The Quality Makers: Garance Doré of Doré

Garance Doré lives between Paris, Morocco and the U.S. Fashion blogger turned skincare legendaire, she embodies French beauty for women all over the world. Internationally recognized for her illustrations, street style photographs and writing, Garance returned to her French roots through the creation of Doré: a modern beauty brand with a commitment to sustainability, transparency and simplicity. She merged her love of simplicity with a want to deliver clean, gentle, and effective Made-in-France skincare for everyone. Founded in 2022, Doré is designed for less time in the mirror and more time in the moment. Read her story below.

What’s the story behind the name Doré?

I was one of the first fashion bloggers that ever existed. I started in 2006 by writing stories about my life and doing illustrations. Soon enough, I moved to Paris, I picked up a camera and I started taking photos of people on the street. That's how I got my first break. At that time, no one used their real name online. What people did was choose a fake surname. I didn’t want to use a name that sounded strange, so I made up Doré. It means golden. It’s also the name of legendary illustrator Gustave Doré. And now it’s my last name as well.

What led you from fashion to skincare?

Years went by after I first started my blog, and it was getting more and more successful. I started becoming an authority in fashion, and in beauty as well. Brands were sending me products because they were interested in the influence I had. Soon after, I began meeting with the creators behind the beauty brands. 

I’ve always had a very deep interest in beauty. As a photographer, I was exploring what makes a woman beautiful. I learned about the power of confidence, and what I learned on the job allowed me to slowly define what my vision of beauty is. When I first moved to the U.S., I realized that French culture, in terms of beauty, is quite different from the American understanding. How women buy their products and what they feel is the most important aspect of their beauty routines, differs greatly across cultures. 

I’ve always been a loyal customer at French Pharmacy. My mom loved beauty, but when it came to skincare, she was the type to reach for more pharmaceutical products. She wanted things that felt serious, that were affordable, and that's what French Pharmacy has to offer. One of the things that define the French approach to beauty, is a kind of legacy, where your mom shows you how to do things. Her ways really shaped my vision of beauty. 

I never thought I’d be someone who starts a skincare brand. My business partner, Emily Yeston, is the one who encouraged me to apply my vision of beauty to the skincare industry. I remember thinking: does the world really need another beauty brand? I didn’t want to create unless I had something new to offer. I knew that wouldn’t be easy, but fortunately, the vision of the brand came so naturally to me. 

Given the era of beauty we’re in today, how does Frenchness seep into your vision of female beauty?

We're in this wonderful time of redefining beauty. I'm about to turn 50, and I feel like my age is an asset. That wouldn’t have been the case 10 years ago. Today, you can age in such a beautiful way, without constantly trying to be young. That’s something I've always felt was true in France, but the rest of the world has been obsessed with youth. I love that French culture gives more space for women to stand proud in their age. That’s something I wanted to bottle, if you will. I thought: how can we bring that sentiment to women worldwide? 

While I was a beauty blogger, I was receiving all these products, and they really irritated my skin. At one point, I went to my dermatologist, and she told me: you’re just exhausting your skin by using so many products. So I went to French Pharmacy, got my basics and went back to the simple products. I noticed that even the French Pharmacy products had a lot of these ingredients, like parabens, that we don’t want in our skincare today. I wanted clean beauty, and that gap is what both Emily and I saw. We thought: there’s space to bring something that women can trust, something that becomes a true essential in their life, but that also is clean and affordable.

Who is your Doré audience?

I know my audience very well. They work hard, they don't always love putting makeup on. They're sophisticated in their own way. They don't have a ton of time. And the time they do have, they choose to use to do something interesting. Sometimes, that can look like spending a Sunday in your bathroom and just taking care of yourself. And other times, that can look like going to see an exhibition with your friends. The baseline with your beauty products should be that they offer you a sense of freedom. These long, heavy routines should be moments that you choose for yourself. We really wanted to bring this freedom to the dailyness of our products, which is why they're very versatile and fragrance-free. They're quick to penetrate the skin, very efficacious, but they’re also products that you put on and then forget about. 

Our products are meant to give you back your time and mental space. In French, we have an expression la charge mentale, it's that ‘mental load’ that women carry around in their brain. If we can help alleviate that load, while still maintaining beautiful skin – that’s all we want. We want to be that essential brand that people always come back to. That means: we spend as much time as we need to work on our formulas. We don't launch products every other month. Everything we put out into the world works.

Tell me about the products you offer.

We have La Micellaire ($24), a botanical micellar cleansing water which is very French – definitely one of our best sellers. And we have the wonderful Le Cleanser ($26), a gel to milk daily facial cleanser, which was made for me. Emily uses mostly the micellar water, and some of our customers like to use both when they want to double cleanse. I'm the type of person that makes as much as I can of my beauty routine in the shower, so I wash with the cleanser. It leaves your skin feeling really fresh, hydrated and clean. I use it under the shower with Le Disque ($22), a contemporary cleansing and exfoliating tool. 

We're very into mechanical tools for the skin that are clean and super well engineered to work in all the nooks and crannies. Other tools of ours include Le Glaçon ($40), a soothing facial ice roller that reduces puffiness and redness, and Les Gants Doux ($22), which are reusable facial cleansing mitts. Then, we have one of my favorite products: La Crème ($36). It's a deeply hydrating daily moisturizer that you can use in the morning and evening.

We also have Le Baume ($12) - an all in one balm that repairs and moisturizes extremely dry skin. The balm is one of these products you throw in your bag, give to your kids, have at your work desk and also in your bathroom. It works on chapped lips, dry patches on your skin, anything. It's like a remedy balm that's entirely clean beauty. Last, but not least, we have our newest product, Le Sérum ($40), a superfruit vitamin C serum that protects, plumps and repairs your skin. We worked on this product for four years, because we had to get it to the perfect texture. It also works as the perfect primer.

What’s your creation process like?

Any creative process, whether you're writing a book, creating a blog or doing a drawing, it always starts with your personal desires and needs. Going as personal as possible is how you're going to touch the most people. Start with what you love, what you need, what you believe in, and then create the best version of that. We decided to share our products with our close community, the people who support us. We sent out many samples so that we could be sure our products resonate with a large variety of people. A question that never left my head was: how versatile are our products really? As someone who travels a lot, I can’t carry around a lot of products all the time. We want you to get as much out of our products as you can.

What do you hope people will take away from your brand?

Our brand is all about confidence. You don't need seven layers of skincare and makeup to look great. Our brand is not just for the bathroom, it’s also for women in motion. When things are made with the best ingredients, in the spirit of essentialism and simplicity, plus a nice French touch, it can only give you confidence. We’ve been compared to the white t-shirt of beauty and skincare. We are your best friend, the one you can always count on.

Find your innermost confidence with Doré’s high quality, trustworthy beauty care.