This month, Élodie Carpentier, Co-founder of LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS, the new label added to the Ali Bin Ali Beauty portfolio, makes an introduction to the brand. Read all about what this French cosmetics company has to offer to its GCC customers.
LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS is a French luxury make-up brand that combines high-performance beauty with sustainability, offering vegan, COSMOS Organic and COSMOS Natural certified products made in France. The brand is distinguished by its patented use of plant-based pigments, offering a biodegradable, traceable alternative to conventional petrochemical colourants. LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS showcases a unique French savoir-faire in natural colour innovation and sustainable luxury cosmetics.
LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS began with colour. Where did that story begin?
It all started with a desire to pass on. I created LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS when I was pregnant with my little daughter. At that time, I naturally became more attentive to what I was eating, and that awareness quickly extended to what I was applying to my skin. As I began looking into cosmetic formulations, I realised I couldn’t find what I was truly looking for: products that were both safe, sensorial and respectful of health and the environment. As a biotechnology engineer with a deep passion for botany, I felt it was my responsibility to explore a different path and develop formulations free of controversial ingredients – organic, vegan and rich in natural colouring. My ambition was to reinvent make-up through plantbased colour, and to sublimate women with plant-based pigments that are both powerful and respectful of life.
What was the idea you couldn’t let go of when you first imagined the brand?
When I first imagined LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS, I couldn’t let go of one idea: changing the codes of beauty. Today, 99% of the global make-up industry still relies on petrochemical pigments. I wanted to restore colour to its rightful nobility and rethink its place within beauty formulations. My ambition was to create a new era of make-up where colour would no longer be a compromise, but a living ingredient in its own right – more respectful, more sensorial and more powerful. From there, everything became clear: redefining beauty through a new balance of performance and naturalness, driven by plant-based colour.
Why colour?
For me, colour is emotion – beyond make-up, it is living and transformative. Plant-based pigmentation is unique because it carries both colour and biological properties: antioxidant, soothing or protective benefits derived from dye plants. Through our patented process, we extract both the colour and the active power of nature, creating deep, rich colour that goes beyond aesthetics. In an era of skinification (the practice of applying skincare principles to your entire body), colour becomes care. It sublimates the skin over time, offering a more respectful and progressive approach to beauty.
What can botanical pigments tell us about beauty that synthetic colour cannot?
Botanical pigments offer a more holistic form of performance than synthetic colour. First, in terms of colour itself, they offer variability and intensity, vibrance and glow, with strong resistance and durability. Then, from a formulation perspective, they offer an alternative to titanium dioxide and other controversial ingredients, while providing additional biological benefits. Finally, there is an environmental dimension: ethical and sustainable sourcing, carbon sequestration by plants, biodegradability and traceability.
LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS often feels closer to a cultural project than a cosmetics brand. Was that always your intention?
Dye plants have been used for thousands of years and connect us to ancestral cultures. We are inspired by this knowledge and, through our scientific expertise and biotechnological processes, we transform it into stable formulations for our make-up creations.
How do heritage and innovation coexist within the brand?
It is indeed part of our DNA. We draw inspiration from ancestral cultures and empirical knowledge to reveal the potential of nature. Through our scientific expertise and biotechnology, we transform these natural resources into high-performance cosmetic applications.
What role does science play in your relationship with nature?
Science allows us to work with nature in a respectful way. It enables us to build robust protocols to transform botanical resources into reliable colour, without exploiting them. On the contrary, our approach values regeneration, sustainability and reduced environmental impact, including carbon sequestration. Greentech changes the codes of the industry: working in alliance with nature rather than against it, and offering a true alternative to petrochemical ingredients.
Your lipsticks have become the signature of LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS. Why do you think they resonate so strongly with consumers?
Lipstick was our first product, so it naturally became our signature. It is an iconic symbol of French elegance and glamour, embodying that unique “je ne sais quoi” admired worldwide. It is also one of the most technically demanding make-up products to develop, which makes it a true expression of our expertise in botanical colour.
How do you define luxury today?
Luxury is attention to detail: sophisticated, elegant packaging that never compromises desirability and French craftsmanship that turns each creation into a meaningful object. Today, it is also about greater awareness – respect for the skin and health, safe and intelligent formulations and ultimately the trust we place in what we apply on ourselves.
What has surprised you most since launching LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS?
What surprised me most was the absence of such an offer on the market, despite strong consumer demand. People were ready for a different approach to make-up.
What do you think the GCC beauty consumer is looking for today?
Today’s beauty consumer is extremely demanding. We are seeing a clear shift from make-up-centric routines to skincare-focussed expectations, with a strong emphasis on visible results, safety and efficacy. Trust has become central, along with ingredient transparency and brand authenticity.
What would you like people to feel the first time they experience LE ROUGE FRANÇAIS?
I would like them to feel they are entering a ritual. More than make-up, it is a sensorial experience of care – where beauty becomes a meaningful gesture. When they apply our products, they feel immediately enhanced, but also reassured: knowing their skin is respected, protected and cared for over time.