Our latest Beauty Boss is Valerie Grandury, Founder of Odacité—a line of high-quality and clean skin care products that are made with hand-selected botanicals that are wild-crafted, organic or grown without chemicals. Influenced by Grandury’s French heritage and the purity of Grandury’s green California lifestyle, Odacité’s dermatologically-tested formulas harness the healing power of plants and clinical grade ingredients to provide skin with essential nourishment so that it looks and feels healthy and vibrant.

Odacite’s Customizable Nano-Infusion Facial Offered at The Spa at West Hollywood EDITION Hotel

A breast cancer survivor, Grandury was in search of clean skin care products which didn’t exist at the time, so she began custom-blending in her kitchen and refining bespoke skin care solutions for herself, clients and celebrities, eventually building her own lab in order to take her handcrafted formulas to the next level.

We chatted with Grandury, who shared the inspiration behind the brand, secrets for success, wellness tips, favorite beauty products, and much more.

When was Odacité founded and what does the name mean?

I founded Odacité in 2009, just before there were any signs of the massive Clean Beauty movement we see today. The name is a French play on the word “audacity,” but I’ve noticed that a lot of people just haven’t caught onto the word play like I thought they would.

For me, audacity is behind everything we do at Odacité. It is about having the strength, courage, and tenacity to always push the boundaries placed before you and shake the status quo in pursuit of the next best thing— because you should never have to settle for less. Every single day, we are sampling new ingredients and searching for the latest innovations in technology to push our next formula above, beyond, and over the edge. If you have the audacity to dare, you can completely change the way you think about care—care for your skin, self, and the natural world.

What inspired the creation of the brand?

After I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, I embarked on a healing journey to eliminate toxins from every aspect of my life. At the time, I was working in advertising and living in the city, but I dropped everything to become a wellness coach and move to Topanga Canyon.

Having cancer forced me to reevaluate my entire life and make change. I promised myself to never expose my body to toxic ingredients, starting with the products I was applying on my skin every single day. But when I began shopping for natural skin care, my only options ended up being at the grocery store. There was no pleasure in these formulas, no beauty in the packaging, no results in the ingredients…I knew that something was missing.

Throughout my wellness coaching, I started making custom-blended skincare for private clients in my own kitchen. Word of mouth started to spread…I began creating bespoke formulas for a few celebrities when a piece featuring my work came out in French Vogue. I knew then that it was time for me to make something even bigger. In 2009, I built my own lab in California and Odacité was born.

Does Odacité have a hero product?

Every product at Odacité is a hero—I mean, really—but we have been totally overwhelmed by the incredible feedback we have received in the last year for our le Blue Balm. This balm is like a Swiss army knife for your skin because it can be used in so many different ways: a restorative face moisturizer, rejuvenating eye contour treatment, soothing lip balm, overnight hydration mask, after sun care and for any intense moisture needs.

It is powered by a proprietary Repair Complex, formulated around squalane to nurture your skin barrier, and a Soothe Complex, extracted from German blue chamomile to harvest its anti-inflammatory properties. If I'm traveling and don’t want to bring too many things with me—this is all I need. It’s your desert island skin care item to envelop your skin in deep and soothing moisture.

What are your favorite products from the brand?

Picking a favorite Odacité product is like asking me to choose my favorite child…there are so many I can't live without. If I had to choose only one, I would pick Crème de la Nuit. When we decided to come to market with a night cream, we had a very high benchmark for Crème de la Nuit—one of which was that we wanted to see results after the first night.

We wanted at least 70% of the testing panel seeing improvement in hydration after one night, and we ended up at 86%. It took us 22 times to reformulate and we were so proud of the results of Crème de la Nuit that we published both the clinical and consumer study in the box.

This restorative night cream really embodies our philosophy of fusing the power of raw nature with clinical grade actives. We start with pomegranate juice and fuse it with Ashwagandha, blue-green algae and kelp to feed the skin with nutrient-rich botanicals. Then we blend in clinical actives: vitamin C, hyaluronic acid and CoQ10 to support the natural nighttime skin regeneration process so you can wake up with visibly healthier, younger-looking skin.

It makes me feel so good to know that my skin is so perfectly nurtured at night, and that I am supporting the natural repair system of my skin with both high-performance botanical and clinical actives. No matter how my day was, I know my skin will be replenished and looking fresh and plump in the morning! Plus, it just smells and feels incredible.

Where are Odacité products sold?

In addition to our own website, we are proud to say that you can find Odacité at 490 retailers in 34 countries worldwide! This year, we just launched at Credo and Saks. You can also find us in beautiful spa destinations like West Hollywood EDITION Hotel, Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, Auberge du Soleil in Napa and at our spa partner in Paris Le Fouquet’s.

Future plans for the brand?

Odacité just became a Marriott preferred vendor, so expect to see us in more of their luxury hotels in 2023!

Who inspires you?

My two grandmothers probably have had the biggest influence on my life and they are also part of the DNA of Odacité. Serendipitously, my middle name is Jeanne-Madeleine, both of their first names.

With a true shamanic presence, Jeanne lived in complete symbiosis with nature and animals in the southwest of France. She taught me how to connect with nature, how to harvest the therapeutic power of plants, and how animals are amazing healers. Like a true healer, she would create all kinds of potions, ointments, and remedies in her kitchen to take care of any ailments we would get as kids spending the summer holiday with her.

Always dressed in haute couture, Madeleine was the incarnation of the elegant Parisienne. Everything about her was refined—from the way she tied her scarf to the sophistication of her table settings to the harmony of her apartment design. Her motto for life and skincare was: “It’s all in the details and in the little things you do every single day.” When I turned 13, she started to teach me how to take care of my skin. She was a fan of using face oils and massaging the face (both very avant-garde for her time), and she insisted that results come from consistency. I couldn't agree more! From Jeanne, I have inherited an absolute passion for nature and its healing powers; from Madeleine—a sophisticated quality and passion for details and great skin care.

Secret to success?

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from my father: “Never stop learning.”

Approach each day and every opportunity with a humble, curious mind. In the clean beauty sector, things are changing every single day so you just have to stay open-minded and informed at all times in order to keep up. If you settle for something that works pretty well, you might be missing out on something new, better, and different that works even smarter and harder for you.

Beauty secrets?

I find there is this strange belief in the US that for something to work, it must hurt—but the French beauty secret is simple yet very effective: “Be gentle and consistent.”

Anything that is going to be aggressive to the skin will damage the delicate skin barrier, compromising the longevity and health of your skin. Long-term, this will result in irritated, inflamed skin prone to lines, dryness and dullness. 

The skin barrier is a fragile complex of cells that is essential for protecting the skin against bacteria, pollution, allergens and other environmental aggressors. So, treat your skin with respect and be gentle and consistent (consistency is key). This will give you the cumulative results without sensitizing your skin or causing long-term damage. 

When you build a solid routine that supports the health of your skin without stripping or over-stimulating it, you quickly notice great improvement in the way your skin looks and feels.

Morning Routine: Gentle Cleanser, Mist, Targeted Serum, Day Cream, Sun Protection.

Night Routine: Double Cleanse, Mist, Eye Contour Serum, Face Serum, Night Cream.

Wellness tips?

Reduce your animal protein consumption. After having breast cancer 17 years ago, I switched to a plant-based diet with a good portion of raw food to maintain the integrity of all the nutrients and lots of fermented food to support healthy gut flora. Switching to plant food has been transformational for me in terms of health, energy and skin glow.

If you can, incorporate as much movement as possible into your daily routine. When I moved to Topanga, it offered me the perfect setting for one of my passions: hiking. I hike every single day in the Santa Monica mountains. I wake up super early to go watch the sun rise and meditate for 10 minutes at the top of a beautiful rock formation.

Listen and respect your body, watch your thoughts, surround yourself with people who want the best for you, and know that life is beautiful even when not perfect.

Best advice?

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

How do you like to relax?

I love to spend my free time with my family. Every single moment I get to share with my beautiful grandchildren makes all the work I do worth it, 1000%. Everything I do at Odacité is for them, in the hope that I will leave this planet greater than I found it—for them and all their generations to come.

If I have had a particularly stressful week, I often turn to meditation and I also have perfected the best Odacité spa day for when I need an extra pick-me-up.

1. Cleanse with Green Ceremony Matcha Cleanser. 

2. Apply Bioactive Rose Gommage. This is a professional-type resurfacing mask, powered by papaya and pineapple enzymes, that thoroughly removes dead skin and build-up without irritating the skin.

3. Follow with a mist of Aloe + Immortelle to quench my skin.

4. Apply BA+S Eye Serum.

5. Apply a thin layer of Crème de la Nuit and top with All-Embracing Serum to seal in all the benefits

6. A 10-minute Gua Sha facial massage to smooth wrinkles and relieve tensions, sculpt, lift facial contour.

For more information, visit Odacité’s website and follow on Instagram: @odacite

[Images courtesy of Odacité]

Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk