If you have already wandered through our aisles or on our site, there is a good chance that you already know Cîme !

The Belgian brand, founded by Anke and Isabel, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year !

On this occasion, the two founders welcomed us in their magnificent offices in Gooik, in Flemish Brabant.

A look back at this superb summer day in excellent company, during which we talked about beauty secrets, the future, favorites , etc.

The origin

A true pioneer in organic cosmetics in Belgium, the brand has its roots in the heights of the Himalayas, where it all began when Anke and her dad were hiking in Ladakh in India.

They were captivated by this superb region and its flora. The plants that survive at high altitude are full of powerful active ingredients: so they imagined a range of care products that combine traditional local knowledge and science.

Once back in Belgium, Anke explained her idea to her friend Isabel, who, with her sensitive skin, had become an expert in natural care. Having never really found products that really met her requirements, Isabel was quickly convinced to develop, with Anke, their own range of certified organic cosmetics.

Isabel and Anke, both lawyers at the time, then decided to change careers and a few months later, CÎME was born.

2 women, 2 bosses

• You are 2 women at the head of Cîme, that makes 2 brains. It has its advantages, but, we imagine, also its challenges! How do you distribute the tasks to ensure a balance and to make it work?
• Isabel: That's a good question because we have the same experience and the same background: Anke and I both studied law and we were both lawyers. Several people told us, before we started, that it wasn't a good idea. That to create a company, you needed people with different and more complementary profiles. The fact is that the idea of ​​launching Cîme came from Anke and me, we were friends and it was not an option for us not to do it together. Very quickly, it turned out that our interests were very different and we never had a formal discussion to divide up the tasks, it came very naturally!
• Anke: It all came together very naturally indeed. Personally, I am very interested in developing new products, in ingredients and in analysing figures. Developing packaging and accounting were less my thing but these are subjects that Isabel likes! So the distribution was very simple.
• Isabel: The only thing we both did when launching Cîme was sales and prospecting: presenting the range to partners, finding points of sale, etc. We quickly understood that it was very important that we do it together and ourselves. And even if neither of us has a "Sales" profile, we loved doing it because we were selling our own products and talking about our baby!

Friends & Colleagues

• You were friends before launching Cîme: is it easy to work with a friend?
• Isabel: For me, it's a big advantage! We had already travelled together, we were really good friends already. It's nice to work with someone you know very well, it makes things a lot easier. Obviously, our relationship has evolved. When we have a day off, I don't call Anke to ask her to go for a drink with me! We don't take our holidays together anymore, for example, like we used to. But when we get together with our group of friends, we become "only" friends again and we don't talk about work anymore.

The future

• Where do you see Cîme in 10 years?
• Anke: Our wish is to continue to develop our range and in parallel our projects in Nepal. One of our biggest projects is the planting of a forest of 5000 soap nut trees , shared by 27 farms to avoid monoculture and stimulate biodiversity. We know that the quantities of soap nuts are limited, this allows us to continue to harvest ethically sourced soap nuts but also to offset our CO2 emissions. We will have to wait at least 5 more years before having our first soap nuts.

• Isabel: The more Cîme grows, the more impact we can have in Nepal and develop our local projects: this is really important to us! In the long term, we would like "organic" and "fair trade" to become the new norm , and no longer a trend or a niche . As a Belgian brand, we want to contribute to this goal and influence the sector and the big players on the market. We believe that if we can do it with limited budgets, the big players in cosmetics can also make this ecological and natural transition.

• The market has already evolved a lot since you started 10 years ago.
• Anke: Yes, absolutely, at the time, Cîme was the first Belgian cosmetic brand to be certified organic and, at that time, it was still very "niche". Only the very convinced bought organic cosmetics. The general public's perception of organic cosmetics was quite negative: the smells were not pleasant, the textures were very poorly worked, etc. So we really had to convince people to try it out and feel it for themselves.
• Isabel : With Cîme, we managed to prove that natural cosmetics could be as pleasant as conventional cosmetics in terms of textures, smells, etc.
• Anke: And our goal is to remain pioneers! For example, we were also among the first to offer packaging made from plastic waste fished out of the oceans ( ocean waste plastic ). This research and pioneering role is very important to us.

Let’s talk about beauty!

• What is your Beauty Secret?
• Anke: I always start my day with a green tea , among other things for its properties for the skin. Caroline, our colleague, prepares a green tea every morning and we chat, it's our little moment! And, if I don't forget, I try to take a matcha capsule!
• Isabel: I never wear makeup! I don't know if it's a beauty secret as such, but since I have very difficult skin, I've always had trouble putting on makeup. Today, I use Cîme products to replace this makeup. For example, I use Huile by Cîme , our dry oil, on the face for a healthy glow, or Le Baume by Cîme on certain areas of the face to give a highlighting effect.

• What is your favorite Cîme product (you have to choose!)?
• Anke: It's super hard to choose! If I had to keep only one, I would say the Huile by Cîme . I love having it with me on vacation because I can use it for everything: my face, body, hair, etc.
• Isabel: the Balm of the Himalayas !

• What is the beauty product that you can’t live without, apart from Cîme of course?
• Isabel: Sunscreen! I'm outside all the time, we work outside a lot, I cycle a lot, etc. I don't carry any makeup in my bag but I always have a tube of sunscreen!
• Anke: I never leave the house without mascara! I don't have much time in the morning with the kids at home, it's always a rush! But I never go out without mascara!

Belgian once

• What is your favourite Belgian brand?
• Anke: It's very difficult to choose because I like so many! I could mention for example the brand of my ring Lore van Keer . It's a real ode to the mother! On mine, I had the names of my two sons engraved!
• Isabel: It's really hard to choose just one! Anke and I are from Aalst, so we can mention two clothing brands created by local entrepreneurs: Four Roses and King Comf . I don't drink alcohol, so I always try out a lot of alternatives: I really like Nona Drinks and Gimber or Mocktail Club .

• What is your favorite spot in Belgium?
• Isabel: I live in the Dansaert district in Brussels, and I love going to the local café: Barbeton! It's sunny all day long on the large terrace and it's open from morning to night.
• Anke: Our offices are located in Gooik, the Pajottenland in Flemish Brabant, also called the Tuscany of Flanders! It's not quite the same but it's a very beautiful region! There is the Gaasbeek castle and its gardens where I love to walk. I also really like to go for walks and cycle in the "Woestijn" here in Gooik, the desert in English: it's a very beautiful place.

Want to see a little more?

Find the Cîme beauty rituals by Isabel & Anke, as well as a preview of our wonderful day at the Cîme offices in Gooik on our Youtube channel!

And discover the limited edition of the iconic Huile by Cîme here !