Outspoken Beauty x Gatineau: Glowing The French Way and A Female Founder Like No Other

Outspoken Beauty

Host Nicola Bond interviews Heather Berry, the Marketing Director of Gatineau Skincare, about the brand's rich French heritage and scientifi

Key takeaways

• Gatineau was founded in 1932 by Jeanne Gatineau, an esthetician who launched her business in her 40s.
• The brand's skincare philosophy is rooted in French traditions of 'slow enjoyment' and scientific evidence.

Main topics

• Gatineau Brand Heritage
• French Skincare Philosophy

Notable quotes

It's not about masking. It's about enhancing.

Conclusion

A compelling look at how a heritage brand maintains relevance through

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:05) Hi, I'm Nicola Bond and this is the Outspoken Beauty Podcast. And this episode is part of a wider partnership with Gatineau Skincare. And I am so, so proud to be working with them. This is a brand I have loved for so long. I love their ethos. I love their product. I love the fact they've got this whole French skincare history and philosophy. And do you know what? I also love the woman I'm interviewing in this episode. Her name is Heather Berry and she's actually their sales and marketing director. She's one of the loveliest, most authentic, funny women I've ever met. I instantly warmed to her and it was so nice to record this in a studio together, kind of face to face. She's great and she's so passionate about Gatineau. And I really think this is really interesting because you're going to learn about the history of the brand and like the fact that it was founded by the most amazing, amazing woman who was in her 40s. You'll get to know the products because I think so many of us know Gatineau for their kind of iconic products, their under eye cream that then conceals as well or their gradual self-tan. But there's all this skincare going on that is truly brilliant. And that brings me on to the other part of this episode. A hundred members of the Outspoken Beauty trialing panel have been trialing some new resurfacing pads from Gatineau. The results have been incredible and you're going to hear from four panelists. Now just remember, no panelist is told to say anything. They do not have to be positive. They need to be honest. That is why we do the panel. Any brand that chooses to work with the panel. is they're taking a risk because panelists don't have to say anything. And Gatineau took that risk because they believe in themselves and for good reason too. So you're going to hear from four panelists, you're going to hear their experience with the pads. This is a really, really brilliant episode and I'm going to stop chatting on now because it is time to welcome the lovely Heather Berry. Let's get into the world of Gatineau. Speaker 4 (2:13) Heather, welcome to the Outspoken Beauty studio. This is amazing. I'm very Speaker 6 (2:18) excited. Speaker 4 (2:18) My first official podcast. Speaker 6 (2:19) I'm loving the mic. I feel great. Whenever Speaker 4 (2:22) I have these mics in front of me, I feel a bit trapped. I just feel like Speaker 6 (2:25) I can't get out. I Speaker 4 (2:26) know. It's lovely to have you here. First of all, let's just introduce you properly. You are Heather Berry. Heather Berry. Which is a great name. I think that's Speaker 6 (2:36) a Speaker 4 (2:36) real stage name. Speaker 6 (2:37) Well, I think it maybe sounds a bit like a shade of Speaker 4 (2:39) lipstick from the 80s. It could be Speaker 6 (2:42) a Speaker 4 (2:42) body shop lipstick, couldn't it? It Speaker 6 (2:43) could be, Speaker 4 (2:43) couldn't it? Yeah. So you're Heather Berry. How long have you been at Gatineau for and what do you do there? I Speaker 6 (2:49) have been with Gatineau for about five and a half years and I'm the marketing director. But I've actually... been a customer of Gatineau, which is perhaps even more important, for about 20 years. So yeah, amazing to now be working for a brand that I've been using Speaker 4 (3:02) for probably 20 years. And also, and this is meant in a really nice way, you are the least marketing director, marketing director, in the way that you're just so real. I can't explain, sometimes I feel when you're a marketing director, there's a real... pressure to act a certain way but I just feel you're you're very authentic like very rarely will I have a marketing director on my podcast but I feel like you're such a good guest because when we speak on the phone we normally spend half an hour just talking about life and the ups and the downs and you feel just like me you feel very human to me that's Speaker 6 (3:36) very lovely I'll take that as a compliment I'm not doing something wrong it Speaker 4 (3:40) really is it's really important to me because I don't ever like things to feel too business-like I just want to like work with people who are, yeah, authentic and kind of understand the life that maybe their customers are Speaker 6 (3:52) going Speaker 4 (3:52) through as well. Absolutely. Speaker 6 (3:53) And I think, you know, when we first spoke, like you say, sort of. A lot of similarities, kindred spirits, I think we said the other day when we were at the event, didn't we? Yeah. Speaker 4 (4:01) And I think something is that, you know, we're both women of a certain age. Am I older than you? Speaker 6 (4:06) I don't know. I'm Speaker 4 (4:06) 46. I'm nearly 46. Okay, Speaker 6 (4:08) so very similar. There you go. Speaker 4 (4:10) Recently, everyone's been younger than me. But no, we're a similar age. And it makes me think of the founder of Gatineau, Jean Gatineau, who was a woman. When did she found it? So 1932, which Speaker 6 (4:24) is, and she was in her 40s when she founded it. Which Speaker 4 (4:27) I absolutely love. It's one of the first things I love about Gatineau is that at that time, a woman of our age founding something is unprecedented. I know. Speaker 6 (4:38) I mean, if you think about... you know, what life was like for women in the 30s. I mean, it's hard to imagine, isn't it? We have so much independence now and that independence just didn't exist in those times. Speaker 5 (4:48) So Speaker 6 (4:48) you'd have to be incredibly pioneering and, you know, brave, I think, to be able to lean into that, to create something that was so amazing and that has endured for, you know, 94 years as well. That's incredible. She'd be so Speaker 4 (5:02) proud. I think so. I really Speaker 6 (5:03) do think that. Obviously, you know, if she looked down on the brand now, I think she'd be absolutely delighted with where it is today. and that it stayed so true to what she originally wanted Speaker 4 (5:12) it to be. Yeah, absolutely. But you see, you've got this woman and what... What do you think drove her to start the brand? Because she was a, I mean, she worked within the beauty industry. She was a beauty therapist. Beauty therapist and esthetician Speaker 6 (5:24) by training. And I think she just wanted to do things differently. You know, you read back through all the archives. It's so interesting to hear about her. And she was really passionate about empowering women, about really understanding the skin. And she wanted to do things a bit differently. Like she'd, you know, through the treatment room, you can really... I guess, get your hands on a woman's skin and understand how it changes over time and what it needs. And by really understanding that, she was able to then create products and arrange that really nurtured and cared for and treated women's skin with what it needed. And she went to biochemists and she went to scientists and she went to Nobel Prize winning researchers. It was such a different, radical approach, which really set her apart. And this brand became something that was. was revered by women and it was shared from mother to daughter, sister to sister, friend to friend through this sort of word of mouth recommendation. And that's... Almost how Gatineau still travels today. And it's phenomenal. Yeah, it's Speaker 4 (6:26) so good. And I think it's really inspiring. I think was I talking to you the other day about this whole thing at the moment of women around our age who were losing their jobs and then finding it impossible to be employed again, because particularly, yeah, with AI kind of, if you have more than seven years experience discounting you when companies now use AI to filter through people. And it always makes me think, look, the one thing we can do is be entrepreneurial. And when I think of women like her, at that time making a brand like this. Well, come on, we can do it too. Speaker 6 (6:56) Absolutely. And I'm really proud to work actually with a group of women. You know, we're primarily women. We're not all women at Gatineau, but a lot of women and a lot of us in their 40s and 50s and people who've been with the brand for decades. Like that's amazing. You know, seeing a brand go through changes and evolutions, it's really exciting. And yeah, it's lovely to have that sort of camaraderie of, I guess, like-minded women as well. Speaker 4 (7:19) So nice. Going back to Jean-Pierre, the fact that she, as you said, like work with skin, there's something about people, estheticians coming out with brands that I really like because you get people who don't understand skin, have never touched a person's face, going, oh, I'm going to just make a brand. No, you don't understand what you're doing. You don't know what's needed. But this woman did. Does that still, like, because obviously you supply estheticians with your products as well as selling them to us. Speaker 6 (7:48) We do, absolutely. And that's always been at the sort of heart of what Gatineau has done, that sort of professional treatment side. And I guess, you know, really leaning into what... happens to the skin and like you say understanding the skin as this sort of living organ that needs to be treated and protected and treated differently at different stages of life to make it its most vital I guess at every stage of life giving that vitality to the skin and I think that's what she really understood and it's what we understand today and I think I guess what we do is we hold every formulation to the standard of the treatment room. That's the best way to sort of really put it. You know, there isn't necessarily a difference between formulating a professional product in terms of regulation, if you like, but actually really understanding how that's going to perform in a treatment as much as it would perform for Speaker 4 (8:30) a person at home is equally important. And then probably getting feedback from the people doing the treatment. Exactly. Because they know. They know, they see those Speaker 6 (8:36) results. I mean, obviously a lot of skincare is built over time in terms of those long-term results, but that instant gratification and how it really... performance on the skin is important as well and the feedback you get from clients over time who've gone on to you know treatment after treatment after treatment and seeing those results and Speaker 4 (8:51) hearing like because those people the estheticians are seeing the same women having the really like lovely conversations with them and feeding them back so again I love a brand where there are treatments going on as well as just home use I think it's brilliant and going back to just confidence. I think what's interesting about you and why I really wanted to work with you is that you are actually speaking to women, like you're speaking to all women. I mean, anyone can use your products and benefit from them. But I think you're speaking to women over 40 in a really, really nice way. At a time when it's weird being this age, I think that there's a lot of people who want to feel very, very empowered, but they're finding it hard to feel. that and I just wanted to know kind of how like Yeah. How do you see women in their 50s and 60s at the moment? What do they want? What are they looking for? Speaker 6 (9:41) I think you're absolutely right. Primarily, the brand, I guess, talks to a customer over 40. Like you say, anybody can use Gatineau products. People will see benefits. But really, we focus on mature skin. And what we really want to do is to make people feel their best in their own skin. It's not about masking. It's about enhancing. And that's what we really want to do. And you'll meet a 40-year-old woman, a 50-year-old woman, a 70-year-old woman. They're all different. stages of life, their needs are different, but they want to feel confident. They want to feel their best. They want to find time for themselves as well. You know, we're in that stage of life where we've both got young families. It's the hamster wheel. It's hard to, you know, so those 10 minutes of sort of sanctuary in the evening, taking your makeup off or, you Speaker 4 (10:22) know, looking after your skin, they feel really, really important to cherish. You were saying, and this is something I'd read as well, that 30 years ago, the amount of information that people were kind of being fed a day was probably, was it like a hundredth of what we get now? I Speaker 6 (10:38) don't know if I want to quote the stat because I'm not sure I'll Speaker 4 (10:40) get Speaker 6 (10:40) exactly right, but something like what we're processing in a day, what our grandparents were processing in a month, something like that. So Speaker 4 (10:45) no wonder we need time to ourselves. It's absolutely, Speaker 6 (10:48) we Speaker 4 (10:49) are, I think, I don't know anyone who isn't overwhelmed. No, exactly. I Speaker 6 (10:52) mean, even my dad's retired and he's, you know. Because even with social media, everything there is to do now is, you know, life is busy, right? There's so much Speaker 4 (11:01) to do. I feel like there is never a moment where we just stop. No. And I think you're so right about those sacred moments. And I think that really links in with the French philosophy. Because if you think about, and the lovely event you did last week where Dr. Marine Vincent was there. You say that so much better than me. Your Speaker 6 (11:19) French is definitely better than mine. You did German, I did French. Speaker 4 (11:24) the founder of the French pharmacy and if you I don't know if you've read her book but I have Speaker 6 (11:28) the first bit about the sort of French skincare philosophy feels like it was written for Gatineau Speaker 4 (11:33) yeah and it's all about the fact that yes we want to look great and we want to glow but we want to enjoy it yeah it's about yeah that and also about the French don't like to do anything too dramatic and too harsh to their skin they just they know what they're doing it's all about slow enjoyment. A lot of the French will love a scented product and I know many dermatologists will say don't use fragrance but actually I can tolerate fragrance and I don't enjoy a skincare product without it. I Speaker 6 (12:00) think that's it. And listening to Maureen talk last week was really inspiring. Like I say, it feels so synergistic with what Gatineau has done for, you know, more than nine decades, really. You know, the science is the non-negotiable, right? The French customer, the French skincare philosophy is all about science. It has to be evidence-based and that is what Gatineau does. And, you know, that is a given. And we're continually pushing the boundaries in terms of how we test. I was going to say that what Speaker 4 (12:23) you do with your testing is quite rare in the industry. You do independent clinicals the whole time. Everything is... really really proven right? We Speaker 6 (12:33) do it's really important you know it's particularly when you're treating a mature skin ultimately where you know you it's really important that you also test the products on the person who's going to use them at the end yeah so it'd be very easy to do a clinical trial on a grow you know a load of 20 year olds where they'd probably get amazing results because they've still got you know their their skin renewal cycle isn't 28 days and you've got that natural collagen that isn't declining at the same rate for example but actually when we're doing those clinical trials we are very much using the end customer. those trials so a lot of them will go up to the age 65 75 depending on the range as well so that's really important and not many Speaker 4 (13:05) brands bother doing that i think all brands should do that because you never know who's going to want your your product i think this is the problem this is an industry that's been skewed so young for too long that many of us who need or want different things you either are going to have to use products that have never been tested on your skin or products that are marketed as menopause products which i I hate. And you don't do that. You're very much like, this is to help you glow. But everything, it feels, the tone is just right and the science is just right. I Speaker 6 (13:36) really hope so. You never, you know, as any brand, you don't get it right all of the time, but we really do try. You know, we feel like we've got a duty to serve these amazing women, these loyal customers who've been with us for, you know, many of them for decades, actually, with Gatineau. And that's amazing. And that's because they've seen the results. I think the word that I would use a lot with Gatineau is trust. We want you to be able to trust us with your skin. We want to give you those results. And when you come to us, we want you to stay. And a lot of people do because they see those results. It's very, I think that's another sort of French discipline as well, that sort of consistency. And I think that's probably the biggest change that I've made in my skin since I've been with Gatineau as well, is actually sticking with things. There's so many new products all of the time and it's amazing and there's so much innovation in the industry and it's really exciting to see. But, you know, we're like, oh, I'll use this today and this tomorrow and that next week. Actually, being disciplined and consistent, it's a very French way, but it's where you're going to see those long-term results as well. I Speaker 4 (14:29) think you need to find a brand that's actually doing really interesting stuff and using the new science and doing all the clinical. So you think, OK, they're doing this. work for me I don't need to be online for hours searching this that and that if I use the products my skin's in great hands and I can just chill yeah Speaker 6 (14:46) and enjoy it and enjoy it and enjoy it you want to change things up change your makeup up change your fragrance up but Stick to your skincare. Yeah, I mean, of course, you know, there are times where things will change. It might be hormonal. It might be seasonal. Of course, you know, listen to