The French start-up, which aims to become the world leader in plant-based makeup, has just opened its first store in Paris. Already distributed by around 100 retailers worldwide, the company, which has already completed two rounds of funding, plans to accelerate its development with a new €1.5 million fundraising campaign via the Tudigo platform.
Le Rouge Français continues its successful disruptive journey in the beauty market.
The pioneer in makeup using plant-based pigments has just opened its very first store at 16 rue de Turenne, close to the legendary Place des Vosges, in the heart of Paris’ Marais district.
Immersive showroom
Le Rouge Français was founded in 2019 by Élodie Carpentier, a biotechnology engineer who began her career in the pharmaceutical industry and was the 2020 winner of the BFM Business Académie National Competition, and her husband, Salem Ghezaili, a business engineer.
Its first point of sale was designed “as an immersive showroom, a sensory showcase”, where visitors can discover the history of the brand and its products, test them, and touch the materials and textures.
Regular workshops and events will allow customers to better understand the products and their unique storytelling: setting itself apart from most brands in the sector, Le Rouge Français explains on its website that it has devoted three years of research to “the creation of a unique and patented process for extracting and infusing the coloring and biological properties of plants for cosmetic applications.”
Organic and Vegan
In its certified organic lipsticks and other cosmetics, Le Rouge Français uses the “original pigments and organic properties” of madder, roucou, sorghum, indigo, Damask rose, and hibiscus, “harvested in their native countries in order to preserve their natural environment and maintain the ancestral know-how of their cultivation.”
Denouncing the omnipresence (i.e., “99%”) of petrochemical colors in the global makeup industry, it boasts a range of nail polishes whose “bio-based formula” is “among the cleanest in the world,” with “nearly 81% natural plant-based ingredients” but also the inclusion of anthocyanins (natural pigments with powerful coloring properties) from red algae.
PETA-certified
In addition to packaging that complies with Ecocert certification, with 100% strictly recyclable materials, the brand has also made a stringent vegan commitment, certified by the international association PETA, guaranteeing that “none of its products contain ingredients derived from animals or are tested on them.”
Le Rouge Français prefers “other innovative alternatives such as rice wax instead of beeswax, or apple skin instead of animal leather.” The brand even goes so far as to ban the use of animal-derived dyes such as cochineal, a tiny insect measuring approximately 0.5 mm to 1 cm!
With this first store of its own, Le Rouge Français, which until now had been content with pop-ups under its own name, is entering a new phase.
In terms of distribution, the brand already has a significant presence. In addition to its e-commerce site, it is available in around 100 international outlets (including Neiman Marcus and Credo Beauty in the United States). And in France, Le Rouge Français will soon be available in the Nocibé chain of stores, starting with around 50 outlets.
Fundraising
Thanks to a series of funding rounds, at the end of which the founders still remain majority shareholders, Le Rouge Français has the means to achieve its ambitions. At the end of 2019, the brand completed an initial round of financing with Obratori, L’Occitane’s incubator, and BNP Développement, which was repeated in 2022 with the same investors, joined by the impact fund WinEquity and business angels.
Finally, since the beginning of July, the brand has launched a new €1.5 million fundraising campaign via the Tudigo platform, which specializes in unlisted investments, to support its industrialization and export growth. Accessible from €500, the campaign has already raised more than €175,000.
This is proof, if ever it were needed, that this beauty concept focused on sustainable development is generating interest. It is enough to fuel the ambitions of the company, which currently employs around ten people and aims to establish itself as the world leader in plant-based color in beauty! It is targeting €10 million in revenue by 2027.
Read also > Le Rouge Français innovates with a bio-based case and eco-refills
Featured photo: © Le Rouge Français
