In Conversation with the Founder of Les Lab

On morning calm, fragrance, SPF, beauty noise and the idea that a good selection does not have to be large to feel complete.

How did Les Lab actually begin?

Very simply. Les Lab began as a personal search for brands that had an aesthetic, a formulation, a feeling of use and a story behind them. Some I discovered while travelling, others through years of searching, reading, ordering and trying products that drew me in through the way they were created, how they looked, how they were used and what they brought into an everyday ritual.

At some point, I began to imagine what it would look like to have those brands brought together in one place, but not randomly. Not as another large beauty selection, but as a carefully composed space where each brand has its own character and its own place.

A place with its own point of view, its own rhythm and a selection clear enough to be trusted.

When did you realise that you did not want to simply open an online store, but create a concept?

When I realised that I was not interested only in selling products. I was interested in the experience around them: how we discover them, how we choose them, why we return to some and forget others after the first impression.

An online store can be just a place to buy. I wanted to build Les Lab as a space of selection. Not large, not loud, but carefully composed. A place where a person does not have to go through everything in order to find something good.

What do you find most tiring about the beauty industry today?

The noise. Every day there is a new product, a new claim, a new routine, a new reason why we should add something.

The problem is not novelty itself. The problem is when novelty becomes its own purpose. Then it becomes easy to lose the sense of what truly suits us and what only attracts our attention for a moment.

I am more interested in what remains quiet. A product that does not have to be the loudest to be good. A brand that knows what it is doing. A texture we return to. A scent that does not take over the space, but changes it.

What does your morning ritual look like?

I usually start the day with a glass of warm water with lemon. It is a small moment I like to have before screens, messages and obligations.

I do not like mornings that begin too quickly. I prefer a slower start, a few minutes of quiet and skincare that is simple, but thoughtful.

I would not say I have a perfect morning ritual. What matters more to me is that the day begins calmly, with a small sense of order before everything else arrives.

If you had to choose only one skincare product, what would it be?

SPF. Without hesitation.

We can talk about serums, creams, treatments and textures, but if SPF is skipped, much of skincare loses its meaning. For me, it is the most important step because it protects everything we are trying to care for with the rest of our routine.

That is why it matters to me that SPF is not a product we use only because we have to. It has to feel pleasant, wearable and beautiful enough on the skin that we actually want to apply it every day.

What puts you off a beauty product the fastest?

When a product tries to be everything. When a brand speaks too loudly, promises too much or relies only on beautiful packaging.

I like when a product has a clear role. It does not have to be spectacular. It does not have to change the entire routine. But you should be able to feel that there is thought behind it, from the formulation to the way it is used.

I am also put off when a brand is not transparent enough. Today, it is not enough for a product to look good. It also matters how it is made, what it communicates and how much it respects the person choosing it.

How do you know when a brand is good enough for Les Lab?

There is never just one criterion. I look at formulation, texture, transparency, sustainability, aesthetics, the feeling of use and the philosophy of the brand.

But what matters most to me is what happens after the first impression. Is the product something that will truly be used? Does a person return to it naturally? Does the brand have its own language, or is it simply following a trend?

Some products are beautiful at first. Rarer are the ones that remain interesting after we begin using them. Those are the ones that interest me most.

What does luxury in beauty mean to you today?

For me, luxury in beauty is no longer about quantity. It is not the feeling that we always have to own something new.

Luxury is a calmer relationship with choice. Trust that something has been well made. A texture that applies beautifully. A fragrance that changes your mood. A cream after which the skin feels comfortable. SPF that is not skipped. A hair product that simplifies the routine instead of complicating it.

More and more, I think luxury is also having someone go through the excess for you, remove what is only noise and leave what is worth looking at more closely.

Which type of product are you personally most drawn to?

Fragrance. Abel fragrances in particular, because they have the ability to change the atmosphere of a moment almost immediately. Some return me to a feeling of peace, to a certain time or mood that I could not precisely explain, but recognise instantly.

For me, fragrance is not just a finishing detail. It can be quiet, yet very present. Sometimes one scent is enough to make the entire day feel different.

Which brand from the Les Lab selection best reflects your criteria?

REASO is a good example because it shows that skincare does not need ten steps to feel considered. I like when a brand has clarity, when the products do not feel like accumulation, but like a carefully composed system of care.

But I would not single out only one brand as the only example. Les Lab chooses brands that have their own language: SPF that can truly be worn every day, fragrance that changes the atmosphere without needing to dominate, colour that does not cover the face but follows it, body and hair care that are not an afterthought, but as considered as skincare.

These are different categories, but the same criterion: a product does not enter the selection simply to fill a place, but because it brings something that can be felt in real use.

How do you want someone to feel when they buy something from Les Lab?

I would like them to feel a sense of ease. As if they do not have to search through ten online stores, compare countless products and wonder whether something is truly good or simply beautifully presented.

I want shopping at Les Lab to carry a sense of trust. For a person to feel that the selection has already passed through someone’s point of view, but without imposition and without pressure.

The most beautiful thing would be for someone to come for one product and actually find a way of thinking that suits them. Calmer, clearer, more personal.

What does Les Lab not want to become?

I do not want Les Lab to become a place of fast trends. Nor an online store that keeps adding new products simply to appear bigger.

I do not want to offer everything. That was never the idea.

Les Lab should remain a space that knows how to say no. A space where beauty is not seen through quantity, but through feeling, quality and the way a product enters everyday life.

If, after visiting Les Lab, a person does not feel that they need everything, but that they have found something that truly suits them, then the concept has succeeded.