Newly-launched British sunscreen brand Oovii aims to own a space other kids’ sunscreens haven’t: Earning a daily spot in kids’ morning routines, rather than being reserved for outdoor activities. “We want SPF to become a part of their routine, like brushing teeth,” says Oovii co-founder Lucia Dailey.

With its first and only SKU, the £28 (approximately $38) Face First, SPF 30 mineral facial sunscreen, Oovii is entering one of the most in-demand subsegments of kids’ personal care. Of the estimated $38.6 billion global kids’ personal care market, skin care is the largest segment, making up 34.2% of global revenue in 2025, according to market research firm Dataintelo. As the beauty industry has become increasingly interested in the gen Alpha consumer, Oovii joins brands like Stellar Beauty Co., Prereq, Erly, Sincerely Yours and other upstarts that have debuted in the past year hoping to capture young consumers’ (and their parents’) attention as early as possible.

Within the buzzy kids’ skincare category, sun protection is one of the fastest-growing product groups. The mineral sunscreen market for babies alone represented a $1.82 billion global market last year and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% to reach $3.47 billion by 2034, Dataintelo estimates. Zinc oxide formulas like Face First accounted for over 62% of the segment’s sales.

Oovii, which rhymes with “groovy” and is a spin on how a child might pronounce “UV,” launched last month direct-to-consumer, but has been more than two years in the making. When Dailey’s daughter developed two noticeable scars on her face, her dermatologist advised that she wear facial SPF daily.

“We were told that if we wanted to avoid more invasive surgeries, she should be wearing SPF on her face every day,” Dailey says. “Up until that point, I had very much been one of those people who would only apply it for the pool or beach, despite being a daily SPF wearer myself as an adult.”

Dailey found herself on the hunt for an SPF that skipped chemical sunscreen filters and wasn’t too thick or chalky to wear everywhere. Her co-founder Harriet Haskell-Thomas was in the same boat. “She had been using mineral sun cream for years, but never quite found a product that she felt really happy with,” Dailey says.

Dailey and Haskell-Thomas both worked in the fashion world prior to launching Oovii. Dailey led PR for British jewelry brand Boodles and founded fashion label Seren London, while Haskell-Thomas was global head of styling at Net-a-Porter and a market editor at ELLE UK. For Oovii, they enlisted the help of dermatologists and cosmetic chemists to create Face First.

The product is formulated for children 6 months to 14 years old and uses non-nano zinc oxide to provide UVA and UVB protection without the “claggy—British slang for thick and sticky—effects” of traditional zinc lotions. Barrier-supporting ceramides and hyaluronic acid, soothing allantoin and softening vitamin E, jojoba esters and olive glyceride round out the formula.

Despite containing popular skincare ingredients, Oovii is deliberately drawing a distinction between sun protection and skincare. “There is obviously a huge amount going on within the wider industry around children and skincare, and we fundamentally disagree with children wearing skincare,” Dailey says. “They don’t need it. They need protection, which is what we’re giving them.”

Oovii’s packaging is just as important to the brand’s premise as the cream itself. In lieu of a traditional sunscreen tube, Face First’s pastel-colored airless pump jar designed to make it easier for children to dispense and apply the product on their own.

Each pot arrives with a sheet of stickers children can use to customize their jar. “Our customer is definitely the parent, but the child is obviously our user,” Dailey says. “By making it feel almost toy-like, we hope to encourage children to put it on their skin themselves.”

The United Kingdom has announced plans to restrict children under 16 from using social media, a move that is expected to take effect next spring. Dailey says the brand agrees children under 16 shouldn’t be on social media, and aims its mix of sun safety education and idyllic, sepia-toned imagery at parents.

Dailey and Haskell-Thomas’ fashion credentials are evident in Oovii’s cohesive branding. Its launch campaign includes a video featuring the founders’ children filmed at Lucia’s home in Oxfordshire, and the brand’s distinctly editorial aesthetic has already helped it attract attention and a growing following among fashion and beauty insiders—stylists, editors, and the like—on both sides of the pond.

“Our customer is definitely the parent, but the child is obviously our user. By making it feel almost toy-like, we hope to encourage children to put it on their skin themselves.”

“We felt very strongly about the brand and curating that really beautifully in an aspirational and inspirational way, so people would feel it’s a brand that they love and also have kind of known,” Dailey says.

At £28, Oovii sits at the premium end of children’s sun care, which Dailey attributes in part to the cost of mineral sunscreen ingredients. To lower cost (and waste) for repeat customers, the company plans to introduce a refill system so customers can replenish the original pot with a less expensive cartridge.

For now, Oovii is available exclusively in the United Kingdom through its direct-to-consumer channel. The direct-to-consumer-first strategy is intentional. Having previously sold her fashion brand through wholesale partners, Dailey felt the early stage of the business would be best spent focusing on Oovii’s relationship with parents, rather than retail partnerships.

“We really wanted to learn from customer feedback and grow from reputation rather than trying to scale at all costs,” Dailey says. “Unless you have really understood your product and owned your market, it’s very easy to get lost [at retail].”

Oovii’s cautious approach to growth is made possible by the brand being largely financed by its founders. The company was bootstrapped until June, when it accepted a small investment from a group of 10 angel investors. Dailey declined to disclose the amount raised.

Future growth is expected to come from both geographic and product expansion. Oovii is developing additional sun care SKUs for kids and plans to expand outside the UK, although it hasn’t set a timeline for international distribution.

For now, its biggest challenge will be getting consumers to latch onto the idea of daily sunscreen for kids. The National Health Service advises parents to consider sun protection anytime the UV index is 3 or higher, but Dailey knows from personal experience that many parents just aren’t doing it.

“Parents might find it overwhelming to put sun cream on their kids every day, but if they’re just increasing the amount they are using it…then we’ve done our job,” Dailey says. “Harriet and I are both mothers ourselves. We know what is important to us and what our children need and want, and hope that we will be able to deliver a brand that can do that for others, too.”