Boasting over ten years of experience in the cosmetics industry, including the launch of Typology as a Product Development Director, in 2024, Nassim Hamek decided to launch his own project named Cénée in the hybrid makeup segment.
“I had noticed that this category was mainly composed of skincare brands that ventured in makeup without much boldness when it came to pigments, or makeup brands content with ‘cleaner’ formulas, without any real skin benefit,” he explains. “I wanted to go hybrid, but by doing much more with these two dimensions. I aimed for makeup performance, but with the action of molecules equivalent to skincare’s and validated by the same efficacy tests, to emphasize and quantify the benefit,” adds the young entrepreneur.
Dermoactive makeup
Focusing on this balance, Hamek dedicated a whole year to the development of the first products, and then launched his brand in 2025, named after a character in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: a woman transformed into a man, and then a bird. “The perfect way to embody hybridization and inclusiveness,” he explains.
R&D and manufacturing are 100% made in France. The formulas, composed of over 90% of ingredients of natural origin, 80% for nail polish, comply with a strict charter excluding more than 300 ingredients which are authorized, but considered potentially harmful to the skin or the environment.
“It is a resilient project, because each formula is a puzzle with many constraints when it comes to substituting controversial ingredients. Makeup is the most technical category in the cosmetics industry, with many different types of formulas and parameters to take into account. In addition, we add actives and we increase the pigment load, which can create instability,” Hamek adds.
Eyes, lips, nails and face
Cénée covers four categories. Eyes, with a mascara rich in peptides to strengthen lashes. Lips, with a half-matte, liquid lipstick with hyaluronic acid available in five shades, and a lip oil with apricot kernel oil in four shades. Nails, with a collection of nail polish rich in plant-based keratin available in eight shades, plus a base and a top coat. And recently, the brand added complexion to its portfolio, with the launch of Teint Céramides, a moisturising liquid blush containing between 91 and 94% of ingredients of natural origin, and enriched with a pre- and postbiotics complex to strengthen the skin barrier. The price positioning is mid-range, with the lipstick priced at EUR 22.50 and nail polish at EUR 13.50.
Going global
Available on its e-shop for a few months, Cénée has already received much positive feedback from both its customer base and the industry.
“We feel that we have nailed something. We have actually honoured our commitment to offering products with sensoriality and efficacy equivalent to conventional products, and with a clean formulation charter. We were contacted by several sellers,” says Hamek.
The brand has indeed planned to be distributed in points of sale starting from 2027, but also to go global, in particular in Asia and the US.
“We are about to launch the first tests to determine the best-adapted network in France, pharmacies or the prestige channel. Yet demand for hybrid products does not only come from France, it is also very high in Asia," says the entrepreneur.
As for products, Hamek has set himself the goal of creating a broadened catalogue covering all categories within four to five years. “We aim to become a global brand, in all categories and formulation types," he explains.
