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A devastating car accident left Ange Trahern with severe scarring on her face, but this science-minded woman turned it into an opportunity.
With silky blond hair reaching past her shoulders, the soft-spoken, thirty-something Ange Trahern doesn't come across as a powerful CEO in the beauty industry. While she's sharply attired, more noticeable is her glowing complexion, even if you don't know the backstory.
In the fall of 1995, as a freshman at Regis University, Trahern was thrown from her vehicle in a horrific car accident. She was hospitalized for weeks, but the broken bones and deep lacerations covering her entire body could not compare to the pain of looking in the mirror. Trahern's reflection revealed a beautiful face sliced apart by a broken windshield. Four layers of stitches and multiple surgeries tried to salvage the damaged skin, but the scars were still there.
CO2 and vascular laser repair made a difference. "CO2 laser technology was relatively new to the industry and new to Colorado at the time of my accident," Trahern says. "This laser made the most incredible impact on texture. The worst part of it was smelling my skin burn off during the procedure and then having to keep Aquaphor [a thick salve] on my face for weeks after "” at school, at work." Trahern's goal was then to find a topical treatment that would heal the scars.
Looking at her today, you'd be hard pressed to locate any indication of a scar, let alone the one that started at the bottom of her right eye and snaked down to the corner of her mouth. And it's not a matter of makeup doing a good camouflage job. After years of working for other companies and studying ingredients, formulations, delivery systems and everything in between, this Colorado native began her own product line, Bieux Skin Bionaturals.
Her experience with the accident left her wanting to make a difference in women's lives through science and beauty. After college, Trahern joined Cellex-C in California where she played a pivotal role in developing one of the leading anti-aging formulas in the industry. She then worked with GloMinerals and the pharmaceutical side of Kinerase. Finally, a decade later, it was time for Trahern to return to Colorado and start her own company.
"I wanted a name that was completely unique," she says of Bieux Skin Bionaturals. "It had to be something that said nature and science. "˜Bi' means "˜two,' and "˜eux' is used to conjugate the word beauty in several languages." What differentiates Trahern's products from most others is why they were created in the first place. The purpose behind many leading anti-wrinkle creams is to rid the face of any signs of aging. Trahern's products were created to restore health to the epidermal layer.
The company's unique approach to product development emphasizes research that takes advantage of natural ingredients on a molecular level as opposed to harsh chemicals made in labs. And Trahern isn't afraid of standing firm against plastic surgeons and clinical skincare lines that heavily endorse the use of paraben and silicone, a stance which, since her launch last March, has brought her unparalleled success: Products sold out in New York City within the first week. "Silicone is the hidden skin nemesis," Trahern says. "It creates an occlusive barrier that doesn't wash off. If an ingredient ends in "˜icone,' it's a form of silicone."
Key ingredients in Bieux Skin's Power Lift and Repair Serum include gatuline. This plant-based serum component is harvested from an isolated region of the Indian Ocean and reduces the appearance of expression lines (read: wrinkles). Another purified marine extract, pepha-tight, has been found to tighten skin and help protect it from oxidative damage. Intensifying the effects of these two ingredients is a proprietary blend of allantoin; beta glucan; and one of the most powerful forms of green tea available for topical use, green tea eco. Trahern says, "It's almost as much fun to read about the ingredients in the products as it is to apply them." Only the CEO of a beauty company could say that.
It's hard to miss the bright pink packaging on the Sephora shelves, which may contribute to the brisk sales. The Advanced Eye Treatment Cream hit stores at the beginning of October, and dozens of tubes had to be expedited overnight to sold-out retailers in New York and New Jersey. It's been a challenge to keep stock in the Park Meadows and Flatiron Crossing locations. And while the color pink was a stroke of brilliant marketing to stand out against the mass of white, grey and black her competitors so frequently use, the products actually work, and the CEO herself is the most visible advertisement they have.
While the color pink was a stroke of brilliant marketing to stand out against the mass of white, grey and black her competitors so frequently use, the products actually work, and the CEO herself is the most visible advertisement they have.
