Cosmetics firm earns state grant, tax incentives for Iowa facilities

A company that makes cosmetics customized to the genetic makeup of the wearer has received a state grant and tax incentive package essential to its plans to open research facilities in Iowa City and Coralville.

National Genecular Institute Inc. is part of California-based Dermacia Inc.

NGI expanded its research and development operation to the University of Iowa's Oakdale Research Park in Coralville early this year. It uses a gene mapping system to determine a customer's genetic predisposition to skin conditions so they can be addressed with customized products to battle signs of aging and other problems.

A new face for cosmetics

You may not have heard of Lisa Price yet.

Just wait. You will.

Price is gaining fame quickly for parlaying her hobby - cooking up fragrances and skin cream in her Brooklyn, N.Y., kitchen - into Carol's Daughter, a successful, thriving business with enough body care products to fill an 80-page catalog.

She has been featured on Oprah. Hollywood couple Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith became her customers, then endorsers, then investors. Her company recently opened its second boutique, a flagship store on historic 125th Street in Harlem. Luxury cosmetics chain Sephora sells her products in 35 stores, and 40 more stores - including the Sephora store in Tampa - should begin carrying the line next year.

"When I first started making these products in my house, I thought, at best, I'd have this cottage industry that would allow me to be a stay-at-home mom," she told The Tampa Tribune in a telephone interview last week.

"I never thought it would be what it is now."