Beauty’s best innovations don’t always chase the next big thing. This issue celebrates enduring icons, thoughtful craftsmanship, and modern classics – from a fragrance created for a queen nearly five centuries ago to design-forward home scents, rose-powered skincare, and even a dog shampoo worthy of your vanity.
Bath time for dogs has gotten an elegant upgrade, courtesy of fragrance-minded essentials from Biche.
The only place that my black-and-white hound Pina wants to be on a Saturday morning is submerged in a pond at Prospect Park, leaping off rocks and paddling through murky water to bob for tennis balls. But that thrill is soon matched by an equal and opposite dread – my water dog hates baths.
Truth be told, pet owners often share the same sentiment. During her years as a beauty editor, Alexandra Pauly regularly met with founders who were reimagining personal-care categories with next-level consideration. It struck her as odd that the “pet-grooming aisle is fi lled with products all packaged like cleaning supplies,” with formulas that can be harsh or heavy on one-note essential oils. For Pauly, who adopted her chihuahua mix, Cam, after he’d twice been abandoned, bathing had become a time of hands-on connection and trust. She decided the products warranted the same concerted attention, along with a dollop of fun.
Her line, Biche, arrived earlier this year, reframing dog shampoo as Cloud Cleanser. The French term of endearment ma biche (“my darling”) inspired the name. “It’s kind of perfect because it also sounds like bitch,” Pauly adds. She tapped the veterinary dermatologist Dr Joya Griffi n to consult on the gentle, pH- optimized formula, which includes skin- soothing glycerin and vitamin B5. As for the subtle fi g-laced scent – called Archie, after Andy Warhol’s beloed dachshund – it leans “soft and powdery with a European apothecary vibe,” says the brand’s fragrance advisor Carlos Huber, who worked closely with the perfumer Christina Christie. Everyone’s respective dogs approved.
The faceted shampoo bottle, decorated with a crest of frolicking Cam, calls to mind Oribe’s cult-favorite hair care – as if to subliminally link well-coiffed people and their pets. (Off-Leash, the brand’s editorial series spotlighting friends of Biche, also does that work.) Meanwhile, the coat-conditioning Après Oil is in a glass bottle with a spherical top, making it right at home among the niche perfumes at Stéle’s shops in New York. “Dogs really do give you a sense of purpose,” says Pauly, referring to her entrepreneurial spark as well as to the emotional ballast. Now, when Pina gets in the pond, I look forward to cocooning her in a post-bath towel, kissing her damp head, and leaning in for a sandalwood whiff.
Taken from 10 Magazine USA Issue 7 – HERITAGE, LEGACY, FUTURE – out September 18! Order your copy here.
Photography courtesy of Biche
Instagram: @biche.world
