Micellar Beauty Vinegar

As with all the ingredients selected for the preparation of our skincare products, we choose local French produce of the highest quality.

The apples used to make our cider vinegar are grown in the Basque Country, a region that enjoys both plenty of sunshine and high rainfall.
These conditions produce sweet apples with a good balance between sugar and acidity, rich in tannins, ideal for making an exceptional cider that is very rich in active ingredients.

The varieties selected for cider are the secret to its unique flavor: Moko, Txalaka, Goikoetxe, Urtebi txiki, Urtebi handi, Verde agria, Mozolo, Patzolua, and Manttoni.
Harvesting is carried out in the traditional manner, with moderate mechanization leaving room for manual harvesting.

This natural fragrance was chosen for its fruity expression and its ability to blend with the fragrances in the formula.

Its name, "Notes du verger" (Notes from the orchard), evokes the deep connection this treatment has with flowers and fruits, as well as the sweet blend of fruity scents from a stroll through a lush, green garden.

Top notes: mint, watery fruits, osmanthus
Middle notes: water lily, lily of the valley, white jasmine
Base notes: white rose, peony, plant sap

In this formula of this facial vinegar, the ingredients forming the micelles are as follows:

• polyglyceryl-4 caprate;
• polyglyceryl-6 caprylate.

These two ingredients are mild surfactants of natural origin which form micelles.

Micelles are molecular structures that capture and gently remove impurities, makeup and excess oil from the skin.

These surfactants were chosen for their ability to clean effectively while being gentle on the skin, which is essential for a micellar lotion. They form molecular aggregates (or micelles) in water, with a hydrophilic part (attracted to water) and a lipophilic part (attracted to fats), which allows them to “capture” impurities and dissolve them in water.

Furthermore, the micelles contained in this treatment are very gentle surfactants which can be used without rinsing - especially since we have carried out a safety assessment with our toxicologist for application without rinsing, including on sensitive skin.

This cap was first tested and validated for its compatibility with vinegar in general, and with this treatment in particular. It is even certified for food use, which implies even stricter rules than in cosmetics.

We use metal (in this case, aluminum) for the vinegar cap for two reasons:

• to maintain consistency with 19th century materials, where stoppers were made of glass, cork or metal (and not plastic, of course).
• knowing that glass and cork do not offer sufficient sealing for many uses, we chose metal, and more precisely aluminum, because it is light and not very subject to corrosion.

Note: this choice, among 100 others, allowed us to obtain “Clean Beauty” certification by the independent international laboratory Biorus, because we always use the most recyclable materials. 

Indeed, depending on the characteristics of the plastic chosen and the country of collection, it is much less recyclable than aluminum.

Cotton is the most effective medium for removing makeup residue, pollutants, and dead skin cells from the skin's surface without rinsing.

As all our customers have noticed, the results of using micellar vinegar are surprising, even after removing makeup and cleansing! These results are both surprising and satisfying.

In some cultures, such as in Asia, the use of cotton pads is less common and direct application to the skin is also possible. In this case, it is advisable to pour a few drops of lotion into the palm of your hand and apply it to the entire face using circular movements.

Indeed, the traditional Korean beauty ritual, or "layering," involves more steps than our Western rituals. The central principle is to start with gentle cleansing and exfoliation, followed by successive layers of moisturizers, starting with the lightest products and moving on to the richest and most nourishing ones, in order to "seal in" moisture while strengthening the skin barrier.

It is in the first steps of this sequence (gentle exfoliation and hydration) that our vinegar has been so successful, offering a complete, 100% natural solution in a single step. In addition, the ingredients macerated in vinegar, which promote the balance of the skin's microbiota, are frequently used in the most authentic Korean products.

These numerous similarities reflect a "common sense" and intuitive understanding of the skin and its nature, in contrast to the current frenzy in the sector, which too often overlooks the essential: the strength and purity of the original formulations, regardless of their cultural origins.