These French brands that are inventing the beauty of tomorrow
An anti-aging from banana waste, custom-made lipsticks, perfumes developed by algorithm… Here are some of the ideas that germinated in the huge greenhouse that is Station F, Xavier Niel's project inaugurated in Paris in June 2017, the largest start-up campus in the world. “Innovations in the world of beauty and cosmetics are among the subjects most dealt with by our entrepreneurs, notes Roxanne Varza, its director. The fact that we have a dedicated programme, operated by L'Oréal, shows that there is interest in the subject. “Last year in France, the cosmetics industry posted a 12% increase and exported 13.6 billion euros (Febea figures). A record! We have never seen so many business creations, launched either by groups but by independents, thirty-somethings out of business schools or employees of major brands, for whom fundraising is a lunch like any other.
Incubation platform
The digital revolution has been there and most of the giants in the sector (L'Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Puig, etc.) even dedicate incubation platforms to them and/ or private equity funds. “ For a year and a half, the world has literally changed. A young generation is in the process of renewing the profession and its creativity is mind-blowing, emphasizes Camille Kroely, Director of Digital Open Innovation at L'Oréal and of the start-up support program at Station F. We make our expertise available to them, especially scientific. When a group with a turnover of 26 billion is interested in a start-up company, you have to see more than an economic model: a way of sharing, a desire to transmit. Together, we co-create the beauty of the future. »
This favorable context is not everything, it takes a lot of qualities to emerge in this ultra-competitive industry. What is the profile of these startuppers? What do they have in common? “ A different idea, which brings something to the sector or resonates strongly with the concerns of customers today… and tomorrow ”, answers Camille Kroely. Either ecology, naturalness, personalization, "made in France", artificial intelligence or even atypical distribution networks. But beyond the concept, there is of course the human. “ These new shoots are based on a passionate founder - or team - determined to change the world. »
Find beauty products to boost facial radiance
Beauty products to boost facial radiance See the slideshow10 photosNicolas Gerlier (39), La Bouche Rouge, reds anti-waste lipstick
This Parisian with a model CV - dual training in finance and art history, marketing management of Lancôme and Armani at L'Oréal - decided two and a half years ago to slam the door and to put all his savings into a business he has been building up for a long time : applying to make-up an industrial process (which he keeps secret) from the pharmacy, capable of manufacturing formulas in small series, without waste. Today lipsticks but why not, soon, foundations or perfumes... First cosmetic project incubated within Station F, hosted in the LVMH laboratory, La Bouche Rouge, co-founded with artistic director Ezra Petronio, immediately seduces her world: top Anja Rubik lends her image, make-up artist Wendy Rowe creates her colors, Le Bon Marché allocates her a space... Behind the glamorous postcard, water problems (for a red purchased, 100 liters of drinking water "donated" to an association for children in the Kemerida region of Togo) and the seventh continent of plastic.
Gerlier wants to give meaning to one of the most polluting industries and prove that beauty, like fashion and food, can be consumed differently. “A billion tubes of red per year in the world are bought and therefore thrown away. Imagine the ecological disaster, in addition to the pollution linked to upstream manufacturing. I worked in cosmetics for ten years, I can see how it works: the old-fashioned way. Beyond profit, we can no longer think as we did under the postwar boom. Quality must replace quantity. With La Bouche Rouge, I wanted to create the desire to buy less to buy better. » The success of its custom colors (we can reproduce any color for you), with refillable cases, designed without plastic (in Morbihan) and covered with leather treated in one of the oldest tanneries in France, is already making the big names in luxury think.
www.laboucherougeparis.fr
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Judith Levy and Juliette Couturier, (27), Even, cosmetics for cancer patients
It's a success story that begins with a tragedy: at 19, Judith Levy lost her mother to breast cancer. A few years later she met Juliette Couturier (opening photo) during an internship at L'Oréal. Same age, same story, same desire for entrepreneurship: complementary, the former industrial design student and the ex-Sciences Po and HEC created the first brand of beauty products for women undergoing cancer treatment. “ In the pharmacies where I went for my mum, there was a plethora of creams against wrinkles and redness, but nothing for skin damaged by treatments or against hand-foot syndrome. However, we know that the reconquest of femininity, which allows us to be stronger psychologically to fight against the disease, goes through this, explains Judith Levy. We thought we would develop our range in a year, we took almost two and a half years: the formulation part in particular, between the regulations and the clinical tests, was long. »
Also read » Cosmetics during cancer
In their pretty cases, with positive titles, the mist for the scalp irritated by wearing a wig, the gloves and slippers for the hands and feet weakened by the treatment, the cleansing oil for the shower, immediately affect the patients, their relatives, the pharmacists who call them, directly, to distribute them. Their blog, started from the start of the project, ensured communication. Logically, the pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre, which owns Avène dermocosmetics, approached the founders of Even in 2017 and offered to help them grow thanks to its sales teams and its network of medical representatives before, a little later, taking a stake. (minority).
www.memecosmetics.fr
Maxime Garcia-Janin, (28), Sillages Paris, perfumes developed by algorithm
Maxime Garcia-Janin was a marketing product manager at L'Oréal (Armani) before launching, in 2016 , his start-up on a postulate: “20-35 year olds no longer buy perfume because they are frustrated that they are offered overpriced and/or standardized juices. 3.5 million French people have stopped buying their bottle from a traditional beauty chain over the past five years. Under the HEC Station F incubator, he is developing an algorithm validated by noses, which allows everyone to compose their personalized fragrance on the Internet. The bottle arrives at home, with a tester. You don't like it? You send it back and you are 100% refunded.
“ Digital is not a pretext, it has allowed us to completely reinvent the model. We communicate directly and constantly with our customers, we don't need a muse, a media plan, or a distributor: all our money is in the juice. We sell 83 € a formula that a classic brand would be “forced” to charge 210 €. Do people ask for a 15ml format or a particular note? We offer them a few weeks later. Everything is going very fast, very far. Sillages Paris will soon open its laboratory to the general public as well as a pop-up store at Bon Marché. And, ironically, was selected by Bold, L'Oréal's investment fund, to receive the first participation (again, very minority) from the French giant.
www.sillagesparis.com
Mathilde Lacombe (31), Likes, food supplements on Instagram
As a child, Mathilde Lacombe did not dream of being a businesswoman but editor-in-chief of Elle magazine. “ After studying literature, I did an internship there and I even published a few articles !, she recalls. But very quickly, I had the idea of Jolie Box and I had to make a choice. She was only 23 when, in 2011, she set up her small business of beauty boxes sold online, which was quickly bought by the American Birchbox. At the same time, she runs her blog "La vie en blonde". Last year, she founded Aime, a visionary food supplement brand in France: the young Rémoise is convinced that the future of cosmetics lies in a more holistic approach.
With the help of François Morrier, one of her partners in the Jolie Box adventure, she invested her personal funds and surrounded herself with anonymous business angels. What makes all the difference? A community of 107,000 subscribers on Instagram. “Without them, Aime would never have seen the light of day. Unlike a traditional start-up, I did not need to do any market research. I knew that this audience could potentially be interested in it. Today, their comments and recommendations are sources of inspiration for imagining products that meet their expectations. For the moment, three cocktails of plant-based capsules, vitamins and probiotics (“ because when the intestine goes, everything goes ”) formulated by micronutritionist Valérie Espinasse to restore the radiance of the skin of the interior.
www.aime.co
Also read » Foods to eat for beautiful skin
Marc Briant-Terlet and Kim Mazzilli (32 and 33), Horace, men's skincare without clichés
Before creating Horace in 2016, Marc Briant-Terlet worked in the marketing department of Vans in Paris when Kim Mazzilli was a business analyst for Cirque du Soleil. “We were two users with the same observation, says Mr. Briant-Terlet. We couldn't find anything on the market except green brands at exorbitant prices or accessible prices but low-end formulas. The two Frenchmen invest all their savings in the development of their first skincare products, a face cleanser and a 100% natural mattifying moisturizer. A year later, they organize their first fundraiser with business angels, also outside the seraglio of cosmetics.
“ Oddly, we benefited from more attentive ears among fashion people, who had already observed the change in mentality of men in their locker room. Thus, a new generation no longer hides to go shopping and apply creams… without being women like the others. You have to talk to them differently, get out of stereotypes. What the duo understood: “We have recruited two full-time people to answer questions about the e-shop via chat or on social networks. They manage nearly 300 conversations a day and a webzine intended to defuse a lot of preconceived ideas through practical advice and decryptions. A sales experience " for guys and with them " transposed last year in two pop-up stores in Paris, before opening a store soon. “ Because our customers ask us for it. »
www.horace.co
