After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Odacité founder Valerie Grandury realized that if she wanted to heal everything needed to change.  She went back to school to become a health and wellness coach and embarked on a journey of removing toxins from her life.

When it came to skincare, Valerie was not ready to sacrifice performance. She wanted it all: efficacy + purity, so she started blending custom-made skincare, for private clients and herself. Word spread fast, demand grew quickly and Odacité was born.
A French play on Audacity – marrying the best of two worlds, luxurious French skincare & green California living.

1. Can you describe your journey to clean beauty? How did your diagnosis affect your view on the skin-care industry and inspire you to create your own line?
Ten years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer and told than my chances of survival at 5 years were very low. Once I passed the panic, I realized that cancer was an opportunity for me to change every thing, to dare like I never did before. I quit my job in the film business, went back to school to become a health and wellness coach, adopted a raw vegan diet, started yoga and mediation daily and became passionate about removing toxins from my life. The good news is that against all the odds, I’m still here 10 year later and cancer free.

It is through this healing journey that I realized the toxicity of personal care products. There are over 10,000 chemical ingredients used in personal care products, some of which are known to be carcinogens, toxic to the reproductive system and hormone disruptors. Cosmetic ingredients do not remain on the surface of the skin, in fact they are designed to penetrate, and they do. Studies have found many cosmetic ingredients in human tissues, including Phthalates in urine, preservative’s Parabens in breast tumor tissue and fragrance components in human fat.  Once you know that is easy to understand that the first place you want to green your life is your bathroom

2. All of your formulations are completely unique, where do you find inspiration? Does your
Parisian background influence your products? Do you find yourself drawn to specific ingredients?
We French take skincare very seriously; it is all about research, luxury, perfect penetration and results. I wanted my French skincare without an ounce of toxins, not finding it I decided to create it. On top of my French passion for skincare the Parisian in me is inspired by style and design ☺

When it comes to ingredients, my inspiration comes from nature and research. Beauty tradition meets modern science. All our ingredients are tested for their purity and potency, we test hundreds of them to choose only a few. Odacité incarnates the alliance of ancient medicinal plant knowledge with the research and clinical studies of modern science.

3. What is your most beloved product by you/your customers?
That is a hard one, because I’m all about customization. Before I launched Odacité, I only worked with private clients creating custom formulation. Working with thousands of clients has taught me something very important about the skin: it is always changing. This skin changes is something the beauty industry is not addressing, yet our skin is affected by factors like weather, sleep, diet, stress, hormones, so you may wake up with dehydrated skin in the morning and go to bed with a pimple. There is no crème that can do hydration in the morning and clear pimple at night.

This is when I started creating Serum Concentrates for my clients, to help them have flawless skin no matter what happened in their life. I would give a hydration serum concentrate to my client who was flying for 10 hours to put on before take off, upon arrival one for radiance as jet lag is the worst thing for your complexion and them one to prevent pimples from appearing after a whole day shooting with heavy makeup.

The Serum Concentrate are an easy and effective way to customize your skin routine to what is happening that day. You don’t need to change everything, simply add 2-3 drops to your routine morning and night to address the specific needs of your skin. As an added bonus – just like you would not eat the same food every single day – alternating serum will feed your skin with different active to keep it healthy, fresh and glowing for the many years to come.

All that to say, your/my favorite products depends on what your/my skin needs.

4. What makes you most excited about clean beauty and this industry?
That is growing so rapidly. We can’t keep leaving like we did, trashing the planet, trashing our bodies. An easy way into taking care of both – body and the planet (ultimately all your products end up in the water system) – is by choosing green beauty.

5. We’re dying to know, what does your personal beauty routine look like? Do you have a “deserted island” product you could never live without?
Again, so changing depending what is happening in my life 🙂 Right now I’m in LA and it is winter, all about hydration, exfoliation and antioxidants.

Here is how it goes:
Morning: Wake up 5:30 drink 12 oz warm water with lemon juice. Rinse my face with water, apply Mo+P Dry Skin Serum before I go hiking with the dogs. This infuses my skin with optimum hydration for the day.

Before I get in the shower, I exfoliate on dry skin with Jojoba Beads Exfoliant,  rinse in the shower. I’m very French on this I don’t believe in harsh exfoliation like peels, burning products, microdermabrasion, on a long term they create more harm than good. I believe in consistent gentle exfoliation as this will work on longevity of the skin.

Mix 2-3 drops of CaR Vital Glow Serum Concentrate with Oleosomes Time-Release Delivery Crème, apply all over face, neck, décolleté.

Evening: Wash with my Rejuvenating  Crème Cleanser to remove all surface impurity without disrupting the delicate oil balance of the skin. Mix 2-3 drops of my 15% vitamin C serum Autumn On The World into my Night Time Repair Serum, apply all over face, neck, décolleté. Apply a drop of Ba+S Eye contour serum on the orbital bone.

Try to get 8 hours of sleep 🙂

Once a week: Synergie[4] Immediate Skin Perfecting Beauty Masque. It comes in a powder that you can mix with liquids of your choice. Last week I used wheatgrass juice and couple of drops of my serum Ac+R for youthful glow.

I guess my deserted Island product would be my 15% vitamin C serum Autumn On The World.

6. What makes you feel beautiful?
Every morning I wake up with the incredible feeling of being given a second chance at life, and the understanding that life is beautiful even if not perfect! Beauty is not about perfection, it is about embracing life with passion, confidence and being you. My personal “feeling beautiful” simply comes from being alive, top it with glowing skin, a nice scarf, and pretty shoes, and the world is singing.

7. We can’t get enough of Odacite! Can you share any hints or sneak peaks of things you are working on for future release?
This year is going to be full of surprises, a cleanser like you’ve never experienced, a lip treatment and special face massage tool with its own serum.