Former model, acupuncturist and certified nurse, the Swedish Mette Picaut combines her brains with her beauty, and beauty with sustainable high-end organic care. Ever since she started her own range of skincare products, the eponymously named M. Picaut, Mette has been advocating a less-is-more philosophy. She is a firm believer that nature provides us with all we might need when it comes to nourishment of the skin, inside and out.

M. Picaut is a skincare line created specifically for the face. The products, and most of the ingredients, are created in or sourced from Sweden, using the purest organic ingredients nature offers. Mette took the time to answer a bunch of questions about her brand, also sharing some of her pro-tips from her days as model to maintain healthy, glowing skin.

How did it all start? What made you want to launch your own line of organic cosmetic products?

Growing up my parents had a close friend, a Hungarian doctor and professor in chemistry, who was basically always around – she’s been a good friend of the family for as far back as I can remember.
Fast forward a few decades: I’m in my 40’s, studying to become a nurse, just having given birth to my second baby, and she and I sat down for a coffee. I needed her advise on how to make my own baby oils.

I remembered how in the 80s when I was a teenager, she used to create her own natural creams, using chamomile, lavender, or whatever she could get her hands on and thought to be beneficial. She truly is like a living, walking library when it comes to the subject of natural remedies.

From that day on, I began mixing my own baby oils, eventually even creating my own baby cold creams and shower gels. After borrowing her books on aromatherapy, written back in the ‘70’s, I discovered a whole new world.

At first, I only created organic products for personal use. My kitchen slowly grew into a home laboratory. I read everything I could about the subject, combining my knowledge from traditional Chinese medicine with whatever I could find out about natural remedies.
Slowly but surely, I became a total geek about the ingredients, learning more about them, implementing all that knowledge into my own concoctions – and I still am a huge geek, to this day. I’m incredibly passionate about natural and organic ingredients, and take a great deal of pride in working with the highest quality of ingredients out there. Today, we are using more and more highly active patents in our products, sourcing the ingredients from Switzerland, Berlin and Paris.

How did this passion of yours turn into a business?

When my daughter was a little older and I had a bit more time on my hands again, I was advised to turn my own little experiments into a full-on business. I got very lucky right from the start, being able to join a startup project involving female entrepreneurs in Sweden. I didn’t really have a background in business, having worked as a model in the past, but I found that you can go really far with long-term thinking, a strong will, and lots of hard work.
Developing a new product takes lots of time, and I’m involved in the smallest of details. I don’t think the world is waiting for one more version of any type of product, so I put great effort into creating something that actually makes a difference, producing skin care products that are unique. My theory is, that because of this vision, skin-experts and beauticians started discovering my brand not long after I launched it. We started off having the greatest clients, who also truly care about quality products that offer great results when it comes to healthy skin.
The best thing I did when starting out with M. Picaut, was to to allow the company to grow slowly and organically, sticking to the highest level of quality possible, and not letting in any hungry businesspeople.

How would you describe the philosophy behind your brand?

I like to stick to a less-is-more concept, creating products that can be used as a 2-in-1 or 3-in-1.

When I lived in Japan during the ‘90’s, working as a model, I got inspired by the fashion there, the way of living, the less-is-more approach in everyday life, partly because it reminded me of my own roots, as the Scandinavians are known for being minimalistic as well.

Then there is the bio high-tech part of M. Picaut, with which I aim to get the very best from both science and nature for my products.

Could you tell a bit more about the main ingredients in the product line of M. Picaut?

The very first tip I got from my Hungarian chemist friend was to use sea buckthorn.
She knew a German doctor who had had some great results with his patients. So I did some research on the plant, tested it on myself and on friends for a long time in my homemade concoctions, and in the end decided to implement it as my main ingredient.
Sea buckthorn is truly a super-berry. It has many amazing healing properties, works as a natural anti-aging agent, protects against UV rays, and even suits the most sensitive skin types.

Could you give us a glimpse behind the scenes: what does a day in your life look like? Do you get your hands dirty in the lab, or are you more of a behind the scenes person, taking care of marketing and such?

I’m in touch with my clients, skin therapists and beauticians on a daily basis. Many of them are almost like friends by now, and they are all just as passionate about skin as I am, so I consider myself lucky to be able to work with them.
We talk a lot about product development, ingredients and organizing events for their clients.
At the moment, I’m involved with planning a workshop based on education for some my beautician clients, where I will be holding a lecture on organic ingredients and cosmetic chemistry. Next to that I’m in contact with journalists and bloggers on a daily base as well. I prefer not to work with PR companies, as I find them too impersonal, so I like to stay on top of the brand’s PR as much as possible. Whatever else needs to be done within the company; I’m on it. We are a team, and we all work together as much as we can.

How do you manage your work-life-balance?

Having a family and leading a company can definitely be challenging at times. I try to plan in some time off every day just to be able to be with my family, to cook and catch up with each other, spending time with our two kids and our little farm of animals – we have a dog, a cat, and a rabbit. Since I have to be incredibly communicative during the workday, I tend to be less social during my weekends, hanging around the house in comfy clothes, enjoying the downtime. We live near the ocean and close to lots of wild, untamed national park, so I can be found in nature quite regularly as well, horseback riding or just hiking around.

Having worked for years as a model, do you have any quick tips for our readers on how to maintain healthy, glowing skin, especially when you are constantly on the move?

After 25 years in the biz, I consider myself almost like an old veteran car when it comes to modeling. I don’t model that often anymore nowadays, but some of the tips from back then still hold up even today. A few days before a shoot I would always try to avoid anything that could make me feel bloated, like alcohol, sugar, and wheat. Sufficient amount of sleep is key to looking and feeling good, but when it comes to having great looking skin – that’s more of a long-term project.

I know that everyone loves to hear about the quick fixes, the magic tricks, but during the years I found that the best road to healthy skin is maintaining the right balance of moisture and lipids (fats) over a long period of time, investing in quality crèmes and moisturizers that suit your skin type, and of course suite the season as well:

I change my skin routine following the seasonal changes.

At the moment, I use a few drops of our new ‘hyaluronicacid-bomb’ called Hydra Miracle serum before applying any of the other M. Picaut crèmes or serums during the day.
During the night, I tend to stick to a few drops of the Precious Oil, and if it’s very cold outside I dab on a bit of the Calming Cocoon Cream as well. When my skin is need of some extra love and care, I do a double-serum, meaning I combine the Hydra Miracle and the Precious Oil.
As I’m 48 years old, my skin needs even more care during harsh Scandinavian winters. This winter, I created my own little mask using the Calming Cocoon Cream, the Hydra Miracle and the Skin Perfect Moisturizer. I applied all three products at once and left them to soak in overnight, waking up with incredibly soft and smooth
skin. The products in our range are great at being mixed together.

An extra tip: during the day I apply the Hydra serum as a primer before applying any makeup. The number one makeup school in Sweden uses the same trick, with great results.

What makes M. Picaut stand out from other brands that create organic care products?

Our products are extremely well formulated, and it shows: we are Sweden’s most prizewinning brand so far. A big thing is that our products do not contain any allergens at all, which makes them very suitable for sensitive skin types. I would consider M. Picaut as an eco-luxury brand, as our products contain a higher percentage of organic ingredients than most other brands do. Our formulas aim to be as rich as possible, which helps a great deal when you live in a colder type of climate, like we do in Sweden. Combine all of this with high-tech patents and the finest organic oils and extracts, and you’ve got magic. The best thing of all; we create our products with a lot of love, adding in a big dose of style in the process.