Holts Contemporary Blog | Holt Renfrew

I met with Alex Chantecaille the director of sales for her family run cosmetics business before her Beauty Media Seminar at Holt Renfrew. My good friend from New York always raved about Chantecaille products (as does David Beckham and Brad Pitt!) so I took the opportunity to sit down and find out what all the fabulous cosmetics gossip surrounding this line was.

1. In high end retail stores all over the world the Chantecaille counter is next to Chanel, Shiseido, Estee Lauder…but your prestige doesn’t come from glorious history or glamorous advertising but from purity and a deep genuine respect for the beauty of nature…

I think what makes us stand out from other brands is that we put all our money literally back into the product instead of the marketing. We spend a lot of energy on finding the highest quality ingredients…it’s like making a wonderful meal from scratch rather than from the can.
When my mother started her company she first went to the Japanese for the foundations because their formulas are so cutting edge, the Swiss for the skincare because all the craft there is so ancient in terms of the quality of how to process botanicals to achieve the most potent effect, Italy for the color and France for our flower water and rosewater which are the heart of the line.

2. Do you find that a lot of the awareness for your line comes from word of mouth?

We believe that word of mouth creates a stronger fabric of business because it’s based off genuine interest. Doing events at stores and having people be engaged in the experience together has helped us tremendously but so has seeing our name all over various websites and blogs. Our customers have always come back after they try our products and say “I can’t believe I have found this line, finally I have something that works for me”.

3. Your line of makeup aims to draw attention to the plight of endangered species like the Bengali tigers, monarch butterflies or marine life in the high seas…

We are committed to the oceans and it’s in many ways our big cause not only as a family but also as a company. For the spring we are looking at doing something specifically helping fund a project in Greece for common bottle nose dolphins. They used to be everywhere there and now there are only 15 left. The more we learn the more aware we are by the urgency of these situations and want to share them with our customers.

4. You are in Vancouver for the launch of Chantecaille in Holt Renfrew…What kind of woman do you see wearing it?

My mother wanted to create cosmetics for women such as herself; a modern woman that wants something to heal her skin and allow it to shine through. It’s someone who wants efficiency and effortless beauty and that’s what we have created.