After twelve years spent in a cosmetics multinational company as a makeup product development manager, Priscille Charton wanted to give life to her own idea of more responsible cosmetics.
“Day after day, I increasingly felt like applying eco-design to product innovation. The offering of clean makeup is limited, because the market is less mature than clean skincare: things are technically more complex. I was aware of the urgency to innovate differently in this field,” says Priscille Charton, co-founder of Eclo with Julien Callède and Marin Susac.
Together, they created a makeup brand “not to make beauty rhyme with guilty”.
“I wanted efficient formulas that would satisfy consumers’ senses, but with zero ecotoxicity. So, both the formulas and packaging needed to be biodegradable,” adds the founder.
In fact, the formulas designed to be applied with the finger are packed in Finnish startup Sulapac’s small, fully biodegradable round jars. The cap’s colour helps identify the product family: four lipsticks, red and pink with universal shades; three blushes, peach, bronze, and pink; and four highly mineral, nature-inspired eye shadow shades. A concealing foundation range should come out next fall, as well as a mascara.
All products are Cosmos-Organic-certified and 100% of natural origin, made from vegetable wax and mineral pigments. They are made in Brittany, in the Rance Bay, in the Western part of France.
The first regenerative beauty brand
The Eclo concept goes beyond formula and packaging naturalness. It is based on regenerative farming, which preserves the quality of farming soils by protecting living organisms.
“We worked with the association called Pour une Agriculture du Vivant to set up a list of raw materials that were good for both the skin and soils,” explains Priscille Charton.
Three ingredients were selected for the first range.
Hemp from Brittany provides eye shadow formulas with soothing and moisturizing benefits. Also, it cleans up soils by absorbing toxins and heavy metals, and it resists climatic variations without requiring much water.
Rye is used in blushes to confer a natural healthy look. “This plant boasts kilometres of roots abundant with biodiversity. It is a habitat for living organisms: worms, mushrooms, rodents… It creates regenerated soils on which anything that grows is richer in nutrients and more nourishing,” says Priscille Charton.
As for lipsticks, algae from the Rance Bay (in Brittany) were chosen for their smoothing, plumping properties. “They represent an essential part of the marine ecosystem. We ensure their preservation with reasonable, reasoned cultures,” explains the founder.
The partnership with the association Agriculture Pour le Vivant is also aimed to educate the cosmetics industry as regards the use of this type of ingredients.
“It is a brand new concept with which our industry is not familiar. We are the first members of this association to be part of the cosmetics sector. We are leading the way. We mean to state that if one uses natural raw materials in their formulas, they should have grown in a sustainable manner, by giving the land its full powers back. To this aim, we need to educate not only ingredient suppliers, but also producers, so they consider supplying the cosmetics industry, not just the food industry. It works both ways,” explains Priscille Charton.
In addition, Eclo is a partner of 1% For The Planet, so they give part of their turnover to an association which helps preserve the environment.
At the end of the ongoing crowdfunding campaign, the products will be available online on the brand’s e-shop, and then in concept stores. “We have already received a lot of business requests, because our concept is innovative. It all goes so fast,” concludes the founder.
