CÉNÉE Paris: When Serum Science Meets Color. In Conversation with Nassim Hamek
*CÉNÉE PARIS
*CÉNÉE PARIS
Most beauty founders have that "aha" moment story. Nassim Hamek's journey was different - more like pieces of a puzzle slowly coming together. After a decade at L'Oréal working across Biotherm, YSL, and Lancôme, then six years as Typology's first employee watching them build from scratch, he had something most entrepreneurs don't: he knew exactly what was broken in beauty, and more importantly, how to fix it.
That clarity became CÉNÉE Paris, which launched this June with a name borrowed from Ovid's Metamorphoses, a character who transforms from woman to warrior to bird. It's fitting for a brand that refuses to stay in its lane, creating hybrid products that actually work instead of just claiming to.
The problem Hamek kept seeing? Most "hybrid" products are disappointing compromises. You get skincare with barely-there color that disappears in an hour, or regular makeup with a sprinkle of actives that do nothing. CÉNÉE took a harder path: their semi-matte lipstick delivers real hyaluronic acid hydration and pro-collagen peptides alongside genuine color payoff. Their mascara hits 98% natural-origin ingredients while still giving you the drama you actually want from mascara.
Getting there meant months of lab work, multiple reformulations, and accepting some hard truths. When you remove silicones and hundreds of other standard ingredients - going beyond even European regulations - everything changes. Application, wear time, texture. Sometimes it means certain product categories have to wait until better solutions exist.
But that's exactly Nassim Hamek's point. He's not interested in the usual beauty trade-offs between performance and clean formulation, or between skincare benefits and makeup results. After years of watching brands choose one over the other, he decided to prove that choice doesn't have to exist.
In an industry drowning in "dermo-active" buzzwords, CÉNÉE offers something rarer: actual proof that hybrid beauty can deliver on its promises.
In our conversation below, Nassim Hamek walks us through the technical challenges of creating truly effective hybrid formulas, why he left a successful career to start over, and his vision for makeup that genuinely improves your skin. Read on to discover how one founder is rewriting the rules of what beauty products can actually do.
• What childhood or formative experiences first drew you to the world of beauty and skincare?
To be completely honest, I fell into the world of cosmetics somewhat by chance. During my business school studies, I knew I wanted to work in product development marketing, but I didn’t yet know in which sector. I applied to Procter & Gamble without knowing which category I’d be assigned to. It was only a few days before my internship began that I learned I had been placed in the fragrance division for the Procter & Gamble Prestige brands, Gucci, Rochas, Dolce & Gabbana, and Lacoste (before most of them were later sold to Coty), I immediately connected with the product, I discovered a world that combined several elements I was passionate about: the formula involved chemistry, which appealed to my scientific background, the premium and glamorous packaging and communication satisfied my love of beauty and attention to detail. To be sure this was the right industry for me, I decided to try another sector, fashion and leather goods, at Dior. While the craftsmanship and attention to detail fascinated me, I realized during that experience that I missed the scientific aspect of the product. That’s when I ultimately joined the leading cosmetics group, L’Oréal, where I spent four incredible years full of learning and working alongside formulation experts.
• How did your academic background and early roles at Biotherm, Yves Saint Laurent, and Lancôme shape your perspective on cosmetic innovation?
L’Oréal is the ultimate cosmetics school, One of the key values still taught there is the “culture de l’écart”, a way of thinking that constantly pushes you to see things differently and drive continuous innovation. During my time at the company, I was fortunate to explore brands and product categories that deepened and enriched my cosmetic knowledge. Biotherm introduced me to the fascinating world of skincare, active ingredients, and a specific distribution model unique to the French market, parapharmacies. Yves Saint Laurent, one of L’Oréal’s most premium brands, exposed me to the level of excellence required in execution, down to the smallest details. While working on fragrance development, I expanded my knowledge on a key cosmetic aspect, scent, working alongside evaluators and perfumers. Finally, Lancôme, the giant, one of the largest cosmetic brands in the world, introduced me to the world of makeup, especially complexion products, helping me become familiar with pigments, colorants, and the complex world of makeup textures (hot-poured, loose powders, compacts, emulsions...), I was even in charge of brush development, essential tools in makeup artistry, seemingly simple but remarkably complex.
• During your six years at Typology as the first employee and Product Development Director, what key insight emerged that planted the seed for CÉNÉE Paris?
Typology was probably one of the most significant experiences of my professional life. Having the chance to support a successful founder in an extraordinary project from day one is a rare privilege, and I’ll always be grateful for the trust he placed in me as the first employee. Through this experience, my entry into the dizzying world of entrepreneurship, I learned a lot about how to build a company, some pitfalls to avoid, and the different stages. Year after year, the idea that I, too, could one day start my own business grew stronger. Then one fine day, I finally took the leap.
• How does the name CÉNÉE Paris reflect the brand’s mission, and what gap in the market were you determined to fill when you chose it?
CÉNÉE is a reference to a character from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Born a woman, CENIS is transformed into a man by Poseidon and becomes CÉNÉE, a great warrior said to be invincible. Upon death, CÉNÉE reincarnates as a bird. I see in this character several values the brand aims to uphold. From a product perspective, CÉNÉE aims to develop the perfect hybrid between skincare and makeup. Although this category exists and is growing, I believe most products remain unbalanced. They’re either skincare with light pigmentation and short wear, or makeup with only trace amounts of active ingredients. At CÉNÉE, we aim for the pigment load of conventional makeup and the active concentrations found in creams and serums. Lastly, CÉNÉE also stands for inclusivity, which is a value dear to me. My brand is for anyone who loves makeup and color, regardless of gender, origin, or age.
• What challenges did you encounter in bringing CÉNÉE Paris from concept to launch, and how did you overcome them?
Starting a company is not a walk in the park. There are ups and downs, unexpected events, moments of stress and doubt, and this is probably just the beginning. I faced a wide range of problems over this year and a half. Of course, there were cosmetic formulation challenges, which I’ll discuss in more detail later. Launching an ambitious project requires bringing many people on board, labs, investors, employees, and everything must progress in parallel. To convince investors, you need a product to show, but to have a product, you need funding, It’s a complex balancing act requiring step-by-step progress and the ability to rally others around a vision and early-stage execution without a finished product to show. Launching your own company is also a human adventure that draws attention, and sometimes a bit of envy. While most of my encounters have been positive and supportive, I’ve also crossed paths with people who sought to obstruct me. In those moments, it’s important to stick to your convictions and make the best decisions to steer clear of such obstacles.
• CÉNÉE Paris infuses makeup with serum-level concentrations of actives, what was the most significant technical hurdle you overcame to achieve both efficacy and lasting wear?
Our formulation charter is very strict and ambitious because high concentrations of actives and pigments don’t always get along, Moreover we forbid some of the most used ingredients in makeup such as silicones or isododecane, which adds complexity, We faced many stability and compatibility issues, requiring us to reformulate again and again, sometimes replacing one active with a more stable one, other times changing certain pigments, or even starting from scratch with a different formula base, For some products, we found solutions and launched them. For others, we’re still working and iterating until we find the ideal balance.
• How does the dermo-active technology in CÉNÉE’s formulas deliver measurable skincare benefits?
At CÉNÉE, we choose objective active ingredients, This means the ingredient has been tested for the desired benefit at a specific concentration, either via in vitro or in vivo tests. We then incorporate it at that tested concentration and run a second test on the final formula to confirm efficacy, Some powerful actives work at very low concentrations, while others need to be present in higher quantities, which can destabilize the formula significantly.
• The term “skinification” is widely used but seldom fully realized, how does CÉNÉE ensure each product genuinely delivers skincare benefits alongside makeup performance?
“Skinification” has indeed become a defining trend across every beauty category, and even beyond, into hair care, hygiene, dietary supplements, and more, Where active ingredients were once reserved for facial skincare, they now appear in virtually every cosmetic formula, What separates a genuinely efficacious product from one that merely claims to be “active” is the actual concentration of those ingredients and the rigor of the testing behind them, For example, in our lip formula, a dermatologically controlled scoring study demonstrated a true 29 % increase in hydration after 28 days of continuous use, And when it comes to makeup performance, we rely on real-world usage tests conducted with volunteer participants.
• In your lipstick range, how do the active ingredients enhance lip hydration and barrier repair, and what led you to select these specific actives?
Hyaluronic acid is the queen molecule for hydration, it can retain up to 1000 times its weight in water, Integrating it into lipstick is tricky because it’s hydrophilic, and lipstick doesn’t contain water, So we use an encapsulated form to keep it in the formula without phase separation, For optimal hydration, we’ve combined hyaluronic acid with peptides and a jojoba ester.
• For your mascara formula, how did you balance lash-nourishing ingredients with volumizing and lengthening performance?
Mascara was a real challenge, we absolutely wanted a volumizing effect, CÉNÉE is still a makeup brand, so we wanted true makeup results, Launching with a definition mascara that doesn’t have a real impact on short or sparse lashes wasn’t an option, The complexity wasn’t so much the active ingredients but rather the high naturality of our formulas, Volume effects usually rely on silicones, but we’ve blacklisted those at CÉNÉE, We consulted three labs and two different packaging suppliers for this product, knowing it would be technically demanding, We finally achieved the desired result with a formula that’s 98% naturally-derived, after finding the perfect combo between the formula, brush, and wiper, It took dozens and dozens of tests to get there.
• Your nail lacquer promises care beyond color, what key actives strengthen and protect nails, and how did you validate their efficacy?
Our nail polish contains a mix of active ingredients, including plant-based keratin, a vegan alternative to animal keratin, as our brand is vegan, Keratin is the main protein in nails and the reason for their strength, A nail is essentially made up of multiple layers of keratin, We also use hexanal, an active proven to harden nails, and biotin, which helps prevent splitting and breakage.
• Color is central to the makeup experience, how did you curate your shade ranges, and what cultural or consumer insights guided your color selection process?
Indeed, color choice is crucial in makeup, At our scale, we aim to develop shades for all skin tones, The reason we haven’t yet released complexion products is that, logistically, it’s still difficult for us to produce the number of shades we feel would be necessary to serve everyone, We’ll do so when we have more resources, We also follow trends, for example, we created a mocha nail polish inspired by Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse, And always in the spirit of inclusivity, we try to develop shades that speak to everyone, One of our nail polishes is Noir Profond (Deep Black), which can be an entry color for men interested in wearing polish, Of course, we also encourage them to try other colors!
• In an industry awash with “clean” claims, how do you articulate CÉNÉE’s approach to transparency and safety in a way that resonates deeply with today’s discerning consumers?
Clean beauty has no official definition, The concept originated in the U.S., where far more ingredients are allowed compared to Europe, the U.S. bans 11 ingredients, while the EU bans over a thousand, “Clean beauty” brands in the U.S. were essentially brands adhering to European regulations, When the concept spread to Europe, it only made sense if brands adopted an even stricter formulation charter than the EU norm, At CÉNÉE, we chose to ban hundreds of ingredients still allowed in Europe but suspected to be harmful or polluting, For example, we’ve eliminated silicones, isododecane, and phenoxyethanol, The full list of banned ingredients is available in our manifesto on our website.
• Accessibility in price and quality is rare in dermo-active makeup, how have you balanced inclusivity with premium standards?
Every element of the formula and packaging has a cost, so constant choices must be made, It was essential when creating CÉNÉE to offer accessible products, not just items for the wealthy, We reduced packaging costs as much as possible by reusing components, and buying in bulk, and cutting back on expensive finishes like lacquering and metalization, At first, we also reduced our margins, hoping that increasing sales volume would allow us to produce at lower costs.
• What drives your long-term ambition for CÉNÉE Paris, and how do you envision the brand’s evolution over the next five years?
CÉNÉE Paris aims to speak to everyone who likes makeup, whether worn daily or occasionally, We want to build a broad portfolio that covers all types of makeup products and keep expanding shade ranges for existing products, The only reason we won’t launch a product is if technical constraints prevent us from achieving the desired makeup result in line with our formulation standards.
• How do you see the broader makeup-meets-skincare movement evolving, and what role will CÉNÉE Paris play in shaping that trajectory?
I’m convinced this isn’t a fleeting trend but a true market shift, Once people experience healthy, active formulas without compromising makeup performance, there’s no reason to go back to occlusive, polluting products with potentially harmful ingredients, The only thing that could push them back would be poor product performance, So we must maintain high standards and refuse to compromise, If CÉNÉE Paris can pave the way for other brands, I’d be thrilled.
