Susanne Kaufmann: “For me, it was always important not just to be natural, but also powerful.”

You come from a family of hoteliers in Austria. Could you ever have imagined that you launching your own beauty brand?
Not at all. I grew up in our family hotel in Bezau, a small village in Austria, and I always thought I would take it over, because running the hotel has always been a passion of mine. I did my studies and joined our family business 30 years ago. Then I began asking myself: what am I going to do in this little village, and how do I attract people to come? It had been a medical spa since the 70s, so I thought, okay, let’s go deeper into spa development. It worked very well, it was really the beginning of wellness hotels in the 90s, a huge trend. In 2003, I renovated the whole spa, and I thought, now I need natural, effective cosmetic products. Back then, that wasn’t so easy to find. So, I decided to create my own product range for our spa. We developed all the protocols for facials and body treatments, and then it just happened that retailers also wanted to sell our products. We started in Vienna, Berlin, and New York, we went global very quickly!

What were you using before starting your own beauty brand? Were you a beauty junkie?
Always! I would sneak into my mother’s bathroom to get hold of her products, she was a fan of Estée Lauder. From quite a young age, before I turned 20, I started using skincare regularly. My grandmother was also passionate about beauty, she made her own tinctures and creams, and even her own hair masks.

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"Every product is created from scratch, we don’t buy white-label formulas and just add our scent."

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What is your first beauty memory?
When I was a little girl, I had very long hair. There was a weekly routine my grandmother would go through: washing, conditioning, and then always rinsing my hair with different tinctures.

Most of your products are based on local ingredients. Which ones?
My idea was to use European knowledge, what chamomile does, what sage does, marigold, St. John’s wort, arnica, edelweiss, alpine rose, and other plants from Alpine meadows, and build recipes based on these locally sourced ingredients. But in a very effective way. It’s not enough just to put some chamomile into a product, it’s always about how you use it and the concentration. For me, it was always important not just to be natural, but also powerful. I wanted products that really do something for your skin, and back then it was quite rare to have natural ingredients that were also highly effective.

How did you know which ingredients to use? And how do you develop new products?
From the very beginning, we’ve worked with a dermatologist who understands ingredients and how to combine them, and we’ve developed every product together. I still work with the same team today. Every product is created from scratch, we don’t buy white-label formulas and just add our scent. That’s how I discovered Ectoin, one of my favourite ingredients, which we use in the Ectoin Repair Serum. It’s an amino acid discovered in the 80s in Egypt, in a salt lake, in microorganisms that survived in very harsh conditions where normally nothing would. It was first used in medicine, for example, for burns, and we now use it in our formulas to repair and protect the skin barrier. It’s always about the combination of ingredients and what you want the product to achieve. It takes quite a long time, from 18 months to two years, from idea to shelf. You find the right ingredients, create the first formulas, test them, adjust them, until you’re really happy with the results. Then the full testing process begins.

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"Sun protection has been a never-ending story for me, and it’s so important to be protected, even if you only go out for 20 minutes, especially for aging skin like mine."

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Your latest product launch is the Ectoin Barrier Repair Moisturiser SPF 50. Could you tell us more about it?
Sun protection has been a never-ending story for me, and it’s so important to be protected, even if you only go out for 20 minutes, especially for aging skin like mine. We started with mineral filters 20 years ago, then explored nanotechnology. I’m so happy we’ve finally launched this cream, it’s a daily moisturiser for all skin types. We still love mineral filters, but it wasn’t possible for us to reach SPF 50 with them, so we chose clean chemical filters. We added Ectoin, my favourite, to support the skin barrier and protect against blue light, and alpine rose to help defend against environmental stressors with antioxidant properties. We wanted a light cream, because SPF filters can feel heavy, so it was important to create a lightweight texture that works as a daily base.

How does your routine change with the seasons?
In winter, it can get quite cold in Austria, so I use richer creams morning and evening, more masks and I love body butter enriched with oil. In summer, I opt for lighter textures for face treatments and body gels. But cleansing always stays the same, it’s important all year round. The same goes for serums.

What will you recommend for spring, when it’s still a bit cold in the morning and evening but warm during the day?
I add SPF to my routine and always use the Ectoin Repair Serum. During winter, I use a cleansing oil, and now I switch to a cleansing gel. I also use our bestseller Enzyme Exfoliator Mask twice a week to detoxify the skin. With the change of seasons, you start to sweat a little more and use sun protection, so it’s nice to care for the skin with this product, it has a touch of menthol for a fresh scent. It cleanses the skin, removes dead skin cells, but in a very gentle and sensitive way.

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“For me, it’s not about one magic product, but about your whole lifestyle: your sleep, your nutrition, your movement. If you don’t sleep well for a week, you’ll see it and feel it, your skin changes. If you don’t eat well, you get breakouts. When you’re stressed, your skin is stressed. Everything is connected. For me, it’s about living in balance.”

When you travel to Paris, what’s in your make-up bag?
I try to travel lightly and pack carefully, but somehow, I always end up with at least 15 products (laughs). They’re in small sizes, though. I always bring a cleanser, enzyme exfoliator, toner, serum, day cream, night cream, eye cream, sun protection, shower gel, shampoo, nail oil, and body cream. I really do take a lot with me.

Do you have any special beauty secrets?
It’s not really a secret, more a philosophy, a holistic approach to beauty. For me, it’s not about one magic product, but about your whole lifestyle: your sleep, your nutrition, your movement. If you don’t sleep well for a week, you’ll see it and feel it, your skin changes. If you don’t eat well, you get breakouts. When you’re stressed, your skin is stressed. Everything is connected. For me, it’s about living in balance. That’s probably not a secret, but it’s what I would recommend.

What is your secret to success?
The people around me. I run two businesses, the hotel and my beauty brand, and I have two children. You can’t do it alone. It’s important to have a strong circle of family and friends. It’s not a one-woman show. And the moment I see that someone can do something better than me, I say: you take it. You can’t control everything, and you’re not the best at everything.

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“If I could, I would escape screens. I lived many years without a smartphone, and I could easily go back to that. I think it’s a bit too much now. Maybe saying “no screens” is radical, but at least spending less time in front of them is something I would really like.”

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What does beauty mean to you?
Healthy skin, and feeling good in your skin. It’s so important, because when you have skin problems, it really affects your well-being. Skin is such a big organ. What I love about our brand is that our most loyal customers don’t just use one product, they use the whole range, for body and face, because they trust the products and believe in our philosophy and ingredients.

Finally, our media is called S-quive (escape in French), what would you love to escape?
If I could, I would escape screens. I lived many years without a smartphone, and I could easily go back to that. I think it’s a bit too much now. Maybe saying “no screens” is radical, but at least spending less time in front of them is something I would really like.