PERS Skin Care Is Inspired by Cosmetic Doctor Antoni Calmon’s Practice

Jennifer Weil
·4 min read

PARIS — French beauty brand PERS, inspired by the practice of cosmetic doctor Antoni Calmon, is the newest to enter the pharmacy channel in France.

It sets out to be both individual and universal, and melds the worlds of dermocosmetics and prestige skin care into a clearly organized product line and ritual.

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Cofounded by Quentin Douce and Sophie-Lisa Prêcheur, who have long-standing backgrounds in prestige cosmetics, the idea for PERS came after Prêcheur consulted with Calmon, who has offices in Paris and London. He gives his patients beauty prescriptions, including a straightforward, four-step face care routine.

“He was not trained at all in cosmetics [products], but has advised his patients on the proper use of them,” explained Douce. “He developed a protocol. That is achieved in four steps: protect, beautify, repair and stimulate.”

The first letter of each of those words in French — protéger, embellir, réparer, stimuler — together form the acronym PERS. PERS is also a play on words, connoting “personal” or “perseverance,” for instance.

Calmon has long had his patients sift through their beauty products to see which properly and best can be used in each of those four categories.

That served as the starting point of PERS’s creation for Douce and Prêcheur.

Calmon believes that after creating good active ingredients for skin care and an easy-to-follow protocol for their use, getting people to sign on is the next challenge.

“For them to put products on, the texture must be pleasant, wear well, smell good and be pretty. That’s the little extra that’s missing in medicine,” he said.

Douce and Prêcheur were up to the task.

“We said to ourselves we are going to bring together two worlds that coexist in the pharmacy — dermocosmetics brands and beauty brands,” said Douce. “There is a bridge that we can create here.”

PERS has products that are clearly organized into routine categories. Color codes exist for these; products to be used in the morning have yellow packaging with the word “protect,” for example.

“We bring back a very intuitive dimension in the use of the products,” said Douce.

There are six products in PERS’s portfolio today, including the Vitamin C 10% antioxidant serum, a gel-textured SPF 50+ product and Rich Cream for intense repair.

Prices range from 29 euros for the 5-ml. cheeks-and-lips balm to 48 euros for the 15-ml. eye cream and 95 euros for the 30-ml. concentrated retinol serum.

“You find the same concentration [of actives] as in dermocosmestics products, but with textures found in beauty products more,” said Douce.

Prêcheur explained PERS formulas have up to 97 percent natural ingredients.

The brand’s products’ light scent, including notes of rosemary, pink pepper, white flowers, musk and sandalwood, was created by Robertet perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur.

“When a cream smells good, one spends more time applying it,” said Calmon, explaining that in turn helps stimulate collagen production. It is a key protein for youthful-looking skin.

He consulted with Douce and Prêcheur.

“Anthony contributed a lot,” said Douce. “He removed everything that was ‘bad marketing habits,’ to return to simplicity.”

PERS is not a “doctor brand.” (In France, doctors are not allowed to be involved in a brand’s promotion, including the use of their name.) PERS was created for all skin types.

“The values of the brand are universal,” said Douce.

Its assortment will be expanded — though always keeping the same four categories in mind.

“We can imagine creating products that are a little more technical, more specific in each of those categories,” said Douce. That might include sun care or cleansers.

PERS is entering some French pharmacies, as well as exclusive to selective retail in France at Le Bon Marché for one year, and is sold through pers-skincare.com.

The French pharmacy channel represents a big chunk of business for selective cosmetics. In France, they generate 21 percent of their overall sales there, versus 28 percent in selective distribution, according to the Fédération des Éntreprises de la Beauté, France’s professional association of beauty and well-being companies.

“We want to see the brand prescribed by dermatologists,” said Douce.

PERS is already firmly ensconced in that world, with dermatologists sitting on its board of doctors.

The brand has other broad ambitions, too, including selling outside France.

“Antoni talks about patients’ empowerment,” said Douce. “That is empowering our users by saying yes, skin care can be easy. We will explain to you it’s simple, affordable and we [can] prevent you from making mistakes or finding yourself frustrated.”

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