free as a bird
Texas mineral SPF 'skin tint' wins pitch slam, advances nationally
Daybird's formula doesn't leave the white cast characteristic of many mineral sunscreens.
Time to clear out your makeup bag and medicine cabinets: A new Austin brand is ready to take a prime space in your skincare routine. Tinted sunscreen brand Daybird has been around for a minute, but a recent win at the Naturally Austin 2024 pitch slam means you could start seeing it everywhere soon.
Marketing itself as an “anti-beauty beauty club,” Daybird seeks to take the stress out of self-care, helping its users wear less while benefiting more. According to the company’s website, the idea stemmed from a desire to “dissociate from traditional standards of what ‘beauty’ and ‘perfection’ mean.”
“More steps and more products to cover and cure our faces didn’t resonate with us,” write co-founders Whitney McElwain and Veena Krishnan on the site. “We were looking for a product that did more for our skin without adding unnecessary stress to our mornings.”
The pair set out to rethink their routines and redefine their relationship with beauty, pooling feedback from a variety of like-minded consumers across the shade spectrum with different skin goals. The result was a vegan, cruelty-free, and mineral SPF 50 product that packs the 4-in-1 functions of sunscreen, serum, moisturizer, and sheer tint. Available in four shades, the product is water and sweat resistant up to 80 minutes with no white cast, no fragrance, and no parabens.
Best of all, you can wear this with good conscience on your next beach trip. Chemical sunscreens can cause coral bleaching with ingredients like oxybenzone, octinoxate, or avobenzone. Mineral sunscreens that use non-nano zinc oxide, like Daybird, are considered coral safe. Do-gooders in this department often end up with vaguely ghostly faces, which these tints eliminate.
This quadruple threat is no doubt what secured the brand its place among six other finalists at Naturally Austin’s 2024 pitch slam — a Shark Tank-style competition judged by a panel of experts from major corporations like Sam’s Club and Whole Foods.
With a mission to foster the growing natural products and consumer packaged goods (CPG) community in Austin, Naturally Austin is a nonprofit organization and affiliate of the Naturally Network, which has branches all over the country. Winners of the local chapter’s annual pitch slam competition go on to pitch on a national stage at Expo East and to host a booth at Newtopia Now in Denver, which takes place from August 25-28, 2024.
While the national exposure is sure to rocket the local brand to the next level, major publications such as Forbes, theSkimm, and Oprah Daily have already had their eye on the Austin brand. And you don’t have to wait to find it on store shelves, either: Prospective customers can find the perfect shade by visiting the Skin Quiz page on the Daybird website.
Houston-based designer Christy Lynn Lee and her husband Christophe Chung.Photo by Quy Tran 
Shoppers can peruse the ready-to-wear Resort 2025 Collection at the River Oaks District pop-up. Photo courtesy of Christy Lynn
Christy Lynn Lee celebrated her 5 year anniversary with a fashion show and the debut of her River Oaks District pop-up. Photo by Quy Tran 
