SARROSI BALM

SARROSI BALM

The natural anti-chafe balm beauty editors couldn't stop talking about. Stylist, The Independent, Women's Fitness, Buzzfeed and an Amazon bestseller.

Sarrosi anti-chafe balm — Amazon bestseller brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm product — natural vegan anti-chafe balm brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm premium packaging — brand identity designed by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm premium packaging — brand identity designed by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm TikTok viral moment — 1.5 million views brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm TikTok viral moment — 1.5 million views brand built by Sarah McDonnell

Exploring the possibilities of type in motion and interaction through modern digital environments:

It was 2021. Lockdown had just lifted. My business partner Rosie, and I went for a walk and started talking about the thing that nobody really talks about. Chafing. The universal, painful, summer-ruining reality that almost every woman deals with and almost nobody admits to. The burning thighs in a dress. The ruined holiday outfit. The hot day that should have been perfect but wasn't because your skin had other ideas. We were two women who'd spent our careers building brands for the biggest companies in the world. And we were standing there thinking, why has nobody made something genuinely brilliant for this? The products that existed were clinical and grim. Medicated tubes in medicinal packaging that you'd shove to the back of a drawer and hope nobody saw. Zero joy. Zero beauty. Zero personality. For a problem that millions of women deal with every single summer.That was the gap. That was the idea. And that walk was the beginning of everything.

Sarrosi Balm lifestyle brand photography — built by Sarah McDonnell and co-founder Rosie

What happens when two brand experts stop advising and start doing.

We'd spent years telling clients how to build brands people love. How to find the white space. How to make something that connects. Sarrosi was the moment we stopped talking about it and actually did it. Two women. One big idea. No agency. No safety net. Just the knowledge, the instinct and an absolute refusal to make something boring. The product had to be everything the category wasn't. Natural, vegan, coconut-led, gorgeous to hold and even better to use. The packaging had to earn its place on a bathroom shelf. The brand had to make women feel seen and celebrated rather than embarrassed about something completely normal. We obsessed over every single detail because we knew exactly what good looked like and we weren't willing to settle for anything less. On Amazon our brand hit number #01 within the first 3 months. It was wild! And then TikTok happened. A video of my legs going viral with 1.5 million views was not something we had on the roadmap but that's the thing about a product that genuinely works. People share it. They evangelize. They tag their friends and say "this is the one." The TikTok shop took off. The reviews came flooding in. Women who tried it came back and bought it again and told everyone they knew. That is the best kind of marketing in the world and you cannot fake it.

Sarrosi natural vegan anti-chafe product range — Amazon number one brand by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm brand built by two brand experts — Sarah McDonnell London
Sarrosi six-figure brand turnover — built by Sarah McDonnell with no outside investment
Sarrosi Balm press coverage — Stylist The Independent Women's Fitness Buzzfeed
Sarrosi Balm press coverage — Stylist The Independent Women's Fitness Buzzfeed

What Sarrosi really gave us.

We built Sarrosi to six-figure turnover with no outside investment, no safety net and no rulebook. We had TikTok virality, press coverage, five star reviews, a genuine fanbase of women who loved what we'd made and kept coming back for more. Every penny went back in to grow it. When the funding conversations didn't land and the right acquisition offer didn't materialise, we made the hardest call and the smartest one. We wound it down on our terms, with our heads held high and an education you genuinely cannot buy. Sarrosi was our first. And first brands teach you things that nothing else ever could. We learned how to build from scratch. How to find a manufacturer, develop a formula, design packaging, write listings, run a TikTok shop, pitch to press, read the data and act on it fast. We learned what it feels like when a product genuinely connects with the people it was made for and how to protect that feeling at every touchpoint. The gap we spotted on that walk was real. The product we built was genuinely brilliant. The love from our customers was something we will never forget. And everything Sarrosi taught us shows up in every single brief we take on now. That walk changed everything. And we'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

SARROSI BALM

The natural anti-chafe balm beauty editors couldn't stop talking about. Stylist, The Independent, Women's Fitness, Buzzfeed and an Amazon bestseller.

Sarrosi anti-chafe balm — Amazon bestseller brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi anti-chafe balm — Amazon bestseller brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm product — natural vegan anti-chafe balm brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm product — natural vegan anti-chafe balm brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm premium packaging — brand identity designed by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm premium packaging — brand identity designed by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm TikTok viral moment — 1.5 million views brand built by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm TikTok viral moment — 1.5 million views brand built by Sarah McDonnell

Understanding emotional response through space, hierarchy, and visual restraint:

Sarrosi Balm lifestyle brand photography — built by Sarah McDonnell and co-founder Rosie
Sarrosi Balm lifestyle brand photography — built by Sarah McDonnell and co-founder Rosie

Creating interaction that feels intuitive, considered, and emotionally aligned:

Sarrosi natural vegan anti-chafe product range — Amazon number one brand by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi natural vegan anti-chafe product range — Amazon number one brand by Sarah McDonnell
Sarrosi Balm brand built by two brand experts — Sarah McDonnell London
Sarrosi Balm brand built by two brand experts — Sarah McDonnell London
Sarrosi six-figure brand turnover — built by Sarah McDonnell with no outside investment
Sarrosi six-figure brand turnover — built by Sarah McDonnell with no outside investment
Sarrosi Balm press coverage — Stylist The Independent Women's Fitness Buzzfeed
Sarrosi Balm press coverage — Stylist The Independent Women's Fitness Buzzfeed

Balancing order and creativity for expressive user interfaces:

WHO I WORK WITH...

working with

01

Global Brands

02

Startups & VCs

03

Agencies

Global Brands

Startups & VCs

Agencies