Category: Interview

An interview with Mr. Rupert Schmid,
Co-Chairman of Biologique Recherche

Founded in France in the late 1970s, Biologique Recherche has gained a reputation for its outstanding effective products and customized cosmetic treatments. In 2007, Rupert Schmid and Pierre-Louis Delapalme took the helm of the brand and injected a new dynamism to it. Today, Biologique Recherche is the partner of choice in over 85 countries/regions for exclusive medical spas and day spas in addition to the world’s premiere luxury hotel spas. To unveil the mystery of Biologique Recherche, SpaChina has interviewed Mr. Rupert Schmid, the Co-Chairman of Biologique Recherche.

From the beginning Rupert Schmid’s career was that of an entrepreneur. It was through the communications group he was leading that Schmid first came to deal with environment and sustainability issues, which led him to join Veolia as its international marketing and communication director. When Schmid had the right opportunity to resume his leadership natural path, he acquired Biologique Recherche with Pierre-Louis Delapalme, who left the Yves Rocher Group to do so, as his partner. Together they resolved a succession issue for the family business, investing in R&D and regulatory compliance, and boosting the brand that has since become one of the leading professional cosmeceutical skin care company.

How did the brand emerge?

The brand emerged at the end of the seventies; Yvan Allouche was working for different mainstream retail brands as a product developer. The idea of creating his own brand came from a real frustration provoked by the incessant pressure of the financial department putting the cost of development before the effectiveness and the originality of the formula.

Mrs Allouche, his wife and co-founder, was a specialist in physiotherapist and rehabilitation. The couple decided to merge their creative force to create a very new methodology called BIOLOGIQUE RECHERCHE.

A decade later, their son, Dr Philippe Allouche decided to help his parents in bringing to the brand a rigorous scientific approach in adding new areas of expertise. In 2007, following the passing away of Yvan Allouche, Rupert Schmid and Pierre-Louis Delapalme, now Co-Chairmen of Biologique Recherche, took over the company, in partnership with Philippe Allouche who remains the creative custodian. These long-time friends inaugurated a new quasi pharmaceutical laboratory where all the brand’s products are created, and developed markets on all continents.

What is the brand’s specificity /positioning?

Biologique Recherche is a professional cosmeceutical brand with a medical grade research on the skin to develop personalized treatments and home care routine.

Biologique Recherche offers the combination of targeted products highly dosed with natural actives (botanical, biological or mineral), combined with bio-engineered actives, and talented hands. The brand is an entire dedication to excellence with highly customized and result driven treatments, focused on re-conditioning the skin for the best result to every Skin Instant©.

Biologique Recherche’s methodology is inspired by a fundamental observation. Each of us has not only one, but several skins. Our skin’s condition changes several times in a single day, in a week, in a month and during the course of our lifetimes. Everyone has different “Skin Instant©” which can evolve during the course of one day. The artificial categorization of skins as normal, dry or oily provides a poor physiological definition of a skin’s instant and only gives a stationary image of the epidermal cosmetic imbalances. Biologique Recherche offers a dynamic and highly personalized vision of the Skin. Our professionals are trained to analyze and advise the women and men on the treatment that is best suited to their “Skin Instants©”.

At Biologique Recherche our methodology works with the skin, not against it, to help it balance and heal itself; our formulas and treatments work synergistically to rebuild better skin and treat specific skin instants.

What makes Biologique Recherche stand out from other companies?

Biologique Recherche Methodology has been designed through a very keen clinical approach of the skin and problem/solution process. Clinical assessment, synergies between powerful products and proprietary muscular and facial manipulations, genuine hyper customized skincare regimen set BR apart from the current Industry.

Biologique Recherche remains the sole premium professional relying on a unique network of professionals (doctors, estheticians, nurses, spa therapists….) around the globe. Essentially being a result-driven brand is also our major force. Showing a great respect for the epidermis’ physiology and rebuilding back the epidermis’ capability to regenerate properly and defend itself is our main concern.

In line with this philosophy, our newest innovation, La Grande Crème, is a pioneering formulation that came from a major discovery in the field of epigenetic and cellular reprogramming. La Grande Crème tackles all age-related skin concerns. EpigenActiv® “switches off” the genes that are involved in the process of skin ageing, to enable the ultimate regeneration. Its active ingredients improve the functional architecture of elastin and collagen fibers, giving a real “lifting” and anti-wrinkle effect.

What is the creative process like when developing new products?

The driver of Biologique Recherche rely on Science and Passion to offer Beauty to each of our guests. In each Biologique Recherche creation process, there is the part of the intellect, the reflection, the science but without denying the other part made from intuition, feelings, sensorial and human experiences: this is where the magic of the creation resides.

Doctor Philippe Allouche surrounds himself with a great energizing team who is helping him in researching the best ingredients we will combine in order to get the best results. Regarding the product creation process, Doctor Allouche says that “it is the scientific and medical approach we adapted in our work that makes all the difference. If you think that there are “simple beauty recipes”, it is not true. There are no any secrets or “magic formulas”. There is a product creation based on a complex research work.”

Biologique Recherche is not about the latest ingredient in the market, but we are selecting and using an extremely large spectrum of ingredients (more than 400 different ones!). Each single product created since almost 4 decades are still alive side by side with our new ones. Biologique Recherche is treatment oriented and products could not take fully their place if not included in a professional treatment protocol.

Over the year what has been the most popular product? What make it so successful?

Lotion P50, our most famous and coveted product, is the cornerstone to Biologique Recherche skin care treatments. All Biologique Recherche skin care treatments, whether administered at home or in a beauty institute, start with the “P50 ritual” in the morning and evening. This lotion gently exfoliates the skin, regulates excess sebum secretion, moisturizes and helps maintain the epidermis’ acid pH.

The Lotions P50 are the culmination of 40 years of reflection and experience. The Lotions P50 balancing exfoliators speed up the epidermis’ natural exfoliation process and the reconstruction of the epidermal shield. The fortified epidermis can then effectively fulfill its protective functions, thus enhancing skin’s self-regeneration potential.

Since there are different versions of Lotion P50, when choosing the type that suits your skin, you have to take into account not only the needed exfoliation level to achieve but also the level of vitality of the skin. Our most recent one is Lotion P50 PIGM 400, an exfoliating and brightening lotion, ideal for dull complexions with hyperpigmented marks.

For those that are not very familiar with your products – where to start, what is necessary?

Biologique Recherche methodology, starting with the diagnosis, has a very strict sequence of steps, following the physiology of the skin. But within each of the steps, the therapists can select the right targeted mix of formulas between over 150 options. Plus, specifics manual techniques adapted to the different Skin Instants©.

Biologique Recherche methodology will prescribe a 6 step home beauty regimen to follow every morning and every night. Each step is important and has a different target and goal according to the Skin Instant© needs:

1. Removing dust, impurities and make up with Milk cleanser
2. Gentle exfoliation while moisturizing using the iconic LOTION P50
3. Apply a selected mask restocking the epidermis in lipids.
4. Pure quintessential serums: Water based solutions of pure amino acids and/or active peptides to act on the Natural Moisturizing Factor and delivering powerful bio activators peptides to the epidermis.
5. Creams which will bring lipids complexes to the epidermis along with targeting active ingredients
6. Finishing serums: the most sophisticated and concentrated products to bring more moisture, re-plump and bringing to the skin this very special radiance and glamour touch anyone can experience after getting a Biologique Recherche facial

All Biologique Recherche products work to gently bring the skin to a balanced, hydrated, nourished and protected state. Products contain high concentrations of active ingredients, are perfume-free and are micro-brewed at the Biologique Recherche laboratories in Paris.

Do you have further expansion plans in China’s market? What are the potential and challenges here?

The future potential market in China is enormous. Because the more our clients will get experts the more they will take care of their skin in a personalized way in a spa or at home. And this is coming in China very quickly. It is so impressing how quick the knowledge and the habits are changing through education. It will be our developing focus to enhance our investment in China’s market, speed up the all-round operations of the brand and build strategic partnership here. And our challenge is to find the doctors and the therapists who are willing to share our hyper customized approach. The challenge for us is to meet them and work with them.

An interview with Dr. Li Kai, Doctor of Medicine;
Head of Dermatology & Cosmetology Center of Xijing Hospital,
The Fourth Military Medical University

Lumenis, the world’s largest device manufacturer in the aesthetic industry, and Swissline, one of Switzerland’s top five skincare brands, have joined forces to bring about a revolutionary solution for facial lifting and anti-aging through a joint treatment integrating Divine Pro and Swissline Pure Collagen Face & Neck Film. To know more about this joint treatment, SpaChina interviewed Dr. Li Kai, Head of Dermatology & Cosmetology Center of Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University.

Dr. Li Kai obtained his doctoral degrees in Dermatology and Venereology from The Fourth Military Medical University in 2010. He has spent time in the Dermatology Department of the Henry Ford Hospital in the US and The Perugia Hospital in Italy for academic exchange. He has so far been responsible for two Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) projects and one hospital-wide fund project. Dr. Li Kai has published over twenty essays on Dermatology with SCI.

Please introduce Divine Pro, including its core technology, main efficacy, and applicable customers.

Divine Pro is a product of Lumenis, known as the high-end salon/spa-use-only version of the popular home-use beauty device TriPollar. This non-invasive device simultaneously works on facial skin and muscles for a rejuvenating effect. It features two core patented technologies — TriPollar® multipolar high-density radio frequency and DMA dynamic muscle activation technology to tighten the muscles, and improve skin elasticity and activity in a high level of comfort.

TriPollar® radiofrequency stimulates collagen contraction to firm and lift the skin and improve contours. DMA is an innovative muscle activation method that stimulates the contraction of facial muscles and SMAS through rhythmic electrical signals emitted by a sliding handpiece to contour from within and improve the appearance of a sagging, puffy and aging face. The two technologies work together on the epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous fat layer and muscle layer to realize full-layer treatment, three-dimensional anti-aging and multi-dimensional facial rejuvenation.

Lumenis believes in the power of scientific research and is dedicated to combining clinically proven, safe and effective technology with the body’s natural mechanisms to improve beauty from within. Divine Pro has been CE certified. Divine Pro is fit for customers of all ages, especially those with sagging skin, unclear contour lines, sunken face, sagging apple muscles, and double chin.

Please share more details about the joint treatment of Divine Pro and Swissline. How is it implemented, and what products of Swissline are used?

Swissline, a professional skincare brand from Switzerland, is committed to breaking the boundaries between medical aesthetics and traditional skincare by innovatively applying “cellular” therapies and quasi-medical technologies to the field of beauty and skincare. The treatment jointly developed by Lumenis and Swissline aims to meet the market demand for a comfortable and visibly effective aesthetic experience.

Swissline’s products are used along with Divine Pro to dynamically reshape the facial contours. The core part is in the middle of the session, where Swissline’s newly launched Pure Collagen Face & Neck Film is applied on the face for collagen replenishment and activation. After the film is fully absorbed, the Divine Pro is performed to activate and tighten the deep muscles and accelerate a deeper penetration of the collagen film.

The botanic essence and collagen power released by Swissline’s product work together with Divine Pro to target the key anti-aging needs of the skin from three dimensions: 1. external collagen replenishment; 2. internal stimulation of collagen formation; 3. multi-level muscle activation. Different from the “cold” medical aesthetic treatment, the integration of the pampering spa experience gives customers a higher level of satisfaction.

Please tell us more about Pure Collagen Face & Neck Film. What is the advantage of Swissline’s products over that of others in this joint program?

Swissline Pure Collagen Face & Neck Film is made from 92% pure collagen, 87% of which features the same molecular structure as the skin’s own collagen. The patented MatriCol™ technology provides a timely and non-invasive collagen filling effects.

The collagen film replenishes collagen of different molecular weights directly from outside during the treatment and promotes the regeneration of the skin’s own collagen, effectively smoothing fine lines. In addition, Swissline Pure Collagen Face & Neck Film is fit for all skin types, including extremely sensitive skin.

Does this joint treatment include personalized approaches?

Yes. Adjustments can be made during the Divine Pro operation and a range of Swissline’s products are available to meet the actual facial conditions of the individuals. For example, Swissline’s FORCE VITALE rang is effective for extremely dry or oily skin while CELL SHOCK AGE INTELLIGENCE™ is a rescue for fragile and inflamed skin. There are also more gentle options for skin after cosmetic procedures.

Where can consumers experience the treatment? Is there any follow-up advice for at-home skincare after the treatment?

The treatment is currently available at Swissline Glamscience Center in Hong Kong Plaza, Shanghai. ISwissline’s extensive product portfolio and specialized skincare solutions, as well as beauty and health maintenance programs provide consumers with more targeted solutions to continue and consolidate the results at home.

An interview with Ms. Sun Yan, the Manager of Love Story Hangzhou

Since its foundation in 1997, Love Story Hangzhou has continually upgraded its services and programs based on a deep study of the market and customer feedback. From the personalized training of therapists and spa staff, to an exploration of physical, mental and spiritual healing elements, to a consistent interior design reproducing Nature, an integration of art, culture and fashion, and health cuisine offerings, Love Story aims to deliver a diversified wellness approach for modern customers. SpaChina interviewed Ms. Sun Yan, the Manager of Love Story Hangzhou, who has been working for 15 years, since very beginning of Love Story, to share with us the development path and philosophy of Love Story. As a representative of China’s day spa operators, she also shares with us her insights on China’s spa industry.

Please introduce Love Story Hangzhou to us, including the foundation story, brand philosophy, business concepts and more.

In 1997, Love Story Image Design Limited Company was founded, a hairdressing fashion chain brand widely known in Eastern China at that time. Many famous styling salon owners in Hangzhou today once worked there. As time passed by, Love Story began to deliver spa services to customers and gained many loyal fans. Meanwhile, we felt the need to open more branches in order to meet the increasing demands of the market. Then in 2006, we opened our Love Story day spa flagship store with a total area of 7,000 square meters in the bustling old town center of Hangzhou. Five years later, we opened another branch, a more typical day spa, inside Hangzhou Xinqiao Hotel by the West Lake, designed exclusively for modern young people. In 2015, for the newly-opened branch in Qingchun CBD, we, through great effort, collected precious old pictures and art pieces in the old streets and lanes of Shanghai to reproduce a characteristic grand mansion feel during the Republic of China time in Love Story. One year later, we also opened in the renowned Hangzhou Capital Star Hotel and welcomed guests from different countries during the G20 Summit period. In 2017, Love Story came to Xiaoshan. This year in 2021, Love Story Tianyuan store grandly opened, with the Qiantang River in the east and the Grand Canal in the north. It’s also close to the Grand Theatre, the Forest Park and the Century Garden. The space design and elements of the Tianyuan store is quite young in spirit. A combination of minimalist style and luxury has overtaken the previous decoration style of Love Story, offering a tranquil haven for the modern elites.

Over the years, Love Story has stuck to the key words of “green, advanced, and manual techniques”. We believe that “to slow down for a while can help us restart more effectively.” So with “love”, we are dedicated to delivering a more profound spa experience to customers.

What do you emphasize in particular during staff recruitment? What characteristics should an excellent therapist and staff possess in Love Story?

During recruitment, we emphasize the comprehensive quality and mental outlook of candidates. We check whether they are loving and grateful. We believe that only staff with such characteristics are able to represent our corporate culture and serve every customer with “love”. Meanwhile, the customers’ recognition and impression of our brand directly come from our staff who serve them. So the comprehensive quality of the staff is quite important.

A qualified therapist and staff member in Love Story should respect and love both the customers and their work. They are also required to behave in a decent manner, have a good conscience and be self-disciplined during the work. Only in this way can they offer more quality services to the customers and help build the professional image of Love Story day spa.

Who are the main customers of Love Story? What requirements do China’s wellness and spa customers have? In the past one or two years, what new programs have you launched? What new plans do you have in the near future?

Our customers are aged from 20 to 55 and have a keen pursuit in health and life quality. People at different ages have their distinctive requirements. People aged from 20 to 30 are our main customers. They emphasize exquisite lifestyles and mental healing. They also have stronger brand awareness and love to share their experience in Love Story with others. Customers of 40 and 50 years old are usually successful in their careers. They seek more of a comfortable environment, advanced and complete facilities and equipment, quality products and a comprehensive sense of pleasure in the spa journey. Customers over 60 years old have more interest in health maintenance and are usually more demanding concerning the professionalism, relaxation and health effects of the programs.

We attach great importance to the experience of customers. We study and gather customers experience feedback in three ways. First, our therapists try to understand customers’ feelings during the treatment both in verbal and nonverbal ways. Second, after the treatment, we give customers a rating form to gather their feedback. The receptionist will ask about their feelings as well. Third, we read online comments from customers every day in order to summarize our merits and shortcomings.

In recent years, especially after the pandemic, more customers put health as their priority. They seek not only techniques and services, but a holistic healing from body and emotion to mind and spirit. So we continue to explore how to better integrate body & mind healing elements with spa services and techniques. Now, in addition to TCM principles, we have begun to study bones, muscles, and even psychology, and life care in Western medicine. In addition to introducing these modern techniques in the treatment development, we have also launched relevant classes for the therapists and training team.

Modern young people face a lot of pressure and commonly suffer sleep problems, and even hair loss. They have become more aware of scalp and hair care than before. Therefore, we launched scalp programs the year before last to meet their needs as well as complete our program portfolio. The scalp programs are quite popular among young people in Love Story. In the near future, we will introduce facial and body equipment in order to deliver more effective beauty treatments.

Compared to hotel spas, what are the advantages and disadvantages of day spas? How does Love Story give play to its advantages and improve on disadvantages?

Compared to hotel spas, day spas have a bigger and steadier customer flow, a stronger influence in the industry and more impressive sales growth. However, one major disadvantage of day spas is that they don’t possess the natural or cultural setting of resort and hotel spas. Customers at day spas lack the chance to experience healing from nature directly. So over the years, Love Story keeps exploring the possibilities of integrating natural elements into the construction and services and build a deeper reconnection with nature. In the newly opened spa, we invited the famous aesthetics designers of China to create an exclusive natural environment for Love Story. Based on the theme of nature awakening, we borrow natural textures and elements like stones, wood, marbles and natural landscapes, complemented by plants, essential oils and soothing music for a deeper body and heart healing. In this way, we have built an interior natural environment that touches the five senses of the customers.

About 70% of our customers are from 25 to 45 years old. Female customers take up 45% and male customers 55%. Our body treatments usually last 80 to 120 minutes at a price of 398 to 1,980RMB. Our facials last 75 to 90 minutes at the price also from 398 to 1,989RMB. All of our body and facial treatments are safe, effective and comfortable. We use essential oils in most of the treatments. And our therapists don’t do any sales during the treatment so that the customers can carefreely enjoy the whole service.

To gain customer trust and loyalty is of great significance to day spas. What have you done in this aspect?

Unlike other day spas which do too much sales during services, we focus on our service quality and techniques. We take great care of customers’ feelings. We respect their privacy and will by no means try to bother them in their daily life. We win customers’ hearts with services, environments and professional skills. They truly feel this is an urban oasis where they can have body and mental recovery. Moreover, we pay attention to customer feedback and try to solve any of their concerns with specialized knowledge and earnest attitudes. As a result, we gain their trust.

How do you carry out effective personnel training to maintain consistency in  service quality and brand concept at different stores?

Personnel training is an important component of Love Story’s human resources management. It plays a vital role in improving staff quality, enhancing corporate culture, and forming the core competitiveness of the company. Love Story features a complete personnel training system and we keep updating and adjusting the training themes, content and ways based on the actual situation of the individuals. The training is carried out around four aspects. First, corporate culture. We encourage every staff to possess an autonomous attitude to actively discover problems, share experiences and learn from each other. Second, techniques. We carry out different training to different people and try to make the training full of fun in an innovative way in order to increase the staff’s confidence, passion and motivations to learn. Third, comprehensive quality and professional integrity. We try to improve staff’s insights, analysis ability, memory, communication skills and the power to sympathize with others so that they can both sense their own emotion state and emotional changes and tell the emotional needs of the customers timely and accurately. Fourth, we set a trainer at each store to supervise and support the staff and therapists, improving their techniques in every aspect from operation, management to treatment delivery. In addition, our aroma therapists continue to be trained by experts home and abroad. Therefore, they are able to pass the essence of aromatherapy better to the customers. 

How do you get staff to stay and continue to enhance their loyalty and enthusiasm for the company?

Love Story has a transparent management system, complete stimulation and promotion mechanism, and a clear performance appraisal system. We advocate justice and equity and we communicate with our staff regularly and in a timely way. We provide them with quality accommodation, canteen and shuttle bus services. During the work, we not only teach them knowledge and skills but also help them to do career planning according to their own core capacity so that they can have a clear goal and direction on the career path.

Please introduce your online business to us.

So far, Love Story has three online platforms. First, the official website of the company. It’s a platform to present our corporate culture, brand concept and products and treatments, enabling customers to have a deeper knowledge of who Love Story is and what we can offer. Secondly, we have a group-purchase platform. We built this platform especially to cater to the consumption habits and preferences of young people today. With this platform, we manage to promote our brand awareness and let more people know us. Thirdly, we launched our official WeChat platform. We have organized various We-Media activities with this platform, speeding up the integrated construction of online and offline communities.

What’s your opinion on the prospect of China’s big health market? What’s your development plan for the next five years?

Rapid pace of life and severe environmental pollution hazard people’s health. Various geriatric diseases and chronic diseases befall on younger people nowadays. According to the data of WHO, 70% of total population worldwide suffer from sub-health conditions. So no other industry has such a close relationship to every one of us as the health industry has. In fact, since ancient times, our forefathers have come up with the theory: “The best doctor helps people prevent the occurrence of diseases.” Today an increasing number of people have also realized that it is much better to do something in advance to prevent illness than to spend a lot of money curing the illness afterwards. So naturally, the concept of “wellness” becomes popular. Under the combined drive of favorable policies, advanced technologies, increasing demands, and improved life quality, the big health industry in China is greatly flourishing. Due to consumers’ growing demand for diversified wellness approaches, the spa industry, which addresses a holistic healing from body to heart, has undoubtedly brought new inspiration to the big health world. Day spa will surely be the choice of more and more young people.   

In the next five years, we will emphasize on enhancing our brand IP. We will forge a new image of Love Story Day Spa: professionalism goes with fashion and health blends with culture. We are dedicated to creating more unique spa spaces where customers can enjoy more diversified healing modes.