Amid 60th anniversary, Yves Rocher leans in to 'dermo-botanical' beauty

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Interest in more natural beauty options is on the rise.

According to Precedence Research, a Canada/India-based company, the global market for natural and organic cosmetics is projected to grow to US$103.23 billion by 2034 from US$41.65 billion in 2024.

The shift has prompted some cosmetic companies to clean up ingredient lists and highlight natural inclusions, while others are leaning in to their plant-based roots.

“For us, it’s definitely not a trend,” says Alexa André, a doctor in pharmacy and the scientific communication manager at the French brand Yves Rocher.

Founded in a small town in northwestern France called La Gacilly, which is situated along the banks of the Aff River in the region of Bretagne, the company’s namesake founder long believed in the power of plant science.

“The more science advances, the more it validates nature,” Rocher once said.

This year, amid its 60th anniversary, the company is emphasizing its connection to natural ingredients by underscoring a buzzy word in its mission statement: dermo-botanical.

“Dermo-botanical beauty is really the link between the knowledge of the skin, and the knowledge of the plants and how they work together,” explains André. “Not only applying the plant on the skin, but really melting the intelligence of the plant and the way it works, and the way that you can transfer that to the skin.

“It’s really these two universes speaking together that make dermo-botanical beauty.”

The foundation of plant science being good for people has been a primary pillar since the start of Yves Rocher, she notes.

“Mr. Yves Rocher really had the scientific intuition that plants and nature is really in advance of the knowledge and expertise in a lot of fields. Especially in cosmetics,” André says. “And, as time has gone on, it’s given reason to Mr. Rocher to discover new molecules, new metabolites that are really interesting for the skin. That help to recover skin’s good function.”

A visit to the quiet, picture-perfect town of La Gacilly earlier this year offered a deep dive into that emphasis, starting with a walk-through of the brand’s open-air lab.

Located beside the head office for the company, the outdoor expanse features a wide variety of plants grown for research and use in its many product formulations.

Inside the facility, large basins filled with flowers in various stages of drying could be found. The vibrantly hued buttons of blooms would eventually end up, a guide noted, in a Yves Rocher formulation.

Among the many plants that are researched by the company, there’s a current flower of emphasis for Yves Rocher. It’s called the Orange Nasturtium.

A rather unassuming perennial flower with soft, fluttering petals and spindly stems, it happens to be an edible option (both the petals and the leaves).

Yves Rocher researchers have found this particular flower’s photodynamic mechanisms, which allow it to react to light, provide it with a “luminous intelligence” that they’ve tried to transfer to skin.

Extracting a patented ingredient from the Orange Nasturtium, the plant power combines with stabilized natural Vitamin C to address signs of skin aging and radiance, according to André.

Available in the newly released Glow Energie skin-care line, the collection aims to address early signs of fatigue on skin in order to stop it from becoming visible signs of aging.

Featuring six products — Glow Activating Serum, Glow Activating Cream, Glow Eye Care, Glow Recovery Oil, and Glow Peeling Mask — the collection is priced from $29.95 to $49.95 Canadian (available at select retailers and Yves Rocher boutiques in Quebec).

Postmedia News was a guest of Yves Rocher in France. The brand neither reviewed nor approved this article.