Tower 28

The breakthrough product began as a tip from a friend. Amy Liu, eczema-prone since adulthood and frustrated that years inside the beauty industry had given her access to products she still couldn't use, was told about hypochlorous acid, a gentle antimicrobial the body itself releases to calm and clean wounded skin. The problem was that the molecule is notoriously unstable. Liu's team scoured labs for someone who could keep it intact in a bottle, then spent years dialing in pH and concentration until it was tuned specifically for facial skin rather than the wound-care settings where the ingredient had long been used.

That patience is the real founding story. Liu, a first-generation Taiwanese American who grew up near the Santa Monica beach the brand is named for, deliberately built a company around the most reactive skin and then made it broad enough for everyone. She launched with color cosmetics first, wanting to prove the concept before the skincare followed, and resisted outside money early on so she could keep the standards uncompromising.

Then timing did what no marketing budget could. The SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray, a stripped-down formula built on that hard-won stable hypochlorous acid, arrived just as pandemic mask-wearing sent maskne complaints soaring. The mist went viral, drew celebrity fans, and turned a small clean brand into a cult name almost overnight.

What keeps it credible is that the formulas genuinely avoid common sensitizers rather than just claiming to, and the prices stay reasonable for the category. Hypochlorous acid is not a cure, and a face mist alone won't resolve serious eczema or rosacea; it is a soothing, barrier-friendly adjunct, best understood as a calming first step for angry, reactive skin. The most reassuring detail is simply that it was built by someone who personally needed it to work, not by a marketing team chasing a wellness trend.

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