Building a Beauty Brand as Women: What We Refused to Compromise On

We met at a dinner party years ago.
I don’t remember what we ate. I remember sitting across from Jas and realizing we could talk about retinol concentrations and barrier repair for three hours straight without getting bored.

The second time we met, we were on opposite sides of a pitch competition. One of us was judging. One was pitching. We laugh about it now — the formality, the performance of it all — because what we’re building together is the opposite of that.

On the outside, we couldn’t be more different. Different backgrounds. Different skin types. Different morning routines.

But we kept coming back to the same frustration:
The products we wanted didn’t exist.

Why Magalie?

Magalie was Jas’s mother’s nickname. Her grandmother’s, too.

Jas named the brand after her — a deliberate choice to honour the women who taught her that skincare isn’t vanity, it’s care.

It meant something from the start. Jas’s mother passed down more than a name — she passed down the ritual. The nightly routine. The way you take care of your skin when no one’s watching.

That’s what this brand is about.

The “& ME” is intentional. It’s the connection. Mother and daughter. You and your friend.

Skincare has never been solitary for us. It’s always been shared.

What We’re Building (And Why It Took So Long)

We’re over 40. One closer to 50 than the other.

We’ve tried everything:

• The expensive formulas that burned.
• The “clean” ones that did nothing.
• The 10-step routines that worked — until they didn’t.
• The brands that talked down to us or assumed we wanted to look 25 again.

We didn’t want to add another product to that pile.

So we took our time.

We worked with chemists — some of the best in the industry — who actually listened when we said:

“No fragrance that stings.”
“Texture matters as much as results.”

We tested on ourselves first. Then on our friends. Then on our mothers. If it didn’t work for all three, it didn’t make it.

We pulled from Korean innovation, because that’s where the science is moving fastest.
We shaped it with European restraint, because we’re not interested in 17 steps or miracle claims.

We wanted products that fit into real life.
Morning coffee. Kids yelling. Five minutes before bed.

Clean ingredients — but not as a marketing story. We removed things because they irritated our skin, not because they sounded scary on the internet.

What’s left is intentional.
Every ingredient earns its place.

What We Refused

We refused to make aging the enemy.

Yes, our products support skin as it ages — that’s the whole point. But we’re not selling fear. We’re not telling you to erase yourself.

Aging isn’t the problem.
Bad products are.
Skin that feels tight and uncomfortable is.
Routines that make you feel like you’re failing if you skip a night.

We refused shortcuts.

The industry is built on them — aggressive actives that shock your skin into submission, claims that can’t possibly be true, constant newness for the sake of newness.

We said no to all of it.

We refused to assume you’re chasing youth. Maybe you just want your skin to feel calm. To not react to everything. To look like you slept when you actually did.

Most of all, we refused to build something we wouldn’t use ourselves.

Because we are the customer.
We’re the ones putting this on our faces every morning.

Who This Is For

If you’re tired of skincare that overpromises and underdelivers, this is for you.

If you’ve bought the expensive thing that burned your face.
Or the “clean” thing that did nothing.
Or followed the 10-step routine that worked — until it didn’t.

We’ve been there too.

You’re not looking for the next trend. You’re looking for something that actually works. Something that doesn’t require a PhD to decode the ingredients or three YouTube tutorials to apply correctly.

Maybe skincare is one of the few things in your day that’s just yours. Five minutes where no one needs anything from you.

We get it.

We made this for ourselves.
Turns out, we made it for you too.