With 10 organic, eco-friendly and fair-trade years under its belt, Zorah biocosmétiques is one skin-care and cosmetics company that’s deeply concerned about the environment and protecting the planet (and it’s Canadian, to boot!). We chatted with founder Mélissa Harvey about what it takes to make (and sustain) beauty products Mother Nature herself would be proud to use (read to the end to find out how you could win a Zorah prize pack!). —Noa Nichol
Hi Mélissa! Before founding Zorah 10 years ago, did you have a background in beauty?
No, Zorah came out of my dream to help as many women as possible. Back then, I was running an organic, fair-trade café that gave young artists a platform. The most important thing for me was to help people who needed it, which led me to study sustainable commerce. Then, magic happened; I met the right people and things fell into place. During a humanitarian trip to Morocco, I ended up working in a co-operative of Berber women, who introduced me to argan oil. Their skin and hair were amazing. Even though they worked so hard with their hands in the fields, they didn’t have any wrinkles or brown spots. The miraculous oil really made an impression on me. The women in the co-operative were mostly single parents, desperately trying to build a better life and give their children an education and a future. When I got back to Montreal in 2007, I founded Zorah biocosmétiques with my life partner, Richard Morin. We have always been greatly concerned about the ingredients in the products we use on a daily basis because they are absorbed into our body. Most traditional cosmetics use petroleum byproducts, which are not just bad for the environment, but are bad for our body, too. The skin is our largest organ, and it’s important to give it nutrients and vitamins. That’s why the quality of the ingredients we use is so important to us. Our mission is to offer high-quality skin-care products, equal to or better than those available on the market, using organic, eco-friendly and fair-trade ingredients. I sincerely believe that we can all make a difference. It starts with educating people about dangers to their health and to the environment, starting from production right up to consumption. This is how we can make a difference and give our children a greener and fairer future. Zorah now employs hundreds of women part-time to produce argan oil in Morocco. This year is our 10th anniversary, and we brought our partners on a trip to Morocco to visit the co-operatives and plant some argan trees. We also opened two new co-ops as economic interest groups (GIE) to add stability to their argan oil production infrastructures. And we’re still investing heavily to preserve argan trees, which are protected by UNESCO.
With Earth Day coming up, what makes Zorah the kind of makeup Mother Nature herself would be proud to wear?
At Zorah, being environmentally friendly is not a program, it’s in our DNA. Our products are cruelty free, natural, eco-friendly and vegan, and we make it our mission to always choose components that have no or very low impact on the environment. For example, in our face scrub, we use micro-beads made of amber, the natural resin, and for the body scrub, organic sugar. They are biodegradable, and unlike most scrubs on the market, they don’t leave micro-plastics in the ocean that are deadly for fish and disrupt the ecosystem. Our shipping department uses FSP cardboard boxes made in Montreal, and instead of Styrofoam to protect the products, we use a biodegradable “peanut” made of potato.
In the 10 years that you have been in business, what has changed in terms of creating environmental cosmetics and skin-care products, and how have you adapted?
Zorah was a pioneer. There were hardly any high-quality organic cosmetics in Canada 10 years ago. But over that time, organic has become trendy, and there are several competitors trying to break into the market. This new competition has made us push ourselves to constantly innovate, a great boon for our customers. We created a niche market and are really proud to still be at the top.
What’s the biggest challenge in creating cosmetics and skin-care products that keep the earth and our environment in mind?
Customers demand quality, effectiveness and innovation. We have to constantly stay up to date with new ideas and trends. Organic, natural ingredients are much rarer and more expensive than synthetic ingredients. It’s harder to get them, so production and delivery times are longer. Ingredients are often discontinued, so we have to go back and do more research to find a replacement that won’t change the product’s texture or effectiveness.
Which of Zorah’s innovations/ingredients are you most proud of?
There are so many, but, to name just one, argania spinosa kernel oil is a 100 per cent natural, 100 per cent organic argan oil that’s very rich in essential fatty acids, contains Omega 3, Omega 6, flavonoids (antioxidants), sterols, tocopherols and vitamin E. Argan oil is remarkably effective at giving the body what it needs to stimulate cell regeneration, keep systems working properly, repair chapped skin, moisturize the skin and protect it from daily irritants. Rather than just adding a few drops of argan oil to a cream base, at Zorah, argan oil is an integral element of the cream, an excipient. In fact, it’s the ingredient that makes our creams so nourishing.
What one or two facts do you think our readers would find most surprising/interesting about cosmetics and skin-care products, like Zorah’s, that are made only with organic, eco-friendly and fair-trade ingredients?
People used to think that organic cosmetics were much less effective than traditional synthetic products. From the very beginning, Zorah has invested in cutting-edge scientific research that has allowed us to use natural active ingredients in our cosmetic and skin-care products. Biochemists have developed natural active ingredients that provide the same or even better results than chemical ingredients. For example, the suberin Zorah uses in a few products comes from cork and, naturally and quite spectacularly, makes the skin more supple. The castor oil and argan oil in our mascara helps it naturally coat and moisturize the eyelashes at the same time. Ever since we began, Zorah has been winning prizes for innovation and product effectiveness. For the past three years, our mascaras have been named “Best Mascara of the Year” at the Clean Beauty Awards, and our regenerating mask, nyxe, won again in the “Best Mask” category in Elle Québec’s 2017 Grand Prix Beauté contest.
Personal question: what’s your daily skin-care and beauty routine?
When I get up, I put our lifting bioserum around my eyes and on my expression lines. After it’s been absorbed (about two minutes), I put ora on the same areas, and let that absorb for about two to three minutes. Then I put c-nature and sitala on my entire face. I do a simple makeup routine for a natural glam effect. First, I use the pale BBB cream and the nude corrective concealer under the eyes. Then I put on black eyeliner, volume mascara and the light pink Greece lipstick. I’ve been previewing our highlighters over the past few weeks, and I love them! At night, when I get out of the shower, I put on my new gaïa ultra-firming body cream and eos on the neck and neckline. Then, before bed, I take off my makeup with the kaïla cleansing gel and I put on sublime, my all-time favourite product!
Win! A $300 Zorah biocosmétiques Prize Pack!
We have a winner! Congratulations Meaghan R. of Edmonton, who won a Zorah biocosmétiques prize pack valued at $300!
share:
Be the first to comment