Matis

Matis, also styled Matis Paris, is a French skincare brand founded in Paris in 1936 [5]. It built its identity around what the company calls the French art of skincare, combining in-house formulation with a professional, institute-led model in which products and treatments are delivered through trained beauty therapists. The brand remains active, selling internationally and maintaining a live online store and current product launches.

Matis presents itself as an independent house that develops and manufactures its products in France. It is best known for a two-track range: at-home products sold under the Réponses name and professional protocols sold as Solutions [8].

The brand traces its beginnings to a Paris dispensary on rue Fontaine, in the city's 9th arrondissement, opened by Dr. Mavromati. Sources differ slightly on how to describe him: the company's own founding account calls him a pharmacist [5], while some third-party profiles describe him as a chemist in cosmetology [7]. Both refer to the same founder. According to the brand, he formulated a small set of products that he shared with women in the neighbourhood, who were glad to find a pharmacist interested in their skin nearby [5].

The name itself is rooted in the founding family. After the Liberation, in 1946, the founder's son took over the business. He had previously worked at L'Oréal, and drew on the family's Greek heritage to create the brand's first eye-contour products — the Greek word for eyes or gaze being μάτια (matia) [5].

Two dates anchor the brand's early history. In 1936 the dispensary on rue Fontaine marked the brand's beginnings, and in 1946 the first Matis Paris boutique opened as the founder's son assumed leadership and introduced the first eye-contour line [5]. From these origins the company grew into an internationally distributed skincare house while retaining its professional, treatment-led approach.

Matis describes its work as a fusion of modernity and tradition, centred on personalised care and the experience of the beauty institute. Its stated mission is to listen to women and their needs, offering, in the company's phrasing, "a treatment... a ritual... a response." The brand frames the institute facial as central to its identity and structures professional sessions around skin analysis, tailor-made active ingredients and signature massage, finishing with at-home recommendations.

A defining feature of the brand is its distribution. Rather than selling chiefly through open retail, Matis positions itself as a professional offering available through a Matis Paris-trained beauty therapist [6]. The argument it makes, voiced by a third-party salon source, is that consumers who pick products off the shelf often self-prescribe the wrong ones.

The product architecture splits into Réponses, the at-home range, and Solutions, the professional treatment protocols [8]. Recent launches highlighted by the brand include the CELL-EYES eye cream and the HYDRA-BOOST serum. According to one editorial review, the formulas are highly concentrated and built around potent actives such as hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and AHAs, alongside more unusual ingredients like caviar [8].

The company emphasises locally sourced French ingredients, naming saffron from Limousin, French caviar from Aquitaine, seaweed from Brittany and French white rose. It says its products are developed and produced in its own factory in France, near the Cosmetic Valley cluster, and that it tests them for efficacy and tolerance under independent dermatological control [6]. Matis also points to recyclable materials and refillable packaging as part of its approach. A third-party profile describes the brand as cruelty-free, with no animal testing [6].

Matis is an active, long-established brand. It operates a transactional website with a current product range and featured launches, maintains active social channels including Instagram, and is reported by third-party sources to distribute through professional channels internationally. Accounts of its reach vary: one source describes the brand as present in more than 70 countries [8], while another puts the figure at over 73 [6]. Both indicate a broad global footprint built up since 1936.