It was perhaps inevitable that Irene Forte should become a skincare entrepreneur – one whose Irene Forte Natura e Scienza had its Bloomingdale’s White Plains launch on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
In 1911, her great-grandfather emigrated from Monforte in Southern Italy to outside Fife, Scotland, and opened a café called The Savoy. It was the beginning of four generations of Fortes in the hospitality industry that includes her father’s Rocco Forte Hotels, a group of five-star European hotels and villas whose latest addition, The Carlton Milan, opened Nov. 6.
The Oxford University-educated Forte began with the London-based hotel group in human resources, securing British government funding to create the “Map My Future” app and spur career development in the hospitality industry. But it was not long before she was overseeing the hotels’ spas and wellness programs, eventually becoming the youngest board member of the Global Wellness Summit.
That nearly decade-long tenure at Rocco Forte Hotels inspired Forte to look for products that would unify the spas’ offerings, she told the Westchester County Business Journal. Her quest fell into place when in 2014 at only age 26 she began working with Francesca Ferri, a former pharmacologist whom Forte has described as a 40-year pioneer in the biomedical use of plant extracts to treat skin conditions. Ferri is now scientific director of Irene Forte Skincare, as the company is also known.
The results are skin and also hair products that use ingredients from the company’s organic farm in Sicily, which are then processed in a lab in the northern part of Italy, making the products “100% Italian,” Forte said. The four main ingredients are Myoxinol, a neuropeptide derived from the seeds of the hibiscus plant that smooths the skin in the manner of Botox; hyaluronic acid to hydrate and plump the skin; green pea polypeptides to encourage collagen and elasticity; and a Tetra-Ceramide complex to reduce dryness, irritation and wrinkles.
The products – which include a prickly pear face cream, a hibiscus night cream, a pomegranate hand cream and pistachio and rose face and body oils — are vegan, certified for sensitive skin and sustainably packaged in green, which is something of a signature color for Forte. On the day we met, she was dressed in a tennis-ball green corduroy pantsuit and sported green nail polish.
On the Irene Forte Skincare website, Ferri talked about their mutual commitment to the environment: “…Our passion to respect mother earth, to respect animals and to respect human beings with clean, healthy and efficient cosmetics, made for the perfect partnership. We have developed a strong bond and friendship over the years, and I’m excited to see how we develop Irene Forte Skincare together.”
For her part, Forte beamed as she discussed her six-year-old company’s growth to embrace Irene Forte Spas and product placement in department stores like Bloomingdale’s and luxe cosmetic boutiques like Blue Mercury, owned by Bloomingdale’s parent company, Macy’s. (Irene Forte Spas have also partnered with The Amethyst Trust, a Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC), to provide therapies for those living with and recovering from cancer.)
Life is good for the Londoner, who also spends her days running after her two toddlers.
They keep you young and slim, no? we asked.
“Well, they keep me slim,” she corrected with a smile.
