Éminence Interview

2 weeks ago, Roy Prevost (a Marketing Consultant who interviews top professional sales people) sat down on our behalf with Éminence Organics’ Darlene Maillet. Darlene, the Executive Education and Sales Manager out of their Vancouver office, gives an inside look into our signature skin care line – including their humble beginnings, their strict product release guide lines, the even stricter certification process and the new “Organic Beauty” makeup line.
To download the phone interview, visit our website.

Edited Transcript:

Roy Prevost,
Marketing Consultant

ROY PREVOST: Good morning, I’m going to be interviewing Darlene Maillet, who is the representative for the Éminence Organics Skin Care company and I’d like to get some background information about Eminence and also learn about some of the wonderful things that your products do. Can you give me a little background to the company as to how long ago it began, who started it, and how it came to be what it is today?

DARLENE MAILLET: Certainly. Éminence is very unique because it is a Hungarian skin care line. Most skin care/professional skin care products today come from countries such as France and Italy, and not very much come out of Eastern Europe. Éminence Organics is built on Hungary’s reputation as the fruit basket of Europe, supplying much of European’s fruits and vegetables because of their very dense and rich soils, because it used to be a subterranean country at one time. Éminence took a century-old recipe in the family of Boldijarre and Attila Koronczay and turned herbology to remedies for skin care that would alleviate different conditions of the skin that were irritating or threatening to the skin. The recipes were brought over to North America by Boldijarre Koronczay to be used in the professional settings today that they’re in to help with treatments for skin.



Boldijarre and Attila Koronczay,

founders of Éminence Organics.

PREVOST: Is Éminence a Canadian or European company?

MAILLET: It is a European company, however our head office is in Canada and we supply all of the world out of our Vancouver office. However, all the products are still made and bottled in Hungary.

PREVOST: Can you give me an introduction of the types of products that Éminence Orgaincs Skin Care carry?

MAILLET: Sure. It’s a complete professional line. So it includes your cleaners, your toniques, your masques, treatments, etc. It’s a complete spa professional line, meeting the demands of today and the environmental challenges that we face – which are very different then they were 20 years ago. We need top-notch, high-potency and concentrated ingredients that are going to be able to match what we have to deal with environmentally. Éminence has everything, including body treatments and now our new “Organic Beauty” professional makeup line as well.

PREVOST: What makes your products unique as compared to other organic products on the marketplace today?

MAILLET: I would say the most important thing that makes Éminence unique and different than other products is certainly the certification, the fact that all of our products are certified organic. You can buy “organic” anywhere now but there’s no guarantee to the consumer that it has actually been processed and made organically. Éminence has the backing of three of the best organic certifications out there. Demeter, Biocontrol and USDA have all certified our products from the moment that they are actually grown, harvested, made into products, and sold to the consumer. The other important thing that makes Éminence different is that the products are handmade, which makes them very unique. No machinery is used when making our products. All of our products are still farmed with horse and buggy, because there can’t be any be any gas emissions on the properties. They’re all concentrated – we don’t put water in the products – so that when you’re using a small amount and it doesn’t change the consistency of the products. Again, these products are sold professionally; you cannot purchase them anywhere else but through an approved supplier of the product as well.



One of Éminence's farms in Hungary.

Honey traps and insect-resistant herbs

are used instead of pesticides.

PREVOST: Are there any chemicals, dyes, perfumes or anything else used in the products?

MAILLET: No. That’s another unique thing about Éminence, we’re a certified organic company so we stay away from those ingredients such as parabens, sulphates, talcs and petroleums. All of those things in consumer products today is not what Éminence is about. So no, we stay completely away from any synthetic ingredients. Éminence is made purely of herbs, fruits and vegetables.

PREVOST: How do you decide which businesses are going to carry your product and what’s your criteria to choose a business to sell your product? I’m guessing it’s not everywhere, so you have selective clients across the country who are using it and allowed to sell it?

MAILLET: Yes, qualifying a customer is very important to us too because we want somebody who is going to maintain the integrity that we have about our product too, so it’s something that we take very seriously. We need to see the locations and see where it’s going to be presented so that it represents Éminence appropriately. We also need to see their qualifications. We need copies of diplomas, accredited certificates, and that they have gone to accredited schools. We do background checks as well. We also don’t release it everywhere – we don’t want to mass-market this product. It’s a special product and it needs to be represented in a smaller locale. I think that’s probably what’s most important and we probably would say no to more people than we say yes to. You won’t find these products in any beauty salon, supply places, or home-based businesses, or certainly mass-market/multi-level marketing. That’s just not our plan, it’s meant to stay humble and in the right hands.

PREVOST: What is it about Éminence that you’re most passionate about?

MAILLET: Well, I’m always looking for something that I can use on my own skin that I feel good about knowing where it came from. At the end of the day, I have to have results. If I’m not seeing results, then it’s pointless to be using the product. I think any consumer would want to know that they are going to get those results as well.

PREVOST: Ultimately it comes down to if you believe in the product, then you can become passionate about it and I can tell by the way you’re speaking you believe very highly in the products. What is the average shelf life of the products?

MAILLET: On average the products last a year, and that year starts the day the products are actually made, not the date that you actually open up the jar. For a lot of people, that’s a big misconception. That year, however, can be extended if the products are looked after properly. They do need to stay out of heat and sun light, they need to have their lids put back on, and spatulas should be used so that the product doesn’t become contaminated. But outside of that, if you take good care of your products, they will last probably even longer than that. However, to me a jar should not last a year anyways if you’re using it properly, so it’s never been a problem for us.

PREVOST: Oh, good. I understand you also have sun care products, could you share with us how the sun care products work and how they’re different than the ones currently sold in pharmacies?



Éminence Sun Defense

MAILLET: Yes, absolutely. We have two different types of sun care products. We have what’s known as “chemical sun protection” that absorb UV radiation, and we have “physical sun protection” which reflects and shields UV radiation off the skin. It really is important to be vigilant when it comes to choosing your sun protection because of the harmful chemicals that are in a lot of the over-the-counter products today, which ours do not contain. We have a liquid-type sun protection that you can use which is based on high vitamin-C, which is even better than vitamin-E at protecting against UV damage. We also use zinc oxide, which protects and heals the skin as well as reflects the sunlight. We also have what we call powder or mineral sun protection, which is quite unique and different in the fact that it works as a physical shield and reflects the UV radiation away from the skin. Therefore, UV radiation can’t even come into contact with the skin, which then will not age the skin rapidly. It’s been our most popular product to date, and I think that the best part about that too is that’s also is best for oily skins, as well as it keeps the skin much cooler too. I think the most important thing when you’re looking for sun protection to be sure it’s not full of fillers, things like talcs and petroleums which are often used in sun protections. These ingredients can’t be homeogenic and can also have some negative effects on the skin’s sensitivity.

PREVOST: Now I understand you also have a new makeup line. Can you briefly tell us about what products you offer there and what’s unique about them?



"Organic Beauty" Makeup Line

MAILLET: Yes, it’s our long awaited “Organic Beauty” makeup line. It’s actually very simple, which is one thing I love about Éminence and this product as well. There’s only five products in the line. Typically if you’ve been to any beauty counter in a mall you’ll see many, many different products out there – very confusing to the consumer. What we wanted to do was keep it as simple as possible and celebrate women’s natural look, so this is what we call “everyday women’s makeup”. It is not a high-fashion makeup, it’s meant to enhance what you already have. It’s very see-through, very transparent, but it’s meant to highlight and contour one’s own natural skin so that their own beauty is still there, not to cover it up. We have tinted moisturizers, which works to enhance one’s own natural skin condition and tone. We have an illuminator, which if there’s something that you want to bring up in your skin and make it look really bright, you would use the beautiful illuminator, which is in a nice coal colour. We also have a bronzer, so if you want to have that sun-kissed look, that would be something you can use. And of course, last but not least, we can’t forget the lips. We have the cinnamon kiss lip plumper, which is meant to gently boost the size of the lips using cinnamon oil and castor seed oil, but also to bring colour to your own natural lips by not using a regular dye, but by stimulating the blood in your own lips makes your own natural colour come out. It’s a beautiful, beautiful product. And best of all, it tastes just like cinnamon candy hearts, which I think a lot of people will love.

PREVOST:What certifications does Éminence have that can offer assurances to any customers, or to anyone listening to this, that the products they’re purchasing that are in fact organic, natural, and non toxic?



Éminence Organics Certifications,

including Demeter, Biocontrol, FSC and USDA.

MAILLET: We’re very pound of our certifications. Our certification bodies are not easy to get. It’s taken us years to get this kind of backing behind us and it’s very, very strict. One of them is Demider USA, which is probably the most difficult certification in the world to get. It’s also the only company that certifies in Europe and the United States, which is very important because products grown in Europe cannot be certified by American certification companies. Demider is the only company that can do that. Not only is it difficult to get that certification but they have to actually come to see our properties, they have to weigh the seed that we use, they have to watch us plant them, they also have to weigh the yield of the crop to ensure that the amount of seeds that we started with produced the correct amount of fruits and vegetables – it’s incredible! They also have to watch us through out the bottling process to ensure that we are bottling, and not cooking our products and then right into selling them as well. Another certification we have is USDA, because we do have three products that are made in the US. So we do have the USDA organic certification, which is the industry standard in North America and probably the most respected. Last but not least, the one we had since the very beginning, which is Biocontrol Hungary. It is a European only certification body and again one of the highest and largest certification agencies in Europe. All of these again are non-profit organizations, so I think that is important to say as well.

PREVOST: Well, thank you for all of this good information! How long have you worked with the company now?

MAILLET: I’ve worked with the company since the very start when it was launched in North America, which was 12 years ago.

PREVOST: Oh my gosh, you’ve seen it grow to what it is today. Good for you!

MAILLET: Roy, I love it! It has not stopped growing and it’s been a ride for sure. And I love to see that people are being very conscious about what they’re using and the excitement has not died.

PREVOST: Well, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this interview, and all the best with Éminence. I’m sure just by what you told us and to any potential customers who are listening to this, you’d be well served to get this excellent product. Thank you again, and all the best to you.

MAILLET: Thank you very much, Roy. I really appreciate it.