Why I built my own skincare brand after 20 years in luxury beauty and medical aesthetics

I grew up in a small village in the south of the Netherlands. Far from the fashion capitals, far from the beauty hubs. And yet, from an early age I was captivated by skin, scent and the science behind beauty. What started as curiosity eventually became a twenty-year career in treatment rooms, clinics and laboratories.

Today, LABAREAU is among others available at De Bijenkorf, the luxury department store of the Netherlands, is used by dermatologists, cosmetic doctors and plastic surgeons, and is active online worldwide, including in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.

But this story didn’t begin with a product line.
It began with a feeling I could no longer ignore.

Before I turned twenty, I was already working in luxury beauty

Early in my career, I worked closely with various houses including La Prairie, Sisley, Estée Lauder and Lancôme. A world of premium ingredients, prestigious counters and perfectly styled campaigns. An invaluable education.

But product knowledge alone was not enough. I wanted to understand skin on a biological level — not as a surface, but as a living system.

So I trained as a skin specialist, became an account manager for cosmetic brands and opened a small practice from home. There, I experimented with medical-grade skincare protocols. The results I saw in my clients were truly transformative. Far beyond what traditional beauty brands were delivering at the time.

That moment changed everything.

From a room practice to 33 professionals

I moved to Amsterdam and opened my first clinic: KNAP Skincare. Not a classic beauty salon, not a classic clinic — but a new model for aesthetic care.

Within a year, demand outgrew our space. KNAP became one of the first clinics in Amsterdam to offer Botox and fillers. The results — natural yet powerful — were quickly picked up by celebrities and early influencers, at a time when Instagram was just emerging. A second location in Amsterdam followed, fully booked within weeks.

The move that made the difference: I brought cosmetic doctors and skin specialists under one roof, at a time when most clinics still chose between injectables or skincare. After parting ways with my business partner, I continued independently under the name BLOY Institute and fully stepped into my role as CEO.

The frustration that made LABAREAU possible

As I scaled, I consciously chose to step back from the treatment room. My focus shifted to systems, people and long-term vision.

But something kept bothering me more and more.

Despite having access to the absolute top in skincare worldwide, I could not find a single brand that seamlessly aligned with my philosophy: achieving results without damaging the skin barrier. In practice, I saw too many skins that were overtreated, overstimulated or stripped in the pursuit of visible results.

After two decades of working with thousands of skins, I thought: this can be better. This must be better.

So I did what founders do when something doesn’t exist yet. I created it myself.

LABAREAU is not marketing. It is twenty years of treatment room experience in a formula

LABAREAU was born from one conviction: visible results while strengthening the skin from within. The foundation of every formula is our proprietary SAXZ-12® technology — a proprietary combination of atelocollagen Type I and III, hyaluronic acid in three molecular weights, and bioactive peptides.

From day one, the brand resonated. Influencers, public figures and my loyal clinic clients embraced LABAREAU immediately, with an exceptionally high return rate that we still see today.

A testing clinic in the south — back to where it started

Eighteen months ago, I opened a new clinic in the south of the Netherlands together with my sister. Under the medical supervision of a plastic surgeon, with a multidisciplinary team of cosmetic doctors, skin therapists and aestheticians.

BLOY Institute now also serves as an official testing centre for LABAREAU. Our formulations are continuously refined in close collaboration with medical professionals — not in a laboratory far removed from practice, but exactly where real skin is treated.

Want to learn more about the science behind our formulas? Read more on the SAXZ-12® technology page or explore our clinical results.

Active, one philosophy

LABAREAU is primarily active in four markets:

It’s a phase I have worked toward for twenty years, even if I didn’t always consciously plan it that way. What I have always consciously maintained: setting the standard, not following the trend.

What I have learned

For me, leadership is not about becoming the best at what already exists. It is about being willing to create something when it does not yet exist — even if the world is not asking for it yet.

LABAREAU is the sum of twenty years of luxury beauty, medical aesthetics and skin science. But the most important thing within it is something you cannot patent: the belief that the skin is more intelligent than any ingredient list.