Sound Of Nature

We speak to the french founder of caudalie, Mathilde Thomas, on the importance of clean, sustainable beauty, her beauty tips and secrets, and a “maskne” cleansing routine

- Kimberly Ong

Today, the term “clean beauty” has become ubiquitous in the beauty world. But way before it was a trend, Mathilde Thomas was quietly spearheading this movement.

It all started in 1993, when she was studying to become a perfume “nose” in Nice. “‘Do you know that you are throwing away treasures?’ This was the sentence that changed my life,” she said upon her meeting with Dr. Joseph Vercauteren, a professor from the University of Pharmacy at Bordeaux, where she discovered the amazing antioxidant powers of grape seed Polyphenols and grapevines. Two years later, she launched Caudalie, a luxury skincare brand centered around the power of plants. Together with her husband Bertrand, they were pioneers in clean beauty – removing sodium laurel sulfates, phthalates, colouring, parabens and animal ingredients in as early as 2005.

Why is the clean beauty conversation still of relevance today?

The clean-beauty movement is a no-brainer. I believe customers shouldn’t choose between natural and effective products – effective should not have to meant aggressive and irritating. And people should not feel bad for the planet when indulging themselves with beauty products because of packaging and waste.

I created Caudalie to be the most effective of the natural clean skincare products and the most sustainable of the beauty brands. So, we do everything we can to honour this mission – we avoid all the nasty ingredients that are unsafe, irritating, non-biodegradable and harmful to the environment. We produce and present our products in the most eco-conscious and sustainable way.