by Megan Moyer, corporate marketing manager, as appeared in Inside Beauty for Drug Store News
For twin sisters Dr. Felice Chan and Heather Chan, founders of Moonbow, yin and yang—the fundamental
principle in Chinese culture representing complementary opposites—is a recurrent theme in both their relationship and their business.
“It’s about polarities coexisting,” said Dr. Felice. “A moon in Chinese medicine is very yin in nature, meaning it’s very dormant, it’s quiet, it’s feminine. And a rainbow is the exact opposite. We say it’s the yang, it’s fiery, it’s colorful, it’s the daytime. And so we wanted to represent a moonbow through a Chinese medicine lens, and when we were ideating, Moonbow made so much sense. Heather and I are twin sisters, and we’re identical, but we’re truly the yin and yang of each other. The duality of yin and yang exists in our ethos with bringing eastern medicine to the Western world and combining traditional Chinese medicine herbs with Western science.”
Born in Hong Kong, the sisters moved to the United States and were pursuing vastly different careers. Heather was in private equity and Dr. Felice was pursuing Western medicine. They both struggled with health issues. For Heather, it was gut health, and for Dr. Felice, it was acne.
“It was a function of stress due to these different lifestyles, to foods, to everything. And so, as a way to heal, we went back to traditional Chinese medicine and to our culture to heal,” Heather explained. That’s when Dr. Felice left Western medicine to study Eastern medicine to obtain her doctorate in acupuncture.
Heather said that healing included consistent acupuncture, living a slower lifestyle, making time for meditation, taking herbs, eating healthy foods and a focus on overall holistic health. “Because of our personal journeys, we wanted to share how powerful traditional Chinese medicine is with Western consumers,” she said.
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Because skin is the largest organ, the sisters settled on skin care products and created Moonbow in March 2025. Their hero ingredient is wild chrysanthemum flower, which is designed to calm and target reactive skin.
“It’s this beautiful yellow flower that we grew up drinking during dim sum. For tea, it’s really cooling internally and helps with inflammation after a heavy meal; it has the same effect on your skin where it really helps with inflammation and redness, and so we created this line to help with reactive skin,” Heather said.
“We wanted to redefine the sensitive skin category because sensitive almost has a note of fragility to it—as if the skin could be fragile and you’re trying to fix it. Whereas reactivity, it’s about what is the root cause of any reaction on the skin,” Heather continued. “And in Chinese medicine, everything is about the root cause. Everything is about, ‘Why is your skin reacting? Is it your lifestyle, your stress? Is it the food you’re eating? Is it too little sleep? Is it alcohol?’ You know, whatever it is, we wanted to redefine that.”
“That’s why we built Moonbow. Our products focus on the reactivity and calm the whole body holistically with a mix of Chinese herbs and Western science and innovation as well,” Dr. Felice added. “I think that’s a huge differentiator—that we combine East and West ingredients. We are traditional Chinese medicine enhanced by Western science, essentially.”
“Because Felice is a doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, she can incorporate expert advice not just on skin care, but also what you eat, and how you live your life,” Heather said. “Everything that she shares on socials really encapsulates our brand.”
Dr. Felice has more than 800,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and her content focuses on education. She says many of her followers are, for the most part, experiencing Chinese medicine for the first time. While she emphasizes Chinese medicine’s role in holistic health, she also advocates for preventative health tools specifically for skin health.
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The company is selling direct-to-consumer but working toward getting on retail shelves. They were part of the Ulta Beauty MUSE Accelerator cohort in 2025. “Ulta really takes good care of us as founders and made us feel very special. I think the whole program is just so thoughtfully curated,” Heather said. “We go back to our notes from the Accelerator just to understand and inform our decisions as we continue to grow. After 11 weeks we pitched to investors and also buyers. As minority women in beauty, it’s an opportunity to really be in the same playing field.”
Their first launch was their three-step routine: Reset Soothing Cleanser, Renew Barrier Boosting Serum and Reflect Luminizing Moisturizer. Their top product is the Reflect Luminizing Moisturizer. “Our hero ingredient, chrysanthemum, is in every product, and we paired it with pearl powder in our moisturizer alongside five to eight different Chinese medicine herbs,” Heather said. “Pearl powder is literally crushed up pearls. It was something, growing up, that we put on our skin to heal wounds and acne scars. We wanted something to heal the skin and also calm reactivity and help with brightness.”
Moonbow offers other products that are more specific to traditional Chinese medicine, such as their Gua Sha tool which is made from Bian stone. They also sell an Ear Seed Kit. “Ear seeds are basically stickers on your ear that activate acupressure points that can help with all ailments from stress to anxiety,” Dr. Felice explained. “This is our whole belief of holistic health. Yes, we are skin care first and foremost, but we also share products that help holistically to create better skin.”
In addition to finding their customers via social media channels, Dr. Felice operates an in-person clinic in Los Angeles practicing acupuncture and dispensing Chinese herbs. “I’m a practitioner at heart. And it’s something I’ll never let go because it brings me so much joy.” The clinic patients are often the first to test and try Moonbow products.
Between social media and Dr. Felice’s clinic, Moonbow is building a thoughtful community. “What’s great about social media, especially Instagram, is you can have chat channels where we engage our customers and give them insights. For example, we’re releasing a lip treatment later this year and asked them what tip they prefer,” Dr. Felice said. “Heather and I interview at least one customer a week to really understand how they found the brand, why they like it and who they are. We can really dig deep into who our true customers are.”
Moonbow will launch lip oils with traditional Chinese medicine ingredients at the end of this year. Their products are cruelty free and Leaping Bunny certified. “We hit Credo Clean and Sephora Clean standards,” Heather added.
Educating about Chinese medicine or Chinese culture to the underserved AAPI community is one of the ways Moonbow gives back. The sisters agreed that educating about Chinese medicine is fulfilling because it’s something that transformed their lives and their community.
“What’s also unique about Moonbow is that we’re not a product-first brand,” Heather said. “There’s a lot of beauty brands that are product first. We are philosophy first. That really opens an opportunity to share about our culture and philosophy.”