Cosmydor, Cosmetics with Virtue

Long has it has shaped the way we consume food, with the ‘know-your-farmer’ phenomenon propelling us to seek out locally picked fruit and vegetables and take notice of what we put inside our bodies. Now we’re taking care of what we put on it, too.

Too often, a glance at ingredients will reveal a plethora of unrecognisable, useless chemicals that can prove injurious to both our skin and our planet. Alarmingly, 120 billion units of packaging are produced each year by the global cosmetics industry - a daunting statistic while our oceans sit choked with 8 million tons of plastic and landfills are mercilessly piled ever-higher.

For all our good intentions, ‘ethical’ cosmetics don’t always sound that sexy, deep down we buy them for there beautifying credentials rather than their principles. But, when a devotedly organic beauty brand comes on the scene with the triple threat of being French-made, heritage and artisanal, we pay attention.

Enter Cosmydor, boasting fresh, luxe and healthy products. Founded in 1877 - an illustration of a woman painted in 1891 by Jules Chéret captures the glamorous mood of its history - the brand disappeared in the late 1960s due to a succession crisis, but has been lovingly relaunched last year, equipped with an unwaveringly eco-responsible objective.

First, there’s the ’no-packaging policy’, which sees jars, bottles and tubes designed from environmentally friendly materials. Nectar-like liquid soaps housed in thick, black glass vessels make for the trendiest of sink-toppers. And the biodegradable tissue paper and organic black cotton bags each product arrives in only adds to the mood of indulgence.

With jazzy, colourful packaging, and an all-natural fragrance that fills the room upon use, Cosmydor’s solid soaps are redefining soaps as a modish gift for summer. Each bar is handmade at a low temperature, utilising ancient soap-making methods allowing ingredients to retain their fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants.

Indeed, what positions this brand ahead of its counterparts in both desirability and efficiency is the sheer concentration of natural ingredients packed into each product. Vegetable oils and essential oils, laden with moisturising, antiseptic and regenerative qualities, are the basis of each formula. Forget dilution to cut financial corners and fussy ingredient inclusion to flesh out products, what we have here is straightforward, whole goodness.

Take, for example, the Intense Skincare Creams range, which consists of hydrating face creams of floral and shea butter persuasions, or clay and almond scrubs and masks based on ultra- concentrated formulas with more than 99% naturally derived ingredients.

Cosmydor is truly taking luxury back to basics. Its history may be long and enriched, but the ethos of transparency this brand encompasses makes for a truly modern approach to beauty.

Browse the website here