Pier Augé

Pier Augé is a French dermo-cosmetic skincare brand founded in Paris in 1961 [2]. It was established by the pharmacist Pierre-Jules Augé on the premise that skin behaves like a formula that can be understood and reproduced — a conviction summed up in his line, "since the skin is a formula, it must be possible to reproduce it." The company builds its range around a signature ingredient it calls HP-DNA, a highly purified form of PDRN, and positions itself in the tradition of French pharmacy skincare.

After more than sixty years of history, the brand entered a period of change. Its owner, B. Cosmétique, was liquidated in November 2023, and Pier Augé re-emerged in 2025 with new financial backing and a phased online relaunch across the United States and Europe [5]. It is currently active and rebuilding its presence.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

The brand traces its beginning to 1961, when Pierre-Jules Augé, a French pharmacist and biologist, started it in Paris [2]. According to the editorial magazine Kodd, the venture grew out of a personal problem: Augé created his first formulas to address his wife's sensitive skin [6]. Sources agree on the surname Augé and on a French pharmacist founding the brand in 1961; the founder's given name is recorded as Pierre-Jules Augé on the company's own about page, while trade and editorial coverage renders it more simply as Pierre Jules Augé [5][6].

An early expression of this work was a method the brand calls Base Dergyl, described as a formula built to mirror the composition of skin itself — its proteins, lipids, hydration and vitamins. From the outset the company framed skincare as a scientific problem rather than a cosmetic one, an approach it still uses to define itself.

Pier Augé's timeline runs through several decades of French skincare. Its first product was the ENTAL repair cream, aimed at sensitive skin. In 1965 the brand worked with Miss France, and in 1967 it says it opened France's first salon offering tailor-made beauty treatments.

The most consequential step came at the end of the 1970s. The company states it introduced HP-DNA — a highly purified DNA derived from wild salmon — to skincare in 1979, and that the ingredient soon became its signature [2][5]. Kodd Magazine dates the first use of this DNA-HP to 1982 rather than 1979 [6]; the brand's own account and trade coverage place the pioneering work around 1979. The same period included a partnership with the fashion house Guy Laroche. In 1988 the company added a technology it calls Cryo-Restructure, which it describes as a way to improve how active ingredients penetrate the skin. In 1999 it launched the Douce Aura mask, which it presents as a long-running bestseller.

Pier Augé's ownership has shifted markedly in recent years. From 2020 the brand was owned by B. Cosmétique, a company founded by Charles Dupont and Diane de Comte [5]. B. Cosmétique was liquidated in November 2023 [5]. Following that, the brand relaunched with the financial support of an international group that trade press did not name, and it is described as operating independently under General Manager Marie Delporte.

The brand's positioning rests on the idea that skin holds a kind of biological memory and can repair itself when its own formula is respected. Rather than fighting the aging process, the company says its approach "focuses on support rather than opposition," working with the skin's DNA to restore what it calls the skin's original balance. Its stated values center on pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic expertise, collaboration with dermatology and biotechnology specialists, and high tolerance for sensitive skin. The brand summarizes this in its tagline, "skin, our profession, our passion since 1961."

Pier Augé is made in France and, per editorial coverage, distributed through pharmacies, beauty salons and perfumeries [6] — a channel mix characteristic of the French-pharmacy tradition it is associated with.

The range spans makeup removers, cleansers, tonics, anti-aging creams, masks, eye and lip care, sun care and serums. Its defining ingredient is HP-DNA, the purified PDRN extracted from wild salmon; the company describes it as "98% similar to human DNA" and credits it with cellular regeneration and skin restoration [2]. On its science page the brand lists claimed benefits including deep hydration, protection of cellular DNA and overall regeneration. These are the company's own descriptions rather than independent findings.

Alongside HP-DNA, the brand works with peptides — its Complétude cream pairs DNA-HP with an ingredient it calls Peptide 4. Named products include the Douce Aura resourcing mask, presented as a bestseller since 1999, the Sculpt A anti-aging serum, and the founding ENTAL cream. More recently the company announced a new PDRN serum, framing the ingredient in the context of its wider popularity in K-beauty.

Pier Augé's identity is closely tied to PDRN, a salmon-derived active it adopted decades before the ingredient became widely discussed in skincare. The brand attributes its formulas to collaboration with dermatology and biotechnology experts, and points to proprietary methods — Base Dergyl, the HP-DNA complex, and the 1988 Cryo-Restructure technology — as the technical basis of its range. Manufacturing has moved over the brand's history: production was historically based in Châteauroux, France, and is currently carried out in Switzerland through a partnership with CRB, part of the Intercos Group, with a stated long-term goal of returning manufacturing to France [5].

Pier Augé is active. After its previous owner's liquidation in late 2023, the brand relaunched in 2025, opening an e-shop in the United States before extending online sales to France and the wider European market. Trade coverage reports an omnichannel strategy combining online sales, selective physical distribution and social-media activity, alongside a Parisian flagship store planned for 2026 [5]. As of that relaunch it is managed by General Manager Marie Delporte and backed financially by an unnamed international group.