Call it quiet luxury for the TikTok generation – as well as their parents and grandparents.
On Monday, Oct. 7, The Spa at the Delamar Southport launched the Delamar hotels’ partnership with Caudalíe, the French skincare brand whose origins lie in the wine-producing region of Bordeaux.
For Caudalíe (pronounced “kodali”), making its Connecticut spa debut, the spas at the Delamar Southport, Greenwich Harbor and West Hartford represent an opportunity to expand the brand’s presence, said Liz Kwitman, Caudalíe’s vice president of education, who grew up in the Edgemont section of Greenburgh and made a comprehensive presentation on the skincare company, which is nearing $1 billion in valuation.
For the Delamar spas, Caudalíe represents an expansion of its luxurious offerings, which include products by French brand Biologique Recherche and Swiss brand Valmont – at a price point that also appeals to a younger generation, said Georgette Culucundis Mallory, who has overseen the Delamar spas. (Celebrating her birthday at the launch, Mallory – wife of the Delamars’ founder and CEO Charles Mallory – announced that she will no longer be as directly involved with the spas as she has been in the past. That role will be filled by director Melanie Blynn.)
Caudalíe was founded by Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas in 1995 on the Château Smith Haut Lafitte winemaking estate of Mathilde’s parents. Two years earlier, the young couple had met Joseph Vercauteren, then on the pharmaceutical sciences faculty at the University of Bordeaux and a specialist in polyphenols, natural ingredients derived from grape seeds with antioxidant powers to protect cells from damage. During a harvest, Vercauteren noted that the estate’s grape seeds, stalks and sap – which were not used in winemaking but were used in his medicines – could be utilized by the Thomases in skincare as well. Working with Vercauteren, the couple, only 23, developed three products they shopped to pharmacies around France, and Caudalíe – named for a term referring to the unit measuring the time that a wine’s flavors linger on the palate after tasting it – was born.
The company opened its first Vinothérapie Spa, Les Sources de Caudalíe, on the estate in 1999. (It now has more than 50 boutique spas worldwide, having set up the first in New York City in 2012.) Georgette Mallory said that she went undercover as it were to have a facial at one of the spas and was “bowled over” by the products, which include the signature Premier Cru line of antiaging products; the Vinoperfect Brightening Dark Spot Serum; and the Beauty Elixir Prep, Set, Glow Face Mist. (Having used these products for several years, we also love the Vinosun Protect Daily Mineral Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50; the Lift & Firm Body Cream Moisturizer; and the Moisturizing Fig Body Oil Elixir.)
In developing its patented products, Caudalíe has worked with such leaders in the field of anti-aging as David Sinclair, A.O., Ph.D., a tenured professor in the Department of Genetics at the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School. But the company is also as serious about the environment as it is about its products. In 2006, it created its “Cosm-ethics” values, excluding more than 70 undesirable substances from its formulas, which are not animal-tested. Since 2020, Caudalíe has committed to ensuring that all of its formulas have a minimum of 95% natural origin ingredients (excluding suncare products and fresh fragrances.)
In 2012, the company joined 1% for the Planet to donate 1% of annual global sales to fund reforestation projects. Since then, it has planted more than four million trees all over the world.
The brand’s packaging is also designed so that it is 100% recyclable or refillable. In 2018, Caudalíe opened a new research and development center for greener cosmetics and two years later, established the Thai-based 100% Plastic Collect with Pur Project founder Tristan Lecomte, collecting and recycling 2,453 tons of plastic to date.
For more, visit us.caudalie.com. And for more on the Delamar hotels, including the Delamar Mystic, opening the end of this year, and the Delamar Westport, opening in the first quarter of next year, visit delamar.com.
