Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your background?
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I love being the mother of 3 grown children, the last 2 of whom are students, and I have also loved working all my life! |
After studying law, I worked in real estate in Toulouse for 23 years; I loved this job, really! I moved from private real estate to commercial real estate where I supported my clients in the purchase of businesses and the transfer of lease rights; it was exciting to experience the follow-up of their project with them until the handing over of the keys to their premises!
How did the SANTA ROSA adventure begin?
Simply by returning the mandate for the sale of the Santa Rosa perfumery 9 years ago! The former owner was retiring and wanted the resale of her business to remain confidential! and this secret remained exclusively between her and me! So I made a 360 degree turn and became a trader myself, for the love of perfume, one of my passions since childhood! I was fascinated by the choice of words to describe a smell, a memory of an old-fashioned perfume and this whole rich olfactory universe. I was also a big consumer of cosmetic care and always looking for the best for my skin!
Tell us about your criteria for selecting brands
I select brands based on their ethics, their history and their respect for the values that I share with the said brands (clean care, made in France, respect for the environment and not tested on animals). I like the brands that I represent in my store to have a soul, a beautiful story is not a story telling invented from scratch!
What place does beauty have in your life?
I am a huge consumer of treatments, massages, kobidos, and other non-invasive techniques to try to keep my skin fresh and plump despite the effects of aging. I do not perform surgery on my face.
A childhood memory linked to a perfume, a transmission of beauty?
A childhood memory most closely linked to smell is the honeysuckle in bloom in my childhood home! It grew on an old well and had completely invaded it! In spring, this "honeysuckle-well" in bloom was fragrant and buzzing with bees... when I smell a honeysuckle in bloom, all those childhood moments, playing outside around this well, come back to me with emotion and poetry!
My mother and grandmother were very coquettish and I always saw them taking care of their water, covering themselves with perfumed creams, facial treatments...
rose water for my grandmother was her miracle product and my mother in summer smeared herself with a Biotherm body lotion that smelled of citrus... the smell of my mother's Dior lipstick that perfumed her handbag and her handkerchief... this smell of rice powder is anchored in my memory for life!
What are your favorites at Alaena?
Fruit acid peeling is as effective as a dermatologist's peel!
Sun care and Nourishing body oil with rose petals
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Find a selection of the Alaena range at Santa Rosa, at 11 Rue Antonin Mercié, 31000 Toulouse