Former Le Labo Exec Emilie Mascarell Gives Refillable Hand Soap The Luxury Treatment

With her new eponymous brand, fragrance industry veteran Emilie Mascarell envisions people coming for the experience and staying with refills.

Maison Mascarell is launching today with silky, non-drying French-made hand soap smelling of the South of France—it opens with notes of Italian lemon oil, peach skin and green apple and transitions to Diva lavender, sage and verbena before settling into amber woods, tonka beans and patchouli—housed in a refillable Italian glass bottle. The idea is to eventually take its high-design, affordable luxury approach (it charges $48 for a starter kit containing its hand soap dispenser and a refill packet compared to $80 for Diptyque’s Softening and Comforting Wash) to an array of everyday essentials to make refilling a no-brainer.

“It’s about challenging the way people see sustainability. Sustainability doesn’t mean compromise,” says Mascarell. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve bought refillable products I didn’t refill. If you don’t love how it feels or smells, you move on to something else. This is about giving people something that feels and smells nice that they will want to refill because they understand the mission behind it, but also they enjoy the product.”

Mascarell, who’s spent the last three years consulting brands after holding posts as senior director of licensing for Tory Burch’s fragrance business and global head of product development at Le Labo, began thinking about the concept for Maison Mascarell following the birth of her son Raphael five years ago, when she was purchasing plastic soap bottles over and over again and wondered if there was a premium refillable option to stem the tide of plastic bottles. Although there are a few (Soapply, Molton Brown and Bathing Culture, for instance), she detected an opportunity for one with her fine fragrance viewpoint.

For the most part, Mascarell says refillable hand soap is “very price-oriented and very sales-y. It’s more mass market. I wanted something that aligns with the products that I love. I’ve been lucky to work with beautiful fragrance brands, so I’m very sensitive to the packaging, formula and fragrance, not just for the texture.” Maison Mascarell’s 98% naturally derived hand soap formula contains allantoin, aloe vera and snow mushroom, and, inspired by wine and liquor labels, its packaging features plants in the style of French door carvings.

“Sustainability doesn’t mean compromise.”

Guided by what she learned at Le Labo, Mascarell didn’t jump on fragrance trends in devising the hand soap’s scent called Raphael’s Favorite. “They are not testing fragrances on X amount of people. I wanted to go with that same gut feeling. You can love it or hate it,” she says. “If I looked at trends, I would end up with a gourmand, but instead I looked for something I would want to have and hope it translates for other people. I tried to break all the rules.”

Pegging herself a Park Slope mom cliché, Mascarell considers women like her to be Maison Mascarell’s target customer. They’re parents concerned about the future of the earth and gravitate to gorgeous pieces to decorate their apartments. To familiarize them with the brand, Mascarell has hired a social media freelancer crafting Maison Mascarell’s Instagram and TikTok feeds. Mascarell is tapping into her community to raise recognition, too, and connecting with food and home décor enthusiasts rather than typical beauty influencers.

Although in polls consumers report they value sustainable products and will pay extra for them, the beauty industry has largely been unkind to brands that foreground sustainability. LOLI Beauty, Plus and Fiils are among sustainable beauty brands that have closed recently. Mascarell is keenly aware of the challenges to sustainable brands and argues that messages around underconsumption, not sustainability per se, may be better received.

“With plastic, it just became so convenient and inexpensive. I get it, but I feel like we’re turning back to the basics in life and food, and there’s a powerful message about mindfulness and products that have a longer life versus something you just throw away every month,” says Mascarell. “I feel like people realize there’s too much excess consumption.”

“There’s a powerful message about mindfulness and products that have a longer life.”

The process of creating Maison Mascarell has amplified Mascarell’s admiration for beauty entrepreneurs. She’s poured in the $50,000 range from her personal savings into the brand. It cost several thousand dollars above what she initially budgeted because the soap was stuck in customs for a month, and she had to pay to keep it in cargo. In addition, LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy contested the original name Mascarell had for the brand, increasing trademarking costs and the timeline. All told, it took about a year and a half to develop Maison Mascarell.

Mascarell projects sales from the brand could cover the investment she put into it in its first year on the market. It’s listed on wholesale marketplace Faire, and she figures independent shops would be good fits for it. TikTok Shop is a potential distribution avenue for the brand as well. Laundry detergent, body wash and shampoo are possibilities for future products.

Mascarell describes herself as realistic about Maison Mascarell’s path to profitability, noting that emerging brands don’t generally reach profitability until year two, three or even four. As a result, her consultancy remains her priority.

“What I’m really hoping is to find the right balance between my consulting business, this business and my personal life,” she says. “My goal with the business is to have slow and steady growth. I don’t have the pressure of investors, and I don’t want to look for investment. So, I don’t have pressure aside from pressure from myself, which is still a lot.”