As we approach our first birthday, we are taking some time this month to reflect on and celebrate what’s at the core of Doré. And there’s nothing that defines us more than our French-ness.
Garance, our co-founder and namesake of our brand, was born in Corsica in the 1970s. Her youth was shaped by her access to nature and her island upbringing. She later made her way to the South of France - to Marseille - before landing in Paris in the aughts. Her experiences through these different landscapes of France carry with it something that is wholly French - not necessarily just Parisienne. Her approach to beauty is rooted in a tradition that crosses borders with a focus on the idea of lineage, and beauty secrets being passed from mother to daughter, or from sister to sister, starting at a young age. This idea of sharing advice, products and beauty secrets is what Doré was built upon. Garance and Emily spent years navigating the beauty world, learning about ingredients, treatments and products and created Doré to share with you the best of what they had discovered.
We think of Doré as a modern approach to French-pharmacy inspired beauty. The French Pharmacy is such a unique and special place and we wanted Doré to embody the values of what the idea of the French Pharmacy has come to represent in beauty, and share that with a global community. French Pharmacies can be trusted for safe products, often with a great selection for the most sensitive of skin, with many of them clinically tested by dermatologists for their efficacy. Products are often affordable and they are widely accessible - there are over 27,000 pharmacies in France. French pharmacy products are often the essentials of a great skincare routine, and products you come back to because they work after maybe trying a new trend. They are the tried and true - but why not make the formulas even safer, the packaging more sustainable and the products more sensorial?
Lastly, all Doré products are made in France. We worked with chemists and a lab just outside of Paris to develop our perfect formulas. Our partners knew exactly what we meant when we explained our idea of modern French Pharmacy products because they had also grown up with the same approach and same access to pharmacies that Garance had. While the components of our products - the packaging and ingredients - are sourced globally, many of our hero ingredients come from France. Everything makes its way to manufacturing facilities within France to be batched for final production and quality control.