Dermalume founder François Merle-Baudoin was born in Grasse, the legendary town of perfume in Provence, France. So it’s no surprise he has created a range of natural products that contain the best of fragrance blended with skin care. He shares his unique story with Retail Beauty.
How long ago did you start the brand? Why?
At one of my wife’s birthday parties, I came up with the idea of blending pure fragrance into skin care products, allowing the fragrance to create physical and mental pleasure for my wife, as a birthday gift. So, after many trials, I finally found the perfect blend of the two formula ratios. My wife was much very moved and named the product Dermalume. In French, ‘derma’ means skin and ‘lume’ means luminous. Hence, Dermalume the brand was born four years ago.
Which is your favourite product in the range and why?
No.1 Velvet Roses Hand Therapy. It is very interesting because some florals can be common and familiar. It is red but here is a more romantic and narcotic exploration. It is more feminine. I think what is good about this collection is that every fragrance is very interesting and we can touch different people within the collection.
What do you consider to be your greatest success?
Starting Dermalume. Blending pure fragrance into skincare, that’s my greatest success.
What has been the most valuable learning in your career?
The most difficult part comes at the end. It is about knowing whether to stop or whether we are to continue. Do we have a good result? A good fragrance? It’s knowing when to stop formulating a product – it is as good as it can be.
What advice would you give to the next generation of brand creators?
The first step to polishing your personal brand is knowing what’s already out there. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Identify your own strengths and work on them. Be unique.
How do you maintain a work / life balance?
Prioritise your time.
What makes the brand unique?
Dermalume is unique because all our products use 100% natural ingredients, yet we are highly focused on aromas that can take you all over the world. Scent brings back memories and can be an indulgent escape. Scent and fragrance, however, have a bad stigma in the cosmetic industry specifically skincare yet, Dermalume changes the narrative and concept of scent setting them apart from other skincare companies. Using all-natural ingredients and essential oils that not only smell incredible but are full of antioxidants, vitamins and healing properties, nourishing skin. Dermalume creates products where nature and fragrance work coherently.
What is next for Dermalume?
Dermalume is always conducting continuous research on different plants in their laboratories and finding the best combinations of plant extracted essential oil to create a product that can provide noticeable benefits. Through continued testing Dermalume wishes to continuously expand and grow our products and range, Dermalume is already on that path after releasing their comprehensive oils last month. Dermalume also realises how much nature gives to us and how important is to maintain and do our part in giving back to nature. Therefore, Dermalume is looking to partner with organisations and give to charities that work towards combatting problems that are detrimental to the health of natural environments.