For Stéphane Chambran, bathing isn’t simply routine—it’s an ancient, sacred ritual deserving our full attention. After spending two decades at the helm of fragrance, skincare, and makeup brands within L’Oréal Luxe, Chambran felt compelled to elevate the overlooked practice of bathing into something transformative.

Enter Mircea, his visionary brand (now officially available at Sage + Sound) at the intersection of beauty, wellness, and thoughtful design. With scents like their best-selling “Fig Tree & Peppermint,” Mircea creates sensory-rich experiences designed to ground and renew. 

In this conversation for The Tea, Chambran dives deep into the meaningful connections between daily bathing rituals and emotional wellness, the power of pure, natural essential oils, and why sustainability isn’t just an afterthought—it’s foundational. Read on for insights from a founder passionate about reclaiming our oldest self-care practice and redefining what it means to bathe beautifully.

What inspired the creation of Mircea, and how does the brand’s name reflect its mission?

I spent 20 years in the beauty industry, leading perfume, skincare, and makeup brands at L’Oréal Luxe. It was a wonderful experience, but I always felt that bathing, the ritual at the heart of these beauty categories, was undervalued and overlooked. Bathing has always seemed foundational to me—our most essential and ancient self-care ritual—and yet it consistently played a secondary role in the beauty landscape. I wanted to elevate it, to place it at the forefront by offering exceptional quality and true luxury.

Bathing is one of humanity’s oldest rituals. Our bodies have remained fundamentally unchanged for at least 100,000 years, and bathing has held a central place across every culture and region. Yet our modern understanding, influenced by recent inventions like running water (only widespread since the 1950s) and the shower (invented in the 19th century in a French prison), has reduced bathing to merely a hygienic task. Historically, bathing was always about renewal, a meaningful moment to prepare both body and mind for the day. My goal was to restore dignity and quality to this ritual through superior essential oils, carefully curated fragrances, luxurious textures, and thoughtfully designed packaging.

Mircea truly reflects this mission in multiple ways, and I’m delighted you asked this question. The brand is named after Mircea Eliade, the renowned historian of the sacred—I highly recommend reading his book “The Sacred and the Profane,” which profoundly influenced my understanding of rituals and mythology, including those surrounding bathing. Additionally, I discovered that “Mircea” derives from the Slavic root “Mir,” meaning not only “peace,” but also “world” and “cosmos.” It beautifully encapsulates what bathing should be: a serene, sensorial moment suspended between our social and professional lives—a moment dedicated entirely to peace and renewal.

How does Mircea define the relationship between beauty and wellness in its product development?

Mircea exists at the intersection of beauty, wellness, and design. Currently, we focus exclusively on body washes, emphasizing a sensory-rich experience through sophisticated scents and luxurious foam. After spending many years in the beauty industry, I wanted to avoid common marketing tactics, particularly the trend of including active ingredients at minimal concentrations—especially in rinse-off products, where their effectiveness is limited.

Instead, Mircea’s difference lies in the high concentration, exceptional purity, and superior quality of our essential oils. These oils are thoughtfully crafted—some ingredients co-distilled with vetiver, others torrefied—resulting in complex, multi-layered fragrances that smell truly divine. Embracing a “less is more” philosophy, we have eliminated sulfates, phthalates, parabens, and other unnecessary additives. The result is an exceptionally clean, rich, and creamy lather that leaves skin feeling silky-soft and thoroughly nourished.

Design is equally important in creating an immersive bathing experience. With that in mind, we designed a minimalist, endlessly refillable glass bottle. The bathroom environment matters, and no one needs barcodes or flashy marketing claims there. Returning to glass packaging mirrors historical beauty rituals—after all, beauty products have traditionally been housed in materials like glass, alabaster, and marble. Our design ethos reconnects with this timeless tradition in a contemporary, intentional way.

Are there specific cultural or traditional bathing rituals that influenced Mircea’s product formulations?

Bathing in nature: Since the beginning of time, we’ve immersed ourselves in lakes, rivers, mountains, and forests. Mircea evokes this timeless ritual—creating a poetic, transformative experience that deeply renews the self. That’s why we’ve invested in the purest, highest-quality essential oils, creating fragrances so nuanced and alive, you feel fully surrounded by nature.

What criteria does Mircea use to select its essential oils and other ingredients to ensure they promote both physical and emotional well-being?

Our perfumes are 100% natural, crafted without compromise to deliver an extraordinary olfactory experience, much like fine niche fragrances. We partner exclusively with Robertet—based in Grasse, France, with 170 years of expertise in natural perfumery. Each scent evokes a distinct natural landscape: “Cypress & Eucalyptus” is fresh, like bathing in a mountain stream; “Fig Tree & Peppermint” captures the joy of summer bathing near an orchard; and “Cedar & Rosemary” offers the mysterious comfort of forest immersion. This purity and exceptional quality enhance our customers’ well-being, elevating their daily bathing ritual.

How does Mircea’s commitment to zero single-use plastic and refillable packaging contribute to environmental wellness?

It’s an important and challenging question. Plastic pollution is currently the beauty industry’s biggest environmental issue—half of all plastic produced is destined for product packaging. While the industry often claims their packaging is recyclable, 91% of plastic never gets recycled, instead ending up in landfills, incinerators, or oceans. Every day, 30,000 tons of plastic enter our oceans; fish consume this plastic, we consume the fish, and ultimately, microplastics enter our bodies.

Addressing this is difficult, but there’s good news: many beauty products are composed of about 85% water. Essentially, consumers are transporting water in disposable plastic containers that rarely get recycled. A better approach would be delivering active ingredients in paper form that dissolve in water at home.

I believe customers are aware of these issues but lack accessible solutions. With Mircea, they won’t have to choose between exceptional product quality and environmental responsibility.

How does Mircea stay connected to customer feedback and wellness trends to keep evolving its products?

I’m obsessed with customer feedback—I recently reached out personally to every customer who purchased Mircea during our launch month, both to thank them and to better understand what they loved and where we could improve. I’m less interested in following trends and more drawn to what’s timeless and transcendent. Some rituals, like bathing, never change, and I believe our role is to remind people of their lasting value, making them relevant to contemporary lives. I love the idea that the future of bathing is rooted in ancient tradition. My goal is to help write the next chapter of this age-old ritual by creating the best body wash possible—and customer feedback is essential to achieving that.