From Legacy to Innovation: Inside the World of Ulé, with Founder Lindsay Azpitarte
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Lindsay Azpitarte spent nearly two decades working inside the beauty world’s biggest names—first Dior, then Shiseido—helping shape what luxury skincare looked and felt like. But over time, the questions from consumers began to change. People weren’t just asking what a product could do—they wanted to know how it was made, why certain ingredients were chosen, and whether sustainability was more than just a tagline. Those conversations stayed with her. And they became the foundation for Ulé.
What makes Ulé different isn’t just its commitment to sustainability or its use of vertical farming (though both are impressive). It’s how Lindsay Azpitarte has managed to build something quietly radical inside a major beauty group—working within the system, but gently reimagining it. With the backing of Shiseido, Lindsay pitched and created a brand that challenges the way things have always been done, while still benefiting from the company’s deep R&D and expertise. It’s an unusual kind of beauty startup: agile, science-driven, but grounded in the infrastructure of a legacy house.
In this interview, Lindsay Azpitarte walks us through the making of Ulé—how it started, what drives its innovation, and what’s coming next.
Your journey from Dior to Shiseido spans two decades at the forefront of luxury beauty. At what moment did you realize that the industry needed a brand like Ulé?
The consumer was –and still is—becoming more savvy and much more curious about the products they are buying. Like any person in the beauty industry, I saw so many red flags from consumers questioning how products were being developed. From sustainable packaging to how ingredients are sourced, there were so many issues to tackle. I think my main driver was traceability and transparency, because there was no one right way to develop a product, but there was a lot to be said about how brands were openly conversing with their consumer about their choices. This can be done without building a brand from scratch, but legacy brands, such as Dior or Shiseido, cannot shift their branding and tone-of-voice overnight. I wanted to make a mark on sustainable innovation, that also worked in terms of performance and knew that doing that through a new brand would give me more flexibility, while benefiting from the support, infrastructure and expertise of the group Shiseido.
You pitched Ulé as an intrapreneurial venture within Shiseido—an ambitious move in a corporate setting. What were the biggest challenges in convincing leadership to invest in such a radically new concept?
I was very fortunate to have a mentor at the top of the company, Mr. Uotani. At the time, as President and CEO of Shiseido Group, he made innovation a key driver withing the group. The motto “Beauty Innovations for a Better World” comes from his leadership era. He always placed the consumer at the heart of every discussion I personally witnessed from him—the best innovation coming from local insights. So, when I came up with the idea of Ulé, I took the opportunity to very briefly pitch the topic to him at the end of a short meeting while he was in Paris at the EMEA headquarters. Mr. Uotani instantly saw the value in the project—far beyond the idea, he was interested in local market collaborators, such as myself, innovating within the company. That being said…once the overall idea was validated, the challenges were more operational. Building a brand from scratch requires agility, risk-taking and a passionate team.
Growing up in the U.S. and later immersing yourself in French beauty culture, how has your bi-cultural background shaped your vision for Ulé?
I moved to France right after I graduated from college in New York. I started my career in France. Growing up in the United States and as an American, my view of what beauty stands for is probably a mix between the two cultures. I love the natural side of French beauty ideals, nothing is overdone; nothing should feel complicated about your beauty. However, Americans have a go- getter, pragmatic approach to life and beauty that stuck with me. For me, skincare needs to be pleasurable and respectful (French side) but it better be super-efficient and help to improve my overall health (US side). I think the sustainable aspect of the brand is rooted in my European culture.
The name Ulé stems from the Greek hyle, meaning “essence of all matter.” What does this philosophical foundation mean to you, and how does it manifest in the brand’s DNA?
Without realizing it, this name, which at the start was our code name, stems from values that I learned working in a Japanese company. The idea behind Ulé is that we, as humans, are all interconnected to each other, and to our surroundings. This makes us stronger but also speaks of the negative impact we can have on the environment; it’s a fragile ecosystem, and beautiful at the same time. Ulé is expressing the importance of this interconnection through formulas rooted and nature and very intentional choices in terms of ingredient and packaging sourcing.
Many brands claim sustainability, but Ulé has built it into every stage—from ingredient sourcing to packaging. What guiding principles ensure that sustainability remains a non-negotiable, rather than a marketing tool?
Again, there is no right or wrong answer. The initial mistake I made was trying to get everything perfect. For example, I studied refillable packaging. For refillable packaging to have a positive impact on carbon footprint, a consumer must purchase the recharge at least 4-5 times. This is an average estimate coming from a sustainable company I worked with who observed that most refillable packaging comes in bigger, heavier packaging that contains it. So, not knowing the potential success of my brand nor the loyalty of my future consumers, I went for super lightweight packaging. That doesn’t mean other brands got it wrong. To me, it’s important to know why you made your specific choices, to speak clearly to the end consumers about them, and stick with it!
Ulé embraces slow beauty, a counterpoint to the industry’s obsession with fast innovation. How do you reconcile deep scientific research with the pressure for constant novelty?
We launched a lot of products to begin with, and since then, we’ve launched about two products per year. There are several reasons for this. First, the market demands it. New products get attention from consumers, the press and retailers love putting it forward. That means you build your brand awareness. Secondly, when you create a brand, you quickly learn about who your consumer is and what he/she is expecting. You're tempted to make a product that works for them. I’m lucky to be developing products within Shiseido, and benefit from their amazing R&D teams. There is a lot of innovation waiting to fit into products across the group, so I can innovate at a quicker rate while remaining scientifically innovative.
Ulé is the first skincare brand in Europe to harness vertical farming for cosmetic ingredients. What was the turning point that convinced you this was the future of skincare?
I brought in a couple of experts, an industry trend-watcher, a chemist/formulator, and a botanist. I asked what solutions could be found to use natural ingredients that matched the same level of efficacy as synthetic ones. Having studied urbanism and architecture in college, I already knew about vertical farming and loved the sustainable aspects of it (local production, use of less space, not taking up farmland, etc.). Thanks to my dream team, we discovered the potential in terms of potency and production that plants could have thanks to vertical farming. You’re basically creating a perfectly controlled environment for your plants to grow in, so you’re guaranteeing consistency in quality while getting the most out of your plants in terms of specific molecules you are looking for. That seems futuristic to me! Not to mention issues we are all currently facing with supply chain, due to climate change. Vertical farming is not influenced by weather.
Compared to traditional ingredient sourcing, what are the most unexpected advantages you’ve discovered through vertical farming? And what were the biggest technological hurdles to overcome?
Ingredient potency. I didn’t realize how much you could coax a plant into bringing out molecules of interest—I find that fascinating. We worked with the Agricultural division of the University of Orléans and were able to research each plant we produced under specific conditions. The biggest challenge is without a doubt the cost. It’s not the machinery but the people needed to grow the plants, harvest them, monitor them, that costs the most. Vertical farming works either with very exotic plants on the market (evening out the cost due to such a supply shortage from nature) or in massive amounts (which is not our case, yet!). The pharmaceutical industry is an interesting candidate for vertical farming. They produce a lot and need to count on a constant supply chain.
Your proprietary Pure 3otany™ Extract has been clinically shown to enhance collagen production and cellular renewal. Can you take us inside the lab—what makes this blend uniquely potent?
My botanist and R&D team at Shiseido helped me with this one. My idea was to create a blend of ingredients that tackled age prevention. I wanted ingredients that would fight the formation of free radicals (antioxidants), help stimulate collagen production (which starts to naturally decline in skin at 25 years old). They added cellular protection to the list, in other words, keeping cells healthy enabling a better renewal process. We came up with three adaptogen plants, each targeted one of these three criteria, and blended them together—It’s for sure a bit more complex than that, but you get the gist of it.
In an era where efficacy often trumps experience, Ulé remains deeply rooted in sensoriality. Why was it important to craft products that are as indulgent as they are high-performance?
I believe there's no reason why you can't have both. Many brands focus on clinical textures to emphasize effectiveness, but my French heritage has instilled in me the importance of sensorial appeal. It is entirely possible to integrate both elements into a single formula. Skincare is not only about potent active ingredients; it’s also about promoting well-being, which, as we know, has a direct impact on overall health, including stress reduction and other benefits.
The modern beauty consumer is more informed and skeptical than ever. How do you strike the right balance between clinical proof and emotional connection?
When I launched Ulé, I realized that transparency isn’t enough, being conscious isn’t enough. So, more of our communication focuses not only on the brand essences and lifestyle side, but more so on our biotechnology, end benefits and clinical results. Coming from Shiseido, I’m fortunate to have tons of test results to share with a large group of consumers (in the case of in-use). In our communication, we accentuate the essence and values of Ulé.
Ulé has adopted blockchain technology for ingredient traceability. How do you see digital transparency reshaping consumer trust in beauty?
I think it will be easier to manage beauty brands with AI. Even 4 years ago, it was a difficult task to set up blockchain and I see it’s getting easier. It will be a no-brainer in the next several years for all beauty brands. However, as any trend becomes mainstream, perhaps consumer trust will decline to that level if everyone is promoting transparency, so it is our job to educate our communities on what we mean by that and how it works.
As an intrapreneur within a major beauty group, you’ve had to balance startup agility with corporate structure. What leadership lessons have you learned in this process?
This is one of my favorite questions—I could go on for a while about this. Here are some highlights.
++ Bring people into the project early on. Don’t keep it a safe-guarded secret. Make people part of your project from day 1. That will be important as you develop your brand and rely on internal departments to make it happen.
++ Set up some basic rules of process and make sure the top management agrees to them and cascades them down to all employees working on your project. Believe me, you will need to do things differently, and for that, rules and procedures will have to change for that to happen.
++ Build a test & learn approach to your launch. Do not go too fast, even if you can thanks to group backing. You will make mistakes and will need to learn from them and correct them before scaling up.
The beauty industry is in a state of flux, with technology, sustainability, and wellness reshaping consumer expectations. What do you believe will define the next decade of luxury skincare?
Technology for sure. We are going through a huge revolution with AI and there are so many opportunities in user experience, product efficacy, sustainability, that relate to that. Sustainability will be key, but it is not necessarily the key driver for purchasing a product; it needs to be seamlessly integrated into your product and experiences. Wellness is a shift towards a more holistic approach to beauty, but that can be interpreted in so many ways (inner beauty, fitness, mindfulness). I’m not sure which aspect of it will boom specifically, but wellness is here to stay. And of course, a shift from the classic view of wellness to actual health as the end goal really being more integrated into routines.
Can you share any upcoming innovations, formulations, or unexpected pivots on the horizon for Ulé
Yes, our new day cream with SPF 30 launches this March! Great skincare activities (including our Pure Botany Extract) and UVA / UVB (SPF 30) and blue light protection. The best part of our product, guess what, is its texture! We have amazing clinical results on skin hydration and in-use results on instant glowy skin and improved skin texture. As for R&D, we’re focusing on continuing to improve our plants, because we can go even further, and are exploring new plants and news ways to create extracts. That’s all I’ll say about that for now!
If there’s one lasting impact, you hope to make in beauty—through Ulé or beyond—what would it be?
From a B-to-B standpoint, I hope people see the value in creating from within a company. There is so much potential when it comes to intrapreneurship. Of course, creating your own company is also very enticing and fulfilling, but there is a middle-ground that I find so enriching for both the company and the individual and team leading the project. Innovation, changing ways of working, creating a network of start-ups and global companies that develop projects together—you can make such an impact by developing a ‘start-up’ within a larger company. I hope to inspire other people in my industry and beyond to do that. And nobody asked me to do it, so just go out there and talk to your company about your project/idea if you have one. What do you have to lose?
