Born and raised on the North Shore of Kauai, actor and entrepreneur Malea Rose grew up surrounded by the power of organic ingredients and natural remedies. Watching her mother make her own skincare elixirs and products instilled in her a deep appreciation for organic ingredients — and after her own struggles with skin, she decided to share all she knew with the world.
As an actor, Rose faced long days in makeup chairs, Los Angeles’ pollution, and a busy travel schedule, all of which resulted in skin conditions she had never previously dealt with. After various attempts to counter dryness, allergic reactions, and hyperpigmentation, she realized that nothing on the market would work. And if nothing out there worked, she had to make her own.
Combining her own experiences with her skin, and with the science-backed knowledge gained from her mother, Rose founded Vie En Rose, a clean, vegan, cruelty-free beauty brand focused on luxury, sustainably sourced ingredients. She spent over two years developing the products, trademarking the exclusive formula Cannarose and developing the range. Now adored by the likes of Sydney Sweeney, Paris Hilton, and Connie Britton, the brand is only growing from here.
Congratulations on the success of Vie En Rose! When and how did you start?
It’s a little grey to say when the company actually became a business as opposed to a hobby. Never in my wildest imagination did I think this would be a pivot I would make at this point in my life. I started trademarking in probably 2019 and formulated for two years because I’m an absolute perfectionist and truly set out to cure my own skin issues so I wasn’t going to launch anything that wasn’t the best I’ve ever used but I am so happy that I did. in 2021 I was still executive producing a rather large TV show – however being in “soft launch” mode. In fact, I’ve never really had a proper launch come to think about it. I was terrified to go into business, realizing I had no idea what I was doing and overwhelmed, and my website was live and collecting analytics and I got a few organic sales and that’s how I went into business. There’s a saying if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life and damn do I believe that’s the truth. Sometimes you just gotta do it. I was fortunate that during the pandemic, a little unknown show I got to sponsors actresses, which turned into the White Lotus, and really helped me establish my brand in the celebrity skincare world and get it on some of the most beautiful, talented, incredible faces. My most official launch today is my amazing collaboration and partnership with FabFitFun. It has been such an exciting ride to work with such an incredible company and I just got to launch my third product, the Ash and Smoke Creamy Charcoal Cleanser exclusively through them. It’s such a pinch yourself moment and as an entrepreneur, I realize it’s no different than any other business. It’s not always about the destination and you have to enjoy the journey of getting there and celebrate all the tiny victories. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself crazy.
Did you always know that you wanted to have a skincare brand?
Never in my wildest dreams! Are you kidding? I thought I’d be going into the hair and make-up chair for the rest of my life, getting to just be creative. It’s a very specific life, and it gives you so many rich skills to incorporate in every step of your never-ending evolution as a human in business or personally. I was a theatre kid growing up and was in the theatre from the time I could basically talk. I was obsessed with Broadway, and I lived in Hawaii and had terrible sun damage from surfing. Then I came out here when I was 16 and attended Chapman University and was a theatre major. Then I booked a small role in a movie, a very bad one, and that was it. I never imagined myself working in any other industry but entertainment. My family and I have always been very into organic foods and my mom was always very ahead of her time and made a lot of her own organic skin care for my sister and I and herself, so it’s always been a passion and a hobby. Especially the holistic element of it all because I am such an earthy human at the end of the day. I’m your perfect mixture of studio 54 glitter star flower child. What’s kind of beautiful is all the possibilities in the unknown. I felt I had reached a point in my career where sadly in my personal opinion I realized the system in Hollywood is broken as much as we try to fix it. So, in trying to cure my own skin issues this magical beautiful accident happened called Vie En Rose. I get to heal people, empower aging and timeless classic beauty. It’s such a wonderful industry where if done with responsibility you can make other people feel really good about themselves. I love that. I love to heal, I love nerding out about clean ingredients. Also, people can’t believe I didn’t use a Hawaiian name for my company, it could have felt right, but Vie En Rose encapsulates how I want to live my life – and I’m building a brand that I want to have longevity and consciousness.
What inspired you to transition from your successful career in the entertainment industry to become a CEO?
Working with my fair share of a**holes. No matter what my role was as an actress, a writer, an executive producer – no matter how hard I worked up the ladder, no one ever wanted to let me feel like I’ve earned it myself with my hard work and my Merritt. This is a town that’s really tough to women. It’s very sad especially women as they age. Goodness. But no matter how hard I worked I kept saying once I’m there I’m going to feel better and every opportunity I created or signed onto I worked with chauvinistic bullies. People who don’t believe you need to pay on time just very basic simple humanity that’s missing in Hollywood. Truthfully, my heads been down, working so hard doing so much for this business it was such an organic evolution becoming a CEO, but I didn’t even notice it was happening. Like I said, a beautiful mistake to truly heal myself.
What’s your favourite thing about being an entrepreneur in the beauty industry?
Working with wonderful people who care about the world. I have such an eclectic group of people around me. I get to have conversations with Globetrotters and fearless entrepreneurs. My graphic designer is in Serbia, and she’s been with me since day one and she truly just speaks my language, I get to work with people who are virtuous and be the boss that I always wish that I had had. The beauty industry is flawed on its own I think a lot of people do not take the responsibility needed when they have big platforms, and the world has gone plastic surgery crazy. I’m super grateful I didn’t grow up on the filters. Beauty is about how you feel not how you look. You have to fix you on the inside before you can truly blossom into your most beautiful self, I think. I also am a clean beauty fanatic so it makes me really happy to bring to the market such clean incredible ingredients because we absorb 60% of what we put on our bodies and we have only one body for this whole life of ours.
Could you elaborate on the unique ingredients used in Vie En Rose skincare, such as CBD and Cannarose, and how they contribute to the brand’s DNA?
I think it’s very important in entrepreneurship, and being a good CEO that you cannot get too married to your original ideas and be open and grow. CBD for my skin cured my rashes, blemishes, and bumps that I was getting repeatedly. It has the highest anti-inflammatory properties for a skincare ingredient. Inflammation of the skin is what causes acne, psoriasis, rosacea, and all sorts of unpleasant things. I think CBD is an actual salute miracle ingredient, and it makes me really sad that the government won’t properly classify it or do proper clinical trials, especially when marijuana is so heavily debated as being such a healing plant in so many ways for so many diseases. This was never meant to be a CBD company. I just formulated the best ingredients that science and nature had to offer. My new cleanser the Ash +Smoke creamy charcoal cleanser, doesn’t have CBD in it because I don’t need to charge my customers when you’re just washing it off your face. I like to be very transparent and authentic with my customers and it’s made all the difference through my journey of learning to build a company. Attention to detail and the little things matter a lot.
How has your experience in the entertainment industry influenced your approach to skincare and entrepreneurship?
At the end of the day, everything’s a business, everything is about relating to an audience, or consumer, and everything is about storytelling. My experience in the entertainment industry has taught me how to speak eloquently, to conduct myself in meetings, to have pitches — they’re different, but they’re all the same. In building a brand, my creative brain from being a creator and a writer was set to life in pink and I got to build an entire universe that is vie en rose, the shade of pink, the companies’ virtues, the voice. There is so much that goes into this. Every little last detail you cannot mess up in the beauty industry, and it’s the same in Hollywood. My connections have also been incredibly supportive from the access that I have I’ve been able to create the most incredible celebrity cult following but all of my customers are amazing and special to me. I’ve built relationships and friendships on Instagram through sharing skin stories and confidence stories. Vie En Rose has become a really beautiful loving community. It’s exciting. I look at this like I’m making a movie and I want my audience to have all the feels. I also love my lack of proper business education, because it gives me the freedom to be a more rogue, outside the box thinker in a lot of ways. Right now, I’m building out a 3D storefront and holograms of my products with a cool tech Web3D company I consult for called Real AF. I’m always looking for innovative ideas and collabs.
We’re intrigued by your new product, the Vie En Rose Ash and Smoke Creamy Charcoal Cleanser. What sets it apart from other cleansers on the market, and how does it benefit the skin?
It is honestly the best cleanser I’ve ever used in my entire life. I have been religiously using it for two years. It was my first formulation. I actually signed off on it completely because it was perfect from day one. My ingredients are on another level, there’s no other skin care cleanser on the market that has ingredients like this. The activated charcoal is so incredible because it goes deep into the pores and detoxifies which usually has a negative affect sometimes because it can strip the skin of its natural oils. But I added incredible anti-aging and anti-inflammatory ingredients like rose stem cell that boost, collagen, Swiss glacier water that’s actually from the Himalayan mountains, coconut water, rosewater, and 30 botanicals so you’re detoxifying your skin deep within while also deeply hydrating it, leaving your skin, so smooth support, clean and healthy and radiant. And it truly works for all skin types and is gentle enough to go up to the eyes, while also removing waterproof makeup. It’s truly the only cleanser you’ll never cheat on. Launching the Ash and Smoke Creamy Charcoal Cleanser through FabFitFun has been an absolute dream and watching everyone’s reaction to the product has been one of the most rewarding feelings as a founder and CEO.
Many celebrities seem to have your products as staples in their beauty bag. What’s the first product you would recommend for new customers?
My favourite product of all time is my mist – I’m not gonna say I don’t love them all, but the mist is my go-to all day every day. I have it on the go in my purse, travel size on top of make up when I wake up in the morning, and after I wash my face. I have it on every surface in my house, in my car, and in my purse. There’s no other product like this on the market with ingredients jam-packed into a mist. My first ingredient is organic aloe, which speaks volumes upon the pureness and consciousness of my ingredients, CBD isolate absorbs quickly and soothes the skin immediately for sensitive skin on the goal immediately giving you a radiant complexion. I also really love this product and basically all of my line so far because they are three products that you can work in your pre-existing skin care routine and still get amazing benefits without having to switch your whole routine. My products are clean and cruelty, free, and give you instant results. My cleanser is being called the pore eraser – do you know how awesome that is for a skincare nerd!
For our readers who are new to Vie En Rose, what would you say is the brand’s mission and what makes it a must-try?
The brand’s mission is to bring clean luxury, which has been consciously sourced and meticulously formulated with the purest ingredients to your home. I have never had one customer, or one person use my products who has not come back for more. Connie Britton literally wouldn’t leave town recently without my Love Potion Beauty oil she’s been using since season 1 of The White Lotus… she’s a goddess. Vie En Rose is an absolute must try because we deliver results, and my products are cleaner than most of the things you’ll find at Whole Foods. Plus, we stand for good morals and values and empowering women and children, minorities, and humankind.
Are there any upcoming product launches or developments that our readers should be excited about?
The Ash and Smoke Creamy Charcoal literally just launched this last month. It’s live on my website now go get it, get the whole line. You will literally see your skin transform in a matter of days. If you have sensitive, dehydrated, acne, prone skin — get these products. Before I created my line, I literally thought there was nothing that would ever cure my dehydration. And now my face is hydrated all day no matter what, especially with my secret weapon, the Mile High Mist.
I’m also launching in India, which is huge and so exciting to be a part of the largest growing skincare market in the world. I feel like there’s so much responsibility and excitement that goes into reinventing the wheel of beauty in a whole new country. I have a partnership with the 1st official American Luxury retailer in India called MorLuxury – it’s all very exciting! Also, India celebrates CBD as a medicinal plant as opposed to the USA classifying it by opioids… don’t even get me started! Vie En Rose is going international!