Founded by Gabriel De Santino in 1992, Gabriel Cosmetics Inc. originated as a botanical skincare company drawing on Gabriel’s personal influences and childhood experiences of homeopathic skincare and cosmetics. Today, the brand has vastly grown into a beauty empire with the addition of Gabriel, Zuzu Luxe, and Clean Kids Naturally, making up a diverse collection of cosmetics and children’s skincare products to join the existing Gabriel Organics Skincare.
Gabriel Cosmetics Inc. started with a vision of natural beauty and has evolved with the philosophy of sustainable individual natural beauty while continuing to advocate healthy living. This philosophy is translated through their organic skincare and vegan and gluten-free cosmetics, both collections created to bring out a woman’s natural existing beauty.
Gabriel De Santino is the founder and CEO of Gabriel Cosmetics, Inc., a global natural beauty empire whose brands include Gabriel, Zuzu Luxe, and Clean Kids Naturally.
Born from Latin descent and raised off the coast of Mexico, Gabriel at an early age was naturally drawn to the coastal life and heavily influenced by his grandmother’s holistic practices. Playing freely in the water and strolling the beaches, he developed a strong connection to the ocean and saw a greater purpose for its natural healing properties- something young boys don’t often take notice of. Even then he was a thought leader and as a wide-eyed adolescent, sought after the opportunity and experience he’d need to become a successful entrepreneur.
At the age of 18, Gabriel moved to the Seattle, Washington area where he kept the water close and the sky the limit. He knew the Pacific Northwest had a rising fashion and beauty scene and joined the movement at a local beauty counter. It was there that Gabriel fell in love with makeup, but was also inspired to look past the made-up face. He soon secured a position at a salon & spa to learn more about the industry and how he may change it. After attending aesthetician school, he quickly discovered he wanted to first correct the skin before covering it up, a mantra he still practices today. As an aesthetician, he struggled with the fact that women were using toxic products on their skin, and given his background as a naturopath and familiarity with sea botanicals, his calling was loud and clear.
In 1992, he solicited the moral and financial support of his friends and family and started Gabriel Organics, a complete line of all natural, vegan, gluten-free and cruelty-free skincare products made with seaweed as its hero ingredient. However, he realized that although women were now able to naturally clean and heal their skin, they were continuing to cover it up with toxic makeup.
In 1994, Gabriel created his first makeup line, Gabriel Color which was designed to be mistake proof. Each shade of eyeshadow, lip gloss, lipstick, lip liner, etc. was carefully curated so that even a beauty novice couldn’t blunder. Each goes with the other in a wardrobe of soft muted tones to bring out the natural beauty. Gabriel has always said, “It’s about correcting, not covering up,” and his products spoke to that in the 90’s and still do today, even decades later. It’s his Secret to Mistake Proof Beauty.
Gabriel’s makeup and skincare brands solved a problem within the marketplace by providing women affordable and results driven skincare and makeup. However, with the birth of his first niece, he wanted to provide moms with a healthy personal care solution for their kids. His empire was growing and there was no stopping it. Clean Kids Naturally joined the brand portfolio in 1996 to better round out Gabriel’s portfolio of better-for-you products.
Gabriel had more secrets to tell and healthy products to share. He wanted to engage with a younger demographic and compete with brands that while offering bright, bold colors, weren’t natural. So, in 2001 he created Zuzu Luxe, a complete line of makeup that was also vegan, gluten-free, cruelty free and natural. This was his ammunition to bring the fight for green beauty to the masses. His Eco Chic Warriors became beautiful, courageous, loyal advocates for vegan beauty and Zuzu Luxe became their definition.
At this time, what was once a small health food store out of Austin, TX was growing into a notable chain across the country and Gabriel wanted to be a part of it. In 1994, Gabriel Organics and Gabriel Color were picked up by Whole Foods Markets in the Southern California region and were quickly catching the attention of like-minded retailers. Two years later, Clean Kids Naturally was on the shelves followed by Zuzu Luxe shortly after its launch in 2001. Today, Gabriel’s brands are sold at 400 Whole Foods Markets and at over 4,000 retailers including e-commerce partners such as Target.com, Costco.com, Amazon.com, to name a few, and international distributors in Canada and South Korea.
Gabriel Cosmetic’s Inc.’s prestige and diverse brand portfolio was created out of one man’s vision of clearly defining natural beauty and being able to provide affordable and accessible vegan beauty products to consumers worldwide. In 2017, Gabriel Color evolved into the “Gabriel” brand with Gabriel Organics to fall under its umbrella in 2018 as “Gabriel Skincare.” Gabriel Cosmetics, Inc. is headquartered in its original area of Redmond, Washington with over 25 employees and its fearless leader, Gabriel De Santino leading the charge every step of the way.
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Phone: 1-800-497-6419
Email: info@gabrielcosmeticsinc.com
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