Our story
Menorca, summer 2016.
We were living in Paris. A dense, urban life that left little room for silence.
That summer, while on vacation on the island, we got lost at the end of a dirt road in the highlands of Menorca. Around a bend, we found a farmhouse that had been semi-abandoned for decades. All around, nature had reclaimed its rights.
Wild olive, wild lentisk, wild myrtle, wild rockrose, wild pine, wild orchid, wild asphodel, and others: extremophile botanicals, toughened by the wind, the salt, and the rainless summers. Menorca, declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1993, is home to one of the last preserved Mediterranean ecosystems.
But the farm was also telling us something else. The neighboring farmers, whom we met over the months, were trapped in monocultures that were depleting the land and no longer providing them with a living. The paradox struck us: exceptional biodiversity on one side, rural precariousness on the other. On the same island.
Boténor was born from this reality.
We decided to take over this farm, to restore the soil through regenerative agriculture, to reintroduce forgotten species, to build a supply chain that pays a fair price, and then to entrust French laboratories with extracting each plant at its peak, for skincare products certified COSMOS ORGANIC by ECOCERT.
From the soil of Menorca to your skin.
This is what we call Farm to Face — a rare promise in an industry where almost no one grows what they sell anymore.
Khadija & Florent Cristol Barthès, founders
Our journey
From farm to skin, season after season
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2016
Acquisition of the “San Rafel” farm in Menorca.
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2017
We begin farming work on the farm to reopen plots abandoned for several decades. In parallel, we set up our supply chain to grow our own plants on the island and test different strains.
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2020
First distillations of our immortelle (helichrysum) and santolina crops at the farm. Laboratory tests reveal levels and qualities of actives far above our expectations.
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2021
Start of the creative process around the Boténor project and development of our first range, “Preventive By Nature”. Three years of intense creation and countless trials followed, to craft care that combines ingredients from our own crops.
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2025
Pre-launch of Boténor and first sales. Early customer feedback is enthusiastic, and The Moisturizing Cream receives the ENBA 2025 Excellence Award. Part of our ingredients already comes from our own land. Our ambition: to give rise to other Fermes Cosmétiques™.
Our Ferme Cosmétique™
Protecting land to preserve skin. Preserving skin to protect land.
Our mission is contained within this circularity.
Every Boténor skincare product sold helps preserve an ecosystem. Every plot of land we regenerate allows us to formulate more powerful, purer, and fairer skincare. Beauty supports life. Life nourishes beauty. We know no other way to do this work.
One farm today. Farms tomorrow.
Our farm in Menorca has proven something important: it is possible to bring life back to land that intensive agriculture had exhausted. The soil is restructuring. Forgotten species are returning. Farmers can find another source of income.
We want to replicate this model. Not alone, but with others, wherever land is waiting to be protected.
The label: Cosmetic Farms™
We are working on the creation of an independent "Cosmetic Farms™" label that will help identify, support, and protect other farms dedicated to natural cosmetics. The goal: to create a network of preserved land, shared regenerative practices, and fairly compensated producers.
A foundation to commit to it
This label will be supported by a non-profit Foundation, independent of the brand. It will finance the acquisition of threatened agricultural land and support conversion projects to regenerative agriculture.
Because a serious commitment must be structured, transparent, and capable of outliving its founders.
Our method
From field to skin
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01 Cultivation Regenerative agriculture: preserved soil, no synthetic inputs.
At San Rafel, we grow our plants according to the principles of regenerative agriculture: taking care of the soil to better take care of the plants. Our land, left abandoned for a long time, has been able to naturally rebuild its richness and balance. We intervene as little as possible on the soil, with no synthetic inputs and with a living plant cover. Irrigation is reduced to the strict minimum: the plants adapt to their terroir.
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02 Harvest By hand, at maturity, to preserve the richness of the actives.
Each plant is harvested by hand, at the moment it reaches maturity. Its stage of development directly influences the richness of its actives: we observe each plant and its cycle to step in at the right time, favouring quality over yield.
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03 Extraction As soon as it is picked, with our partner laboratories in France.
As soon as it is picked, each plant is taken care of with one aim: to preserve its natural richness as closely as possible. Extraction is carried out with our partner laboratories in France, using processes adapted to each plant and to the nature of its compounds.
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04 Formulation Efficacy, tolerance, sensoriality: the balance of every formula.
Each formula is developed with French laboratories expert in botanical actives, seeking the right balance between efficacy, tolerance, sensoriality and impact. We work by subtraction: as few ingredients as possible, as many useful actives as possible. Textures, fragrances, feel, absorption: every sensory dimension is worked on.
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05 Packaging Recyclable glass, small batches, paper boxes.
The products are packaged in France, in small batches, in recyclable glass containers; the pot of The Moisturizing Cream is made of wood-based biopolymer and our boxes are made of paper. We continually evolve our packaging to reduce its impact further.
Our approach
What we do, in concrete terms
Cosmetics have gotten into the habit of calling themselves effective, scientific, molecular.
We prove that botany offers the same demand for results, and that it repairs what synthetic chemistry ignores. The skin, of course. But also the soils it extracts from, the plants it distills, the people who cultivate them.
Here is how we go about it.
Cultivating before formulating
Most cosmetic brands start in the laboratory. We start in the field.
On our farm in Menorca, we grow Boténor’s signature plants using regenerative agriculture: crop rotation, cover crops, zero synthetic inputs, minimal soil disturbance. Extremophile plants grow there, as they always have, to the rhythm of the island.
Formulating with precision
Each formula is developed with French laboratories expert in botanical active ingredients. We work by subtraction: the fewest possible ingredients, the most useful active ingredients possible.
The entire range is certified COSMOS ORGANIC by Ecocert, a standard verifiable on every INCI, without exception (fragrance of natural origin certified COSMOS Organic; ingredients 100% of natural origin).
Regenerating rather than extracting
We chose regenerative agriculture because it is the only one that gives back to the soil more than it takes. Every season, we observe and measure the evolution of biodiversity on our plots, species, pollinators, soil structure.
Our packaging
As little plastic as possible.
We designed our packaging with one obsession: reducing plastic wherever possible, and being transparent about it wherever it is not yet possible.
Our serums are 89% glass
Our serum bottles are made of 89% recyclable glass. The remaining 11%, the cap and pump, are made of recyclable plastic, while we find a satisfactory alternative.
We are working on it.
Our moisturizer - Wood-based biopolymer
Our moisturizer packaging is made from a wood-based biopolymer sourced from sustainably managed forests. It uses neither conventional plastic nor fossil-based materials.
Our boxes - PEFC-certified paper
All our secondary packaging is made of PEFC-certified paper, sourced from sustainably managed forests. We designed them to be minimalist, sized as close to the container as possible. Less material, less transport, less impact.
What we don't know how to do yet
Our serum pumps remain made of plastic. Some of our secondary packaging still uses non-bio-based inks. We are searching, testing, improving, and already working on new packaging that we aim to be fully sustainable.