Beauty Bosses: Kara Kelly, Monica Reese and Summer Rice, Co-Founders of Lure
Kara Kelly, Summer Rice and Monica Reese.
Our latest Beauty Bosses are Kara Kelly, Monica Reese and Summer Rice, Co-founders of Lure—a line of premium and clean CBD self-care products. The longtime friends sent out to fill a void in the market by creating products that are effective, luxurious and stimulating to the senses in design, touch and scent.
What’s the Difference Between CBD and Hemp Products?
The Lure line consists of multi-tasking essentials that are intended to be part of one’s everyday wellness and clean beauty routines and are third-party tested. Developed with health, pleasure, relaxation and emotional wellness in mind, their offerings are made from the highest-quality formulas and organic ingredients. They are also free from pesticides, lead, artificial flavors, gluten, and animal by-products.
The Perfect CBD Bath: CBD Bath Bombs, CBD Bath Salts, and More
We chatted with the three co-founders, who shared the inspiration behind the brand, secrets for success, wellness tips, favorite beauty products, and much more.
When was Lure founded and what does the name mean?
Lure was founded in June of 2019, and officially launched in August of 2020. The name Lure comes from a famous Jean Houston quote: “The soul is the essence of who and what we are. It is the lure of our becoming.” This quote is all about being your true self, your soulful self. When we feel calm, healthy and joyful, we are connecting to that soulful self.
What inspired the creation of the brand?
With over 35 years of friendship between us, we set out to fill a void in the market and create what we couldn’t find anywhere else. From celebrating milestones, to experiencing the major life transitions that come with age, we want our community to feel seen and heard and believe that soul-nourishing pleasure and joy are the keys to looking and feeling more beautiful every day.
Our shared source of inspiration came from our personal experiences with the benefits of CBD. A difficult chaotic childhood, anxiety from years of infertility and night after night of disrupted sleep led us each to the healing properties of CBD initially. Like many Gen X women, we have many roles including being mothers, wives, daughters, caregivers and professionals, so we wanted to create effortless, hard-working, multi-tasking essentials, a stark contrast to the product overload seen in women’s vanities today. For us, Lure marks the end of more stuff—and a move to get back to basics to reach the best versions of ourselves every day.
Does Lure have a hero product?
The Calming Drops (formerly Original Premium CBD Oil), our flagship product, is the most flexible, therefore the best to keep handy for all needs. However, the Intimacy Oil is quickly becoming our hero product. It’s the one that people don’t talk about but definitely slide into our DMs and texts with amazing and personal feedback!
Lure is a line of luxurious, clean, hemp-derived self-care products that have been developed with health, pleasure, relaxation and emotional wellness in mind.
What are your favorite products from the brand?
It’s too hard to pick just one! We’ve developed each product with your health, pleasure, relaxation, and emotional wellness in mind. Our Lure line consists of just a few, luxurious, multi-tasking essentials that should be part of your everyday wellness and clean beauty routines.
Where are Lure products sold?
Our products are currently sold on our website and madewell.com under their “Brands We Love” category. You can also find Lure at Neighborhood Goods in all three locations (Chelsea Market, Austin, Plano) and a handful of small boutiques in Oakland, CA and Upstate New York.
Future plans for the brand?
We are excited to expand our roster of products and will be launching a few products focused for the body, bath and nighttime and daily gummies for whole-body balance and sleep. We are an (inner) beauty brand so as we develop new products we start with our own needs, then think about how that ripples out to our communities needs and then innovate from there. We also will be rolling out some elevated packaging and new brand design elements which put sustainability and functionality as key considerations.
Who inspires you?
We are inspired by women who own where they are in their lives. Women who embrace the beauty of the journey. We want to change the way the wellness and beauty industry speaks to and develops products for the 40+ woman. As a society, we tend to write women off once they reach a certain age, but guess what? We are not done, and we are not invisible. At Lure, we look at aging as a daily opportunity to feel better and know that we want sophisticated, healing brands that understand that beauty is not defined by an age. We want to create a movement to encourage woman to speak up about the rampant health disparity with topics like sexual wellness, shared pain points, and overall wellness as we age.
Secret to success?
Align yourself with experts who are experienced in your specific space. Be confident in what you know and learn to acknowledge the things that you don’t. When everyone is free to bring their individual strengths to a project, that’s when the magic happens.
The Lure line consists of multi-tasking essentials that are intended to be part of one’s everyday wellness and clean beauty routines.
Beauty secrets?
We feel a strong pull to get back to a more minimalist life, and to have a better understanding of what works best for us. We now look for products that are really multi-taskers, beautiful, high-quality products that aren’t fussy, but actually work.
Wellness tips?
A well body and mind is a gift. It is so crucial to acknowledge the basics of eating better (which means more plant based), sleeping more, exercising frequently and drinking lots of water. Putting these healthy foundational elements in place creates a divine circle of wellness that helps everything else run more smoothly. With more energy and positivity, our creative juices flow more easily, our work gets done more efficiently and we live in the present. While initially making healthier choices can feel like more work, when done consistently over time, they make life easier and more productive. You’ll slowly start to see that the outside world becomes a reflection of who you are and how you feel on the inside.
Best advice?
We’d encourage everyone to grow something edible. Whether it is on the ledge of your apartment, on your kitchen table or in your backyard. Grow something fresh and versatile—like mint or herbs, for example. You can use them in water, in your food, in your bath. It helps you discover the wonders of fresh whole foods and the satisfaction that comes with growing them on your own.
How do you like to relax?
We like to relax by completely unplugging and having uninterrupted time with friends and family!
For more information, visit Lure’s website and follow on Instagram: @thelurelife
[Images courtesy of Lure]
Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk