Aïmara Coupet’s New Makeup Brand BelleRadiance Stands Up For Inclusivity In The Clean Beauty Segment

During a decade at L’Oréal and Sephora, Aïmara Coupet didn’t confront the complications of creating complexion products for women of color. That changed when she became marketing director of Black Up Cosmetics seven years ago and transitioned to consulting four years later, where she honed an expertise in inclusive makeup before Fenty hit the scene.

“Even though my mom is black, and I have so many colors in my family, I have naturally beige skin, and I thought the industry was really good at products for dark skin,” she says. “I started developing products for women of color at Black Up. I thought the labs would help me, and it would be easy, but that was not the reality at all. In Italy, the labs had no idea how to develop good textures and colors for dark skin. I had to learn how to do it.”

Today, Coupet is putting her learnings into action with the new brand BelleRadiance, which is introducing AquaMat Mattifying Foundation. She asserts the silicone-free foundation’s contents – it’s composed of 85% natural ingredients and 60% water – differentiate it from the silicone-loaded foundations offered generally in the makeup sector and for women of color in particular.

BelleRadiance
BelleRadiance is launching with 15 shades of silicone-free AquaMat Mattifying Foundation.

“I’ve never seen a formula like AquaMat. It’s amazing because, most of the time, my struggles with foundation for darker complexions are because of the sebum reaction to silicone,” says Coupet, a Paris resident born in the French Caribbean and raised in Montreal. “The texture is lighter and waterier than most foundations, but water-based products have very good results for hold. They last a really long time even though they wash off easily with water.”

“I started developing products for women of color at Black Up. I thought the labs would help me, and it would be easy, but that was not the reality at all. In Italy, the labs had no idea how to develop good textures and colors for dark skin. I had to learn how to do it.”

BelleRadiance is launching at Indie Beauty Expo London this month with 15 AquaMat shades and, subsequently, plans to extend the shade range to 18 or 20 options. Coupet designed the collection of shades to represent the diversity of women across the globe and cover a plethora of skin tones with foundation that has light-to-medium coverage. The formula is made in France.

“Everybody is equal in my brand. I don’t have 10 beiges for two browns,” says Coupet. “It’s not the case for all brands, but there are brands out there that are so afraid to have a shade organization that could scare Caucasians. They don’t want to look ethnic, but the world we live in is not that white. That means [around] 50% of the lineup will be dedicated to brown skin, but we have the shades that we need for Caucasians.”

BelleRadiance
BelleRadiance founder Aïmara Coupet

AquaMat is priced at 24 euros for a 30-ml. size. Coupet is positioning BelleRadiance between mass and prestige to sustain quality ingredients and make its products accessible to a wide variety of age groups. The foundation is housed in clear containers without exterior carton boxes. Coupet explains, “I took the risk that, at some point, you may see imperfections because I love the colors to be seen. You see the product and get the rainbow of skin tones it’s for.”

“BelleRadiance is about inclusivity and complexion, and it will be dedicated to addressing all skin tones with clean beauty. My vision is to have a beautiful playground of complexion products. I feel this brand could work very well in all parts of the world, and I would love to see girls in Asia, Africa, Europe and America telling me they love shopping my brand and finding products for their skin tones.”

At the outset, BelleRadiance aims to forge a close relationship with an e-commerce player such as Feelunique or The Hut Group. Brick-and-mortar retailers are targets, too. However, Coupet notes BelleRadiance may have to broaden its assortment to make a statement on the shelves at traditional retailers. Concealing, contouring and highlighting products are in the pipeline.

Coupet foresees BelleRadiance expanding to the U.S., potentially its strongest market, and African and European countries. Asia is a possibility eventually. To support distribution and selection enlargement, Coupet anticipates fundraising in an effort to secure 1 to 2 million euros. She’s invested roughly 200,000 euros to bring BelleRadiance to life, and her goal for the brand’s first-year sales is 1 million euros.

BelleRadiance
BelleRadiance is targeting 1 million euros in sales for its first year on the market.

“BelleRadiance is about inclusivity and complexion, and it will be dedicated to addressing all skin tones with clean beauty,” says Coupet. “My vision is to have a beautiful playground of complexion products. I feel this brand could work very well in all parts of the world, and I would love to see girls in Asia, Africa, Europe and America telling me they love shopping my brand and finding products for their skin tones.”

In a clean beauty segment largely dominated by skincare, Coupet views makeup as the next frontier – and BelleRadiance being pivotal in its growth. “We’re looking to skincare to have beautiful and healthy skin and, in the meantime, we apply makeup that’s full of silicones and volatile ingredients. It won’t help us have beautiful and healthy skin, but we want it all. We want it to have coverage. We want it to be almost waterproof. We want it to not transfer. We want everything, so it can be difficult,” she says. “AutoMat is my first product, and it’s a very innovative product. I’m producing complexion products with the results people are looking for while helping the skin.”