adults only, Bubble is trying to normalize it as a form of self-care and confidence building. For Szucs, treating this demographic with respect, not condescension, is non-negotiable.

Tapping virality but leading with product

Bubble’s origin story is tightly linked to TikTok, where the brand went viral in its early days. But Szucs is quick to separate attention from substance. Discovery, she says, may happen through social media, but retention happens through the product.

The brand uses TikTok not just for visibility but as a launch testbed observing pre-launch buzz, engagement quality, and shareability as predictors of performance. Upcoming product drops like “Cosmic Silk,” a new milky toner, are already generating traction before hitting shelves.

Metrics aren’t just likes and views, they include save rates, tags, comment sentiment, and share volume. And while attribution isn’t always clean, the team has seen strong correlations between follower growth and retail velocity.

Inside the Scrub Daddy stunt: why “fun” is a metric

One of Bubble’s most talked-about campaigns wasn’t performance-led, it was pure creative chaos. Partnering with Scrub Daddy, the brand faked a TikTok turf war over the title of “GOAT of Clean,” culminating in Scrub Daddy “scrubbing” Bubble’s entire TikTok feed clean.

Hundreds of videos were manually archived, sparking confusion, intrigue, and thousands of user comments begging for an explanation. Szucs calls it a win, not for revenue, but for memorability. “If fun can be a metric, this was it,” she said.

More importantly, it brought the brand into new cultural territory, expanded its reach beyond beauty, and reinforced its identity as a challenger with a sense of humor.

Affiliates, AI, and what’s next

While influencer networks and platforms like LTK play a role, Bubble remains grounded in grassroots marketing, a strategy Szucs believes too many brands abandon too early. When the brand launched in Ulta, it split its budget between creators and store-level welcome packs. The latter, she said, had a clearer impact on brand perception inside the retailer.

On AI, Bubble is just beginning to implement automation across CX, email, and social listening. The brand’s aggressive growth phase made process optimization hard to prioritize but that’s changing now. As the team stabilizes, Szucs sees AI as a tool for efficiency and insight, not a substitute for intuition.

Leading through culture, not just commerce

Asked how her team stays ahead of rapid consumer shifts, from AI to Gen Alpha, Szucs points back to community proximity. The team stays in daily dialogue with their users, surfaces trends through them, and hires people who live the culture they’re marketing to.

The result is a brand that doesn’t just respond to what’s happening, it helps shape it.

And beneath all the growth charts and viral loops, Szucs still finds the deepest reward in the personal stories. One that stood out: a young woman who, after years of struggling with acne, finally had the confidence to leave the house thanks to Bubble. It’s those moments, she says, that ground the work in something real.

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