2:00 p.m., January 10, 2022
Here are the Helena Rubinstein skincare products again, their green (Powercell Skinmuni-ty), ivory (Prodigy Cellglow) and black (Replasty) jars and bottles, and a skewer of mascaras kept in elegant ornate cases! The brand, specializing in anti-aging, is back on the shelves in France after twelve years. A discreet and ultra-selective comeback, led by Elisabeth Sandager, general manager of the brand, whom the career of its creator nicknamed “Madame Avant-garde” continues to bluff. Bought in 1988 by L’Oréal, the global cosmetics giant, the brand with the two initials celebrates its 120th birthday this year.
“France was a country of the heart for Helena Rubinstein”, resituates Elisabeth Sandager, “It was in Paris rue Saint-Honoré that she opened her first DATE beauty clinic and in France that she set up her offices, research centers and factories,” she continues. Even today, the entire skincare range sold worldwide is made in France in the Sicos factory in Caudry (Nord), the industrial center of the luxury division of the group which brings together some twenty brands (Lancôme, Biotherm, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani…).
The group does not rule out opening its own beauty salon in the capital
Helena Rubinstein had not completely disappeared from the French cosmetics landscape since an e-commerce site continued to supply customers with products whose prices (excluding mascaras) today range from 136 to 314 euros on average. But since June, it has again been possible to get some at La Samaritaine and in fourteen Marionnaud stores across France and on the website of this brand. “These points of sale offer a level of service combining advice and treatment cabins, in line with the characteristics of our serums and our creams”, explains the manager. In the long term, the group does not rule out opening its own beauty institute in the capital.
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But why did you withdraw the brand from the French market in 2010 – but also at the same time from the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain – to the chagrin of “beautistas”? Like the blogger of the Planète beauté site delivering her own analysis of the situation: a high-performance range but too focused on anti-aging and without pedagogy on its active ingredients to justify its high prices, not ambitious enough in perfume and make-up and neglected in terms of communication within the portfolio of premium brands at L’Oréal. Without forgetting a universe of competition increasingly encumbered by claws like La Prairie (Beiersdorf), La Mer (Estée Lauder), the family group Valmont, Clé de Peau (Sisheido) or Dior.
Three-digit growth in China
For Elisabeth Sandager, busy repositioning Helena Rubinstein since 2008, these arguments agree, but the main reason is elsewhere. “The brand had gotten lost in make-up and perfume when its original expertise was high-end anti-aging skincare. We chose to leave to come back better, it took time but we are there”, supports- she.
Exit the original assets, considered outdated. Like the founder, who had bet on science and worked as a pioneer with chemists, dermatologists, biologists and surgeons, Elisabeth Sandager launched the cellular reprogramming of products by forging partnerships with the founder of Laclinic-Montreux to develop Re-Plasty night creams and with the director of Inserm, the originator of the Prodigy Cellglow regenerating concentrates.
Ten years later, success is there, especially in China. A veritable locomotive country, sales recorded triple-digit growth there. In less than five years, the sleeping beauty of yesteryear has managed to propel itself among the top eight exceptional skincare brands in the Middle Kingdom. “In 2017, we invited about twenty Chinese influencers to come to Montreux and Vienna, on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to Helena Rubinstein and to try our products, this caused a snowball effect that still lasts. with a “VVIP” clientele interested in anti-aging from the age of 25″, develops the manager.
Distributed elsewhere in Asia and in most European countries – but still not in the United States – the brand saw its overall turnover increase by 60% in 2021. A performance hailed, in passing, by Nicolas Hieronimus, Managing Director from L’Oreal.