Frais Luxury Products is an Australian beauty brand based in Coogee Beach near Sydney that produces natural cosmetic products without common toxic or petrochemical ingredients. American Robert Main and Australian Michael Davis-Smith were inspired to found the brand during a 2007 trip to Cambodia to fill a gap in the hand sanitizer market, at the time consisting of only harsh utilitarian products. Frais launched its second product, all-natural towelettes in 2010.
Frais launched its first product, Frais Hand Sanitizer, at trendsetter STUDIO at Fred Segal (now Studio BeautyMix) in Santa Monica, California in April 2008; in the UK at CultBeauty.co.uk in March 2009; in the Netherlands at Skins Cosmetics in November 2009, and at TSUM in Russia in October 2010. Frais Hand Sanitizer debuted on television in the USA on 25 February 2010 with two Home Shopping Network shows presented by HSN veteran Vonabell Sherman.
Frais Hand Sanitizer was designed to steer clear of any unnatural ingredients and contains a formula of 66% sugarcane alcohol which according to the US FDA kills 99.9% of germs on contact. Sugarcane alcohol is much more environmentally friendly than corn or petrochemical alcohol and only requires one quarter of the energy to produce than corn alcohol. The sanitizer contains a unique Australian blend of essential oils called Les Huit including cardamom, ginger, basil, lemon myrtle, orange, niaouli, tangerine, and grapefruit. Essential oils have beneficial effects on the body and mind according to herbalism and traditional medicine.
The company's second product, Frais Towelettes, are unusual in the cosmetics market as they contain none of the petrochemical and synthetic ingredients used commonly in market leaders like Dove, Ponds, Olay, Neutrogena and Garnier. However, this follows a Green trend in the cosmetics market away from unnatural and unsustainable ingredients such as synthetic or genetically modified ingredients, petrochemicals or parabens, toward ingredients from plants, natural salts, and natural sugars. Despite this, beauty magazines report the towelettes are still effective at even removing waterproof mascara, and the products have been approved by dermatologists and ophthalmologists. Many scientists question why synthetic ingredients are even necessary in cosmetics.
Like similar cosmetics companies, Frais also offers a parallel line of products for office-places, events, airline amenities, hotel amenities and cruise lines.
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