# Midi12 ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2021 | | Origin | France | | Headquarters | La Baule-Escoublac | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | France | | Distribution | Multi-channel | | Website | https://midi12.fr/ | Midi12 is a French sun-care brand based in La Baule-Escoublac, a resort town on France's Atlantic coast. It was founded by Aurélie Ribierre, a cosmetics professional who set out to make sun protection that would not harm marine life, and it came to market as a new sunscreen range in 2021 [12]. The line covers sun creams, sun oils, after-sun care, hair protection and an oral sun supplement, all made in France. The brand is small and privately held, run through Ribierre's own company, and it sells mainly online through its own shop as well as through independent retailers. Its identity rests on a single idea, summed up in its tagline "Protéger votre peau. Préserver la nature" ("Protect your skin. Preserve nature"): high-SPF products built around filters and ingredients the company considers safer for both people and the ocean. ## Origin & founders Aurélie Ribierre lives on the bay of La Baule, and the company presents the brand as a product of that coastline. According to Midi12, living by the sea made her a daily witness to the damage people do to the coastal environment, and she came to see sunscreens as one of the products contributing to the loss of marine biodiversity. Her stated aim was to create sun-care products that respect biodiversity without giving up on protection [3]. Before starting the brand, Ribierre had spent more than 15 years in the cosmetics industry. The French review site Regard sur les cosmétiques reports that her career took her through both a small company, Labiomer, and a large one, Guerlain [9]. A retailer profile of the brand describes the same path in general terms: first a large corporation, then a family business. The company says she surrounded herself with outside experts to develop the formulas, and retailer profiles add that production is handled with partner laboratories in France. In a quote published by one stockist, Ribierre explains that living "au rythme des marées et des saisons" (in rhythm with the tides and the seasons) made her want to do more to protect the planet. Another retailer quotes her as saying she wanted to offer products that protect while being healthier for people and kinder to the environment. The meaning of the name has been read in different ways. Regard sur les cosmétiques interprets "midi 12" as a reference to 12:12, the moment around noon when the sun is at its highest and exposure is best avoided. ## History & milestones Sources differ slightly on when Midi12 began. The business database Tracxn gives 2021 as the founding year [12], which matches press coverage from that year: on 15 June 2021, Regard sur les cosmétiques introduced Midi 12 as a newly launched sun-protection range [9]. French company registry information, however, shows that the legal groundwork was laid in 2020. The Midi12 trademark was registered in September 2020, and the operating company, SOLIBRI SAS, was registered in La Baule-Escoublac in November 2020 with Ribierre as its president [13]. This article treats 2021 as the year of the brand's market launch and 2020 as the year the company behind it was formed. The 2021 review marked the brand's first public test. Regard sur les cosmétiques bought the SPF 50 sun oil and measured it in its own laboratory, an episode described in more detail under Recognition below. At the time, the range was built around the protective oil; the reviewers said they hoped to see larger bottles, a water-resistant cream or lotion, and fragrance-free versions. The range has since expanded well beyond the oil. By the mid-2020s the catalogue included a face cream, a fluid, a stick, three sun oils, after-sun products and a dedicated hair line, alongside the oral supplement. In February 2025 the company published a post announcing its involvement in the Février Lilas campaign. Through 2025 its blog carried a steady stream of articles on tanning, sun protection, after-sun care and the supplement, with the most recent dated posts appearing in August 2025. ## Ownership Midi12 is published and operated by SOLIBRI SAS, a French simplified joint-stock company registered in Saint-Nazaire, with its registered office in La Baule-Escoublac [8]. The company's registered activity is the creation and sale of cosmetic products for the body and face. It is Ribierre's own operating company rather than part of a larger beauty group, and no acquisitions are documented. According to Tracxn, Midi12 has raised outside funding and counts one institutional investor, Novapuls [12]. Registry information also shows a June 2022 notice that the company's equity had fallen below half of its share capital [13]. Tracxn lists three employees as of May 2026. ## Philosophy & positioning Midi12 positions itself as "clean" sun care, meaning protection that avoids ingredients the company regards as controversial while still reaching high SPF levels. The company frames each formula as a deliberate attempt to show that strong SPF performance, a pleasant texture, safety for health and respect for marine ecosystems can coexist. It insists this is "not a marketing position" but a formulation constraint applied to every product and checked by independent tests [5]. The brand's mission, as stated on its website, is to offer products that are healthy, safe for the environment, effective against UV, non-comedogenic (unlikely to clog pores) and highly sensory. Midi12 organises this around four pillars: natural ingredients, new-generation sun filters, biodegradable formulas, and "healthy" formulas. Under that last heading the company says it excludes endocrine disruptors, parabens, triclosan and controversial nanoparticles. In its current commitments it states that its products contain no UV filter classed as an endocrine disruptor or carcinogen, and no oxybenzone, homosalate, octinoxate or octocrylene. Midi12 notes that European law already controls cosmetic ingredients strictly, but says it applies a stricter charter of its own by leaving out some substances that are permitted but disputed. The formulas are described as vegan and not tested on animals. The company also stresses comfort: a dry, transparent finish meant to leave no white cast or greasy film on any skin tone, for year-round daily wear. ## Products & innovation The range is organised into four families. The sunscreens include a face cream (Crème Solaire Visage SPF50+), a fluid (Fluide Solaire Protection SPF50) and an invisible stick (Stick Solaire Invisible SPF50+). The sun oils come as Huile Solaire SPF50, Huile Solaire SPF30 and Huile Solaire Nomade SPF30. After-sun care includes Huile Sublime and Lait Après-Soleil, and a hair line offers a protective spray, a protective shampoo and a repair mask. The brand also sells a beach pouch. All of the protective products rely on organic (chemical) UV filters rather than mineral ones. Midi12 says it chose new-generation filters that are authorised even in the strictest jurisdictions, citing the US state of Hawaii, and that they are not harmful to the environment. The ingredient list published by Regard sur les cosmétiques for the 2021 sun oil shows three such filters: bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine, diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate and ethylhexyl triazone. They sit in a blend of jojoba, sunflower and raspberry seed oils with sea buckthorn extract and vitamin E. The plant oils are central to how the company describes its sun oils, which it says hydrate and protect the skin with jojoba, sea buckthorn and raspberry. Raspberry seed oil is also where the brand drew its sharpest outside criticism. Regard sur les cosmétiques objected that the brand's website credited the oil with an SPF of 28 to 50, a claim the reviewers dismissed as having no real photoprotective basis and one that encourages people to use plain oils in place of sunscreen [9]. According to the company, its products are tested for SPF and UVA protection under the international standards ISO 24444 and ISO 24442, offering SPF 30, 50 and 50+ with broad-spectrum UVA/UVB coverage. The formulas are dermatologically tested and described as non-comedogenic, and the products are made in a laboratory certified to ISO 22716, the international standard for good manufacturing practice in cosmetics. The company also reports that a formula is rated 100 out of 100 on Yuka, a consumer app that scores product ingredients. No third-party certifications such as organic or vegan labels are documented. The Complément Solaire is a food supplement taken as a course before, during and after sun exposure. Its ingredients include selenium-enriched yeast and acerola extract, and the company recommends it only for adults. Midi12 says its topical products can be used by children over three, advising a high SPF and reapplication at least every two hours. ## Sustainability Marine safety is the brand's main environmental claim, and its figures have changed over time. The company's current commitments page states that its creams and fluids are more than 80 per cent biodegradable in seawater under the OECD 306 test method, and its sun oils more than 90 per cent [5]. Midi12's history pages, and at least one retailer, still describe the formulas as 95 per cent biodegradable [3]. The company also says its products have been tested as non-ecotoxic, meaning not harmful to aquatic organisms, on algae and crustaceans under ISO 10253 and ISO 14669. It further cites tests on cultured sea anemones carried out with IRCAN at Université Côte d'Azur. Packaging is the other focus. Midi12 says its bottles and supplement pill box contain at least 50 per cent recycled plastic (rPET) and are fully recyclable, and that it avoids double walls and overpackaging. The company explains that it chose lightweight plastic to reduce the carbon cost of transport. It acknowledges one trade-off: the sun oil uses a French-made spray pump that cannot be recycled and has to be separated from the bottle, whereas the Huile Sublime bottle has no metal pump so that it can be recycled in full. Shipping boxes are made of recycled cardboard printed with plant-based inks, and the brand says it works with nearby suppliers to limit transport emissions. A retailer profile also mentions a partnership with the FORMYPLANET association on climate awareness. ## Recognition The most detailed independent assessment of Midi12 is the 2021 laboratory review by Regard sur les cosmétiques. Despite its doubts about the raspberry seed oil claim, the site found the sun oil's actual protection convincing. Its in-vitro test measured an SPF of 57 and a UVA protection factor of 25. After two hours of exposure in a solar simulator, those values fell to 44 and 22, which the reviewers said still hovered close to the SPF 50 level. They judged the result "tout à fait honorable" (entirely respectable), noting that the oil came close to qualifying for an SPF 50+ label [9]. Their main reservation was the small 50 mL bottle. No awards are documented. ## Current status Midi12 is active. Its online shop was operating in 2026 with its range listed, and the brand continues to be carried by independent retailers. Its blog was regularly updated through 2025, with the latest dated posts from August of that year. Tracxn reported a team of three employees as of May 2026, reflecting the brand's position as a small, founder-led company. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2020 | MIDI12 trademark registered (2 Sept 2020) — business-registry data, low confidence | https://www.pappers.fr/entreprise/890705718 | | 2020 | Operating company SOLIBRI SAS registered in La Baule-Escoublac (4 Nov 2020), Aurélie Ribierre president — business-registry data, low confidence | https://www.pappers.fr/entreprise/890705718 | | 2021 | Regard sur les cosmétiques (15 June 2021) describes MIDI12 as a new sun-care range and publishes an in-vitro test of the Huile Solaire SPF50: SPF 57 and UVA-PF 25, falling to 44 and 22 after 2 hours of solar-simulator irradiation | https://www.regard-sur-les-cosmetiques.fr/nos-regards/midi-12-la-nouvelle-marque-de-solaires-qui-veut-faire-de-l-ombre-a-la-concurrence-1857/ | | 2025 | Blog post 'MIDI12 s'engage avec la campagne Février Lilas' (4 Feb 2025) | https://midi12.fr/blogs/proteger-peau-preserver-nature | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Huile Solaire SPF50** — Huile Solaire SPF50 (€45,00) — https://midi12.fr/ - **Stick Solaire Invisible SPF50+** — Stick Solaire Invisible SPF50+ (€21,00) — https://midi12.fr/ - **Crème Solaire Visage SPF50+** — Crème Solaire Visage SPF50+ (€26,00) — https://midi12.fr/ - **Fluide Solaire Protection SPF50** — Fluide Solaire Protection SPF50 (€31,00) — https://midi12.fr/ - **Complément Solaire** — Complément Solaire — https://midi12.fr/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} jojoba oil · sea buckthorn (argousier) · raspberry seed oil (framboise) · selenium-enriched yeast (sun supplement) · acerola extract (sun supplement) Source: https://midi12.fr/pages/questions-reponses ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Regard sur les cosmétiques** (2021) — Review of the new brand launched by La Baule resident Aurélie Ribierre (career at Labiomer and Guerlain). Criticises the brand site's mention of raspberry seed oil (SPF 28 to 50) as lacking real photoprotective value, but its in-vitro lab test of the SPF 50 sun oil (3 UV filters) measured SPF 57 / UVA-PF 25, judged 'tout à fait honorable'; notes the small 50 mL size. — https://www.regard-sur-les-cosmetiques.fr/nos-regards/midi-12-la-nouvelle-marque-de-solaires-qui-veut-faire-de-l-ombre-a-la-concurrence-1857/ ## Sources 3. (T2) https://midi12.fr/pages/notre-histoire 5. (T2) https://midi12.fr/pages/nos-engagements 8. (T2) https://midi12.fr/policies/legal-notice 9. (T3) https://www.regard-sur-les-cosmetiques.fr/nos-regards/midi-12-la-nouvelle-marque-de-solaires-qui-veut-faire-de-l-ombre-a-la-concurrence-1857/ 12. (T4) https://tracxn.com/d/companies/midi12/__rpFCSybt15l4jSliWA-xKJiet6h9leZ6mEBt8WCPeNQ 13. (T4) https://www.pappers.fr/entreprise/890705718 --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-01 Please cite with a link to the article URL.