The Interview: Mimétique founder Fabienne Sebaoun, on her unique ‘skin mimicry’ innovation and taking the brand to the US

Fabienne, you’re from a family of dermatologists, so was a career in skin always the plan?
Not exactly - but in retrospect, it was probably inevitable. I absorbed the dermatologist's mindset early: skin first, science-backed formulas, habits that last. I worked with some incredible brands over the years, but I needed to get closer to the science. To my roots - and to what skin actually needs, not what marketing says it does. That need became Mimétique.

What led you to launch Mimétique.

A move to Canada in 2015, plus a very specific kind of intellectual crisis. I was surrounded by the clean beauty movement - "ingredients to ban," fear-first marketing - and as a scientist, I felt completely lost. So I went back to basics: what does the skin actually need? What does it actually produce? And I went back to university at almost 40 years old.

'Skin Mimicry' is at the heart of the brand. Tell me what that means.

That's when I discovered skin mimicry in a biochemistry class - the idea that your skin is the best technology on the planet. That if you give it the exact same molecules it already generates, they're absorbed better, the skin recognises them, and it can do its job properly. The science clicked immediately.

But I wasn't ready to launch a brand yet. I needed to go further. So I partnered with the AgroParisTech Chair of Cosmetology and spent years developing what became our proprietary SMR-C5 complex - five skin-identical actives working together to unlock skin's full potential. With this complex, I finally had the proof I was looking for. Not a concept. Evidence: +28% pro-collagen I production increase. That's when I finally decided to formulate 4 products and Mimétique became real.

Talk me through the products, who they target and how they’re used.

The range is deliberately short and made in France. Each product earns its place by doing multiple jobs - fewer steps, better results. Every formula is biotech-powered, highly concentrated, and clinically tested. That last part is unusual for a brand our size, but non-negotiable for me. If I can't measure it, I won't claim it.

Skin Cloud is the cleanser and makeup remover - designed to nourish and soothe while it cleans. A real skincare first step.

Skin Revive is our smoothing serum - antioxidant, plumping, brightening, lifting - with 25% active concentration, that's what gets us to -16% wrinkle depth in 28 days.

Skin Restore is our firming cream - +20% firmness in 28 days, and the formula Hermès uses as the best makeup base at their fashion shows. Skin Restore+ is the richer version, with seven skin-identical ceramides and 8% more lipids.

Ctrl eye is our best-selling eye contour - it targets the full eye area: dark spots, wrinkles, and the eyelid. A real 360.

Skin Booster is our bakuchiol oil - a retinol alternative for pregnant and sensitive skins.

And Everyday 50 is our daily SPF 50 UVA UVB, the skincare step that protects and treats dark spots simultaneously.

And then there's Skin 360 - our starter kit, four formulas to discover Mimétique without committing to full size. Or for travelling, which I do constantly with a bag full of lab samples, so I understand the need.

You strike me as someone who is always on to the next innovation, so I’m guessing you have some new products in the works?

Absolutely. Right now I'm finishing a lip balm - 361 formulas and not done yet - which sounds simple until you actually try to do it properly. The lip area is mucous membrane, not skin. Completely different biology, different barrier, different needs. New complex, clinically tested, same rigor as everything else. Coming soon - and I hope you'll love it.

You’re the founder, CEO and formulator. Do you enjoy wearing all hats and what challenges show up?

I used to love it unconditionally - and honestly, I still do. But as the brand grows, the cognitive load gets real. Switching from a lab brief in the morning to a hiring decision in the afternoon to a customer email at night - at some point, you have to build the team that carries the vision with you, not just for you.

What's critical isn't just finding talented people. It's finding people who truly understand what Mimétique is - what made it work, what makes it different, why our community trusts us. That understanding can't be briefed in a week. Either you feel it or you don't. Those are the people I'm looking for.

How is the business structured today in terms of team and how are you building for future growth?

Small, intentional, and fast. I work with a core internal team - we are 8 people between marketing, business, creative, social and content, operations, influence.

The model is profitable from launch, self-funded, which means every hire is a real decision. We're currently building the team around our international expansion - that's the priority for the next phase.

Tell me about your global retail strategy and how the UK plays into that.

The strategy is to build strong international pillars and reinforce each one. In the UK, Space NK and Oh My Cream. In Australia, Mecca. These are positioning plays - retailers whose curation says something about the brands they carry.

The US is next, with the same logic. Goop is part of that story. What excites me is the amplification effect - when the right American retailers carry you, it resonates everywhere. That's the architecture we're building.

How do you engage with your customers? You have a skin diagnosis tool on your website. Tell me how that works and does it drive engagement / sales?

We built it with a scientific team - dermatologists, biochemists, researchers. 24 skin types designed as biological mechanisms in motion, not marketing profiles. Universal across origins, ages, geographies. Every question decodes what the skin is actually experiencing, not just what it looks like.

The result is a real recommendation - which sometimes means pointing toward a competitor. The moment you recommend your own products regardless of fit, you become a marketing funnel dressed as advice. Our customers see the difference. They convert better, they return more. Education is key.

But honestly, the most valuable engagement is still the most direct. Last week I sent a message to my customers asking how their skin was doing. I received 300 emails that morning and spent the whole weekend responding to every single one. It sounds a little crazy - and it probably is. But that's what genuinely interests me. It's how I understand my customers, how they experience the products, what they actually feel. For me, that's a goldmine. No algorithm replaces it.

What’s next for Mimétique?

Our project is skin. Our future is skin. We're going deeper into the science, further into the research, and closer to what your skin knows it needs.