How was the brand born?
Me and the founder, Veronica Susman, have a complementary background. I always worked in the cosmetics. Skincare, makeup, perfume, and haircare. So, in product development. And Veronique has more experience in big group like Carrefour. When she wanted to launch a skincare brand we met, and it was love at the first sight for work and so we start everything together.
I have tried your cream and other products and they are great. Today it is so important to have brands like yours, completely natural, for the health of ourselves and our planet.
Yes, they are 100% natural. You usually find cosmetic products that are 99% or 99.5% cosmetic because for the technical part it is very difficult to have all natural. The pleasant texture of the cream can be achieved with a small amount of chemicals. Therefore, our products are extremely innovative. They are with ingredients that are good for the skin and that are not harmful. I have never found such a brand like this. In the companies where I worked before, they always said that it was impossible to have a 100% natural product. When we started the project, we saw that in France there are many laboratories, but none were able to make a 100% natural product. We didn’t give up and eventually found one willing to do so.
In your experience, why do you think others were unwilling to do this?
The market changes really quickly. Few years ago for example we wanted the glitter or the colors in the face masks or other particular things. In the past nobody take care so much about natural things. The needed of the costumers are changed now. They want natural products, so I think that the laboratories are trying to change but they need more time. For now, as sustainable brand we have this strong advantage because we wanted that everything would be natural but I think that in the future all the brands will be able to do it. The small lab that we have found in Brittany in France they believe in natural cosmetics since long time. It was funny because at the beginning nobody wants to work with us and now, we have so many companies that would like to do.
You have opened a new path for natural cosmetics. Is magnificent! Underlying your brand are six principles: rethink, reject, reduce, relocate, reuse, recycle. Could you explain better their meaning applied to products?
With this brand we are rethinking the way we consume by separating the skincare product from its jar, and thus having the possibility to buy back only the product. The interest is then economic as the packaging with us represents only 5% of the cost of the product while on average it represents 50% in the current cosmetic industry. We reject all controversial ingredients, derived from petrochemicals and of animal origin. We reduce the number of products needed by introducing an equally effective minimalist daily beauty routine. Thanks to our refill system and the optimization of the size of our packaging, we also reduce single-use waste by 90%. The relocation principle refers to the design, supply and production located in France. 100% of our assets are French and 100% of our packaging is French. Reuse refers to the cosmetic jar which in addition to being a design object is very resistant so that it can last for a long time. We opted for a concrete cosmetic jar because it is the material that consumes the least energy during its manufacture (84 g of Co2 against 92 g for glass, 100 g for PP plastic and 312 g for aluminum). Finally recycle. All our packaging is mono-material to facilitate its handling through the recycling channels and thus allow them to be 100% recyclable.
Have you launched any new products for this summer?
Yes, a soap without soap. The procedure we followed to make it is different from the usual procedure used for soaps. The pH is 5.7 therefore very close to the pH of the skin. Soap is usually 10 ph, so it’s not good for sensitive skin. With this ph good for washing hands only but not for face and body. When the pH is much higher or much lower, the skin always suffers. Our soap is made from organic oils and is therefore perfect for all skin types. We also launched a refill body oil whose packaging is 50% apple fiber based. We have tried to find new ways, always to follow our principles. Body oil is really easy to use. And the smell is really good. It was important for us to make a package that was easy to transport. The roll-on is also wonderful because you can change the glass ball and of course refill the jar.
During this time, we know it’s important to create sustainable actions and products, but for you, for your brand in particular, why is it so important to be sustainable?
When Veronica and I started the project, we said we wanted to create something in line with our personal values. I think it is really necessary when starting a business to have a clear direction and what the underlying philosophy is. A few years ago, we didn’t think so often about sustainability but now with all the things that happened like Covid, the climate disaster, we can’t say it doesn’t exist. We must try our best to create something that is healthy for the skin and for the planet. We really want to create a sense of total well-being. We convinced ourselves to propose something different. We thought that if the packaging is beautiful it would make people more likely to refill and keep it. If the roll-on is easy and has a nice packaging it is better to refill it than to have a bottle of oil that when you use it you spread oil everywhere.
I agree because when you have to change something in your routine it’s easy to do it if you have something beautiful, comfortable, that creates something pleasant for you.
We are flexible for cosmetics. We propose a solution, we find a compromise to customer needs. And we are really confident that technology and laboratories will offer more and more sustainable options but we don’t want to forget that taking care of yourself is a luxury that many people in the world do not have. Have other concerns such as how can I survive? How can I buy food for my children? We must not feel guilty if we take care of ourselves, but we must remember that it is a privilege and therefore do it in the best possible way and not forget those who do not have this luck. We’re not the kind of company that says, “We’re the best, we can change the world.” Yes, we are trying to do our best, but many companies do too. I also think it’s important to be honest with people. They get a lot of information so you have to be honest. It’s stupid to lie and write something that isn’t true.
People are more aware. They look carefully at the products and the supply chain. What are the main ingredients you use?
In almost all of our products you can find chlorella algae from Brittany, which is excellent for detoxifying and maintaining healthy skin. The apple extract obtained from biotechnology, so it is not necessary to take all the resources from the food you eat thus helping many countries whose resources are scarce. Another ingredient is vitamin C, raspberry and peach. We also have a particular technology. Some of these principles are microencapsulated. They are micro spheres that when they break allow the cream to penetrate 15% more into the epidermis.
How do you imagine the future of your products?
I think there will be a lot of innovation in the future but to get back to basics. I would like to create a unique soap for example for the feet, the face so as to have a minor impact on the environment to produce it. Furthermore, I would like to have lighter products to transport them better and with an excellent result also from a sensorial point of view.
Could you give some advice to the readers of Bloom as you are? How can we find the best cream for us? And how can you tell if a cream is of high quality?
That’s a really good question. When you try on a pair of sneakers, you try to understand if they fit you well, if you are comfortable in wearing them. And the same goes for clothes and also for creams. When someone or a friend tells me that he is happy with his cream I tell him: don’t change it! So it’s a question of whether your skin is comfortable with that product or not, whether you are happy with your skin or not. So to decide which cream to use you must always follow your sensations.
What is essential for our beauty routine? Sometimes our lifestyle is so hectic that we leave out the basic things we should be doing.
It is important to always clean your skin before going to bed, especially if you live in a very polluted big city. At night the skin regenerates so it is important to have it clean. It is also very important to exfoliate and moisturize it. Especially exfoliation stimulates blood flow.
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