Natura Bissé:
A Pioneer in Skin Care Innovation

English text by Irene Luo

Photography by Natura Bissé

 

 

Imagine soothing aromas and peaceful music as you relish an exquisite spa treatment. You breathe in slowly, enjoying air that is 99.995 percent pure—free of pollution, allergens, and contaminating germs and particles. Not only does your skin feel detoxified afterward, but your entire body feels energized.

The Bubble Pure Air treatment is one among many innovations of Natura Bissé, a Spain-based skin care company known for pioneering powerful facial and body treatments to nourish the skin. Through rigorous and extensive research, Natura Bissé has cultivated its expertise in the properties of the skin and the most effective treatments for different skin concerns. The quality of its products has popularized the brand among Hollywood stars, stylists, and makeup artists. Natura Bissé is also the first skin care brand to ever be officially and exclusively recognized by Forbes Travel Guide, a recognized authority on rating luxury hotels, restaurants, and spas.

Natura Bissé’s senior vice president of Research & Innovation, Patricia Fisas Vergés, sat down with Elite Lifestyle Magazine to share the story of her family’s business and its growth into a leader in the skin care industry. Founded by Patricia’s father, Ricardo Fisas Mulleras, in 1979, the company came from a background in the professional spa business. It adapted the powerful treatments used in spas and delivered them to the countertops of the luxury retail market for consumers to enjoy at home. From Spain, the company expanded to the United States, Mexico, the Middle East, and soon arrived in China, opening its first two flagship stores in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

INNOVATIVE SKIN CARE

In the world of cosmetics, Natura Bissé stands out for its cutting-edge product innovation. Among its groundbreaking innovations was a glycolic peel its sci- entists developed in 1993. With high concentrations of exfoliating acids, it eliminates dead skin cells and renews the skin, but without causing irritation or sensitization. With the launch of Glyco Peeling and Glyco Peeling Plus, Natura Bissé was the first company to offer professional results at home—placing a safe, but also highly effective skin-renewal product into thehands of the consumer.inni

When researchers at Natura Bissé discovered the skin-rejuvenating properties of magnetite, they searched far and wide for the best form of magnetiteto incorporate into a new anti-aging product. Their quest brought them to a University of Munich biologist who had devoted over a decade to studying a microorganism that naturally generates its own magnetite. Unlike the magnetite found in the earth, the magnetosomes extracted from these microorganisms do not have the same impurities and also penetrate the skin more effectively.

They incorporated this revolutionary new active ingredient—Bio-Magnet Nanosomes—into Diamond Life Infusion, which rejuvenates the skin and regulates the four key biomarkers of skin aging to prevent lines, wrinkles, and sagginess. The magnetite affects the skin’s biomarkers to generate “retinoid-like” activity, ideal for renewing the skin and improving tone, texture, and luminosity.

“We don’t follow trends just because they’re trends,” Patricia says. Although certain active ingredients may suddenly gain popularity, the product development team refuses to be swept away by the whimsical market current.

“Maybe we already have active ingredients that are the equivalent or even better,” she says. “If we really think it’s going to provide something different, new, and give an excellent result to our products, maybe we will incorporate it.”

Besides searching for more effective ingredients, researchersat Natura Bissé also avidly observe trends in other fields for creative ideas for new skin treatments and experiences. They were the first to marry skin care with cuisine in 2011 with “The Taste of Beauty,” an experience that offers a sublime spa treatment perfectly complemented by the flavors, aromas, andtextures in the private, seven-course dinner that follows. At luxury golf resorts, Natura Bissé introduced the Quirogolf massage, which relieves tension with golf balls that are pressed and rolled across the entire body.

“Our concept of luxury is not about having material things. It’s about time—to have time to spend your life, to have time to experience things, to have pleasantsensations,” Patricia says. In February last year, Natura Bissé launched “The Mindful Touch,” which unites a spa treatment with virtual reality and mindfulness. The immersive experience frees people from their bustling daily lives, the bombardment by to-dos, so they can relax and indulge not only their skin but also their minds.

“You enjoy yourself, giving yourself time to feel the touch, the products, the textures. And with the mindfulness audio and virtual reality, it’s amazing because you really disconnect,” Patricia explains.

A LEGACY OF DIGNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

In 2008, Ricardo Fisas Mulleras passed the mantle to his children, appointing Patricia’s older sister, Verónica Fisas Vergés, as president and CEO, with Patricia and other members of the family heading the different divisions and subsidiaries of the company.

From the time she started working at Natura Bissé during college, Patricia has assumed many different roles over the years, including overseeing the company’s American subsidiary in Dallas, before arriving at her current position as head of product innovation. While exploring and researching new areas of potential development, which includes regularly bringing home new formula samples to try, she juggles her personal life and being a mother of four children.

Although the company has gone global, it’s still a relatively tight-knit company with around 300  employees. Patricia says she knows the names of almost all of them. “People are people. We are not numbers,” she says.

The company trains its teams at department stores, spas, and hotels to have extensive knowledge of Natura Bissé’s products and their targeted solutions for different skin concerns. Most importantly, it teaches them to truly care for the needs and wants of consumers, rather than seeking to maximize sales.

Patricia says that instead of thrusting multiple products onto a customer, it is best to begin with one or two. “Maybe you can see this person has spots, but maybe this customer is not worried about her spots. She’s worried about her fine lines and wrinkles. OK, treat the fine lines and wrinkles because it’s what she’s concerned about. And sample her, maybe, with a product that can work on the spots,” she says.

“I prefer going little by little, and they will enjoy it,” she says. With this approach, the company has prospered despite spending only minimal funds on advertising. Patricia says it is what their father always told them: “Our best advertisement and tool is our product.”

Instead of expanding and developing in other fields, Natura Bissé has chosen to focus exclusively on skin care. “There are thousands of makeup brands, thousands of fragrances, and we are not experts. We will never be experts in those areas. So let’s focus on what we really know,” Patricia says.

Their philosophy is simple: “Dignity, responsibility, and the quality of the product are the most important,” she says.