Maryll Beaux: Making Choices
Amalthea founder Maryll Beaux tells me how she went from banking to beauty and hasn't looked back since.
Maryll Beaux is a free-spirited, outspoken woman I want to know more about each time we talk. We first met after I featured her clean skincare brand Amalthea (39 Rue des Gravilliers, 75003 Paris) in a shopping story for Condé Nast Traveller magazine. The section on her brand was very short, so when I found out about how she went from banking to beauty, I wanted to know more. Here are some extracts from our last conversation, which I hope convey how passionate and determined she is about helping others take care of themselves and contributing to changing the face of a very toxic beauty industry.
Maryll, you told me that you were an investment banker for eight years before throwing in the towel and founding Amalthea. It’s quite an unusual turn of events.
I know, and I am grateful every day that I did it. I was coming up to 30, I was working long hours, and I knew something had to change. I wanted to work in a more humane environment that was in line with my values. The turning point was seeing how terrible the media makes women feel about ageing. Like we come with a sell-by date past a certain age. It’s changing of course, but back then, and still to some extent today, beauty regimes promising younger skin are still being pushed on women all the time. I was surrounded by beautiful older women, my mother, my sisters, and I wanted to celebrate that. I started reading about beauty, skincare, and ingredients… I was hatching the plan for Amalthea for years. So when the time came, I knew exactly what I was going to do and how.
As you said, the industry is changing and there are quite a few “clean” skincare brands out there. How is Amalthea different?
It is changing but not fast enough, at least in my opinion. Amalthea is different in that the ingredients are all natural and only contains ingredients that are good for skin. You won’t find perfume or chemicals. The problem with a lot of these “clean” brands isn’t always the ingredients in the products but the processes for obtaining ingredients, which can be extremely harmful to the environment and to the people making them. It’s why a lot of these clean brands don’t have certifications. Another thing is that brands push multi-product routines - we have a cleanser, an oil and a cream by skin type that can be used by men or women - and it has been shown that this combination of products, often never tested together, has an extremely toxic effect on skin.
Amalthea then is a truly clean skincare brand?
Absolutely. Look at all the ingredients - there’s nothing harmful to the planet or women. When I started digging deeper, I was horrified at what the media and said skin experts were telling women to do… all the toxic chemicals to put on their skin that would then seep into their bodies. Some of these chemicals impact the environment forever too - it’s an absolute scandal. And don’t get me started on the packaging. PFAs or forever chemicals (like teflon) are everywhere - they are used to waterproof packaging. Those “green” takeaway boxes for food? Coated in these chemicals… they are very harmful and contaminates our water supply. So packaging is also how we differ. We use non-toxic materials and all our products are refillable.
You are confronted by the environmental crisis all the time from having to stay up to date with regulations. What gives you hope?
Doing my bit, doing what I can to change the industry, to help women and the environment. Amalthea goes beyond skin for me. It’s about helping people take care of themselves and take time out too.
You created Amalthea in 2018 with your brother? What’s next?
I did and we’re still a duo, although I’m more often at our shop. I also manage the brand, which suits me because I love it. We agreed on the values of the brand from day one - simple and effective without anything skin doesn’t need. We more recently created a bespoke facial treatment which you can have in our small studio space in Sentier (Paris 2), and we’re working on a line of clean, real good, products for hotels.
Leading your own brand is never easy, right? What have been the biggest challenges for you?
Amalthea is a life’s work, and it’s driven by passion. So, I suppose that being uncompromising means I’ve had to make concessions elsewhere like margins. But I wouldn’t do things any other way!
You have lived most of your life in Paris. Would you ever leave?
No! I love the city too much. I was born in Montpellier but moved here when I was a child. I live close to Palais Royal, in the Saint-Anne neighbourhood, an area lined with Japanese restaurants, which I absolutely love. In fact, it’s my favourite cuisine, so it makes sense for me to live right in the middle of it all. I love the smell of simmering food at lunchtime, hearing people speak languages from all over the world too. You’re in Paris but elsewhere too… I also like strolling the Palais Royal gardens - at least I did before the series Emily in Paris gave the secret away! I still love it there though, especially having a picnic on warm summer evenings.
Further reading/watching:
Watch the documentary Toxic Beauty (2019)
The Guardian is a also a great resource with articles like this one about Johnson & Johnson’s toxic talcum powder, healing crystals mining in Madagascar, and more on PFAs.
EWG, a verified clean products and ingredients list
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