Heritage and Inspiration
If fashion became her path in Paris, when she returned to Melbourne a couple of years later, Melissa was propelled into a new world of art and culture. After working on the first two Melbourne Fashion Festival productions and co-founding a menswear fashion label called industry melbourne, Melissa then held roles in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi, and in nationwide event management.
Then whilst working within senior manager at the National Gallery of Victoria under the Directorship of Dr. Gerard Vaughan, which staged some major French exhibitions – including the ‘Napoleon: Revolution to Empire’ exhibition in 2014 – Melissa discovered the Napoleon inspired expedition to Australia in the 1800’s, born from his and Josephine’s fascination with the land down under, and which subsequently introduced hundreds of thousands of flora and fauna to the hexagon, upon its return.
An exciting new adventure
After many years at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melissa embarked on the research and analysis needed to initiate the development and commercialisation of a suite of Australian-made, 100% natural baby products created under Proprietary brands and sold nationwide. This was an Australian first.
Whilst collaborating with the best in Australian skincare, Mélissa and Jamie recognised a void for impeccably presented, high-performance, 100% natural beauty products developed within an eco-friendly framework, and commenced the development process with Australia’s best cosmetic scientists.
After the igniting her love affair with French culture in the 90’s in Paris, and her many visits since, Melissa’s husband Jamie Arnold, felt that his wife needed a French fix of inspiration and in their quintessential style, they decided to commit to the LA FERVANCE project entirely – relocating their young family from their comfortable Bayside lives in Melbourne, to France in 2016 to eventually disrupt the luxury beauty industry.
They lived a charming life in the heart of Provence for two years, before moving to Paris to launch their heartfelt creation – deciding to sell their first family home and treasure chest of their children’s memories, to more easily and interactively collaborate with the global leaders in cosmetic science.
These experts were intrigued by Mélissa and Jamie’s vision and excitedly drawn to the integrity of the project and her sheer determination to make it succeed. The ability and courage to surmount the disappointments, the challenges, obstacles and the incredible encouragement by their emotional support networks, are the reasons LA FERVANCE saw the light of day. Such an entrepreneurial journey is not for the faint hearted.
The Journey
To Melissa, the relationship between French and Australian beauty and the desire to fuse these two cultures, so relevant and important to her, arrived in an epiphany like moment at the start of her family’s sabbatical in France.
Sitting on the balcony of their Parisian apartment in the Marais and feeling inspired by a full day of absorbing the grandeur of many Napoleon created sites and the NGV’s Napoleon expedition, which vividly brought to life the inherent link between these two diverse cultures and environments – both blessed with active botanicals and complimented by France’s centuries old ‘savoir-faire’, Melissa and Jamie were on the path towards their next adventure into the world of luxurious, clean beauty.
Beautiful, natural, minimalistic, effective and effortless. LA FERVANCE embodies its 360-degree approach through its highly active concentrated small batch formulas with multi-functional uses.
By respecting these codes of integrity of its ingredients, packaging, culture and usage, the one-of-a-kind and innovative Fusionistique Skincare™ philosophy behind LA FERVANCE is the reason it has become a trusted luxury skincare brand globally, with its current collection of two products, offering a complete and effective self-care ritual.
LA FERVANCE is born
The LA FERVANCE journey began with Co-founders Melissa Obeid and Jamie Arnold asking “What will it take to make a product with a 100% natural formulation?”
RECYCLABLE PACKAGING
All of LA FERVANCE packaging is COSMOS-certified and 100% recyclable, using glass primary packaging and FSC-accredited, fine Italian-made papers for their cartons. All of the glass used in its product packaging is recyclable and the founders are investigating a refill program. This would enable consumers to purchase product refills for their existing jars and bottles instead of purchasing replacement products in brand-new packaging.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
LA FERVANCE uses European-made glass packaging wherever possible and is deeply committed to reducing the amount of plastic found in waterways. The founders intend to work with companies that remove plastic from the oceans and are also committed to preserving forests and halting land degradation and biodiversity loss. The use of French and European-made packaging and many key ingredients minimise the impact of transporting goods to their production facilities in France.
SUSTAINABLY- SOURCED NATURAL INGREDIENTS
Sustainability – the ingredients in every LA FERVANCE product are traceable and of 100% natural origins, and all ingredients are sustainably-sourced and COSMOS-certified for
sustainability. All products are free from propylene glycol and microbeads, and do not contain any harsh chemicals. The products are also microplastic-free, and the organic ingredients are certified by Ecocert. All ingredients are traceable and they offer each community the opportunity to understand where each ingredient comes from and for what purpose.
Certifications in the beauty industry can be difficult to understand and value. Some awards are only offered to those who pay for nominations and advertising, others are genuine accolades presented to the industry leaders, and often dominated by French skincare brands.
We are proud to have been recipients of some of the awards that are shrouded in integrity and impact, as well as hold certifications to associations that maintain cornerstones in ethical cosmetic production.
Melissa sought a third-party certifier to further distinguish La Fervance and give it an outside stamp of approval that would resonate with savvy clean beauty shoppers. After extensive research, she landed on COSMOS, the standard designed to promote organic agriculture, environmental protection, human health and green chemistry.
“Cosmos certification is extremely stringent…They have to certify every ingredient. They have to certify the manufacturing processes, the manufacturers, the storage, the packaging, the materials, everything,” she says. While the certification process was time-consuming and expensive, it was ultimately worthwhile. With the COSMOS seal, Melissa emphasizes La Fervance can “guarantee to the consumer that we are who we claim to be.”
We are certified with the following entities:
ECOCERT
Founded in France 1991, ECOCERT specialised in the certification of organic agricultural products and was the very first certification body to develop standards for “natural and organic cosmetics. ECOCERT had become a benchmark in organic certification worldwide, winning the confidence of consumers and professionals.
The ECOCERT standard was set to inspect the ingredients, manufacturing process and packaging to ensure that everything from the where the plant is grown to the packaging you see on your shelf is compliant. ECOCERT will only approve the use of “green chemicals” and accredit products that meet its strict criteria. To ensure an environmentally friendly product, ECOCERT strives to promote the use of ingredients derived from renewable resources and production and manufacturing processes that are environmentally safe. Outside of cosmetic products and respected ingredients, ECOCERT also holds certification and control of eco-products related to home fragrance, textiles, spas, and detergents. It is accredited in accordance with the ISO 17065 standard, and their certification standards now fall under the broader COSMOS-standard noted above and set forth in early 2017.
The COSMOS Standard
The COSMOS-standard is a new cosmetic certification developed to harmonise various certifications and labels in order to create one standard that is internationally recognised for natural and organic cosmetics. The “COSMetic Organic Standard” was officially launched in February 2011, and as a result of Europe’s leading natural cosmetic certifiers coming together and forming a non-profit association, COSMOS-standard AISBL. The COSMOS-standard association consists of five founding members who now authorise and oversee the certification, including the Soil Association (UK), Ecocert (France), Cosmebio (France), BDIH (Germany) and AIAB/ICEA (Italy). The main goal is to uphold the inspection and certification of organic and ecological products, eco-friendly systems and respect for the environment throughout the production chain. Today, over 1,600 companies, and more than 25,000 products sold into more than 45 countries are certified under COSMOS
Within this standard are the core principles of prevention and safety, reflective from the production of raw materials to the distribution of finished products which includes:
- promoting the use of products from organic agriculture, and respecting biodiversity
- using natural resources responsibly and respecting the environment
- using processing and manufacturing that are clean and respectful of human health and environment
- integrating and developing the concept of “Green Chemistry” instead of using petrochemicals
- providing transparency for consumers
The COSMOS-standard surrounding the origin and processing of cosmetic ingredients are classified into five categories:
- Physically processed agro-ingredients – organic agriculture that reflects pure or allows simple processing;
- Chemically processed agro-ingredients – certifiable by using agricultural organic raw materials and manufacturing processes that are clean and authorised, all under the umbrella of “Green Chemistry”;
- Water – non-certifiable and must comply with hygienic standards;
- Minerals and ingredients of mineral origin – non-certifiable, requires clear environmental rules in their use, and in further processing;
- Other ingredients – a very limited list of preservatives and some ingredients allowed as long as there are no effective natural alternatives available to ensure the safety of consumers or efficacy of the product.
COSMOS-standard certified products are labeled with the signature “COSMOS ORGANIC” or “COSMOS NATURAL”, depending on their certification level. Our Eclat and Gommage have been certified COSMOS NATURAL after a complete audit of ingredients, suppliers, our proprietary formulation, production process, and packaging.
Forest Stewardship Council – FSC
After the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio failed to produce an agreement to stop deforestation, a group of businesses, environmentalists and community leaders came together to create the Forest Stewardship Council.
Gathered in the first FSC General Assembly in 1993 in Toronto, Canada, the group set out to create a voluntary, market-based approach that would improve forest practices worldwide. At the time, FSC represented an alternative to boycotts of forest products, which were shown to be counterproductive since they devalued forest land.
Originally headquartered in the forested region of Oaxaca, Mexico in 1994, the FSC Secretariat was relocated to Bonn, Germany in 2003. In 1995, the US chapter of the FSC was established, and is now headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Today, FSC operates in more than 80 countries, wherever forests are present.
Certified Testing
Our products have been clinically tested in line with the European Parliament and Council regulations (no 1233/2009) on Cosmetic products to ensure the validity and claims on the functionality of our products.
Tests for skin brightening were performed using a Konica Minolta 600D spectrophotometer determining skin tone using the L parameter in the L*a*b* colour space.
Tests for anti-wrinkle effects were performed using the ANTERA 3D Camera by Miravex over a 4 week period to determine shallowing using the Raparameter.
Tests for moisturising effects were performed with an 825 PC Corneometer capacitance in accordance with the ITA-TEST procedure PB 09/DA to assess skin hydration levels at 8 and 24 hour intervals.
