MPlus Cosmetics accentuates its internationalization

What a wonderful adventure for this Italian company, which was founded in Turin in 2002 as Mascara Plus. At the time, it was just a small laboratory run by David Chant, a former R&D chemist at L’Oréal and Estée Lauder, with the aim of manufacturing mascaras. Then everything accelerated. In 2005, Mascara Plus moved to Cernusco sul Naviglio near Milan, setting up its first factory and a new laboratory. Three years later, the company moved to Pioltello, occupying 600 m², then in 2012 it moved to Inzago, occupying 2,400 m². In 2017, it took another leap forward. The factory expanded to 4,400 m². And that’s not all. In 2018, Mascara Plus became MPlus Cosmetics and expanded its business to include products for the face, eyes and lips. That same year the factory grew by nearly 3,000 m², followed by a further expansion of nearly 3,400 m² in 2019, bringing the total production space to 10,800 m². Over the years, the company has also achieved important certifications: ISO 22716 (GMP - Good Manufacturing Practice) and UNI ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) in 2014, UNI EN ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) in 2019, ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management) in 2021, and RSPO certification, expected in 2023. Today, MPlus has a turnover of around €27 million and employs more than 200 people. The main objective this year is to strengthen the international presence by delivering innovative formulas, compelling brand stories, and outstanding service. We take stock with David Chant, CEO.

From the outset, one of your strengths has been the manufacture of fibre-based brushes combined with the production of mascara formulas!

David Chant: That’s right! Offering mascara formulas combined with our in-house capacity to produce fibre-based brushes has undoubtedly guaranteed us rapid growth. And it has allowed us to build strategic relationships with the world’s leading beauty partners, as we were able to offer customers a truly comprehensive 360° service.
A key contributor to this success has been our factory in Thailand, established in 2016. It currently employs 16 people and has a production capacity of 3 million fibre brushes per month. We manufacture both mascara and medical brushes, with 80% supplied to customers in Asia and 20% allocated to MPlus’s needs.

How did 2024 go for you and what does 2025 look like? What were and are the highlights, particularly in terms of industrial investments?

David Chant: 2024 was a positive year for us. We strengthened our core business in the mascara segment while continuing to expand our product offering, particularly in the face and lip categories, in line with our strategy of diversifying and expanding our portfolio, which began in 2018.
We have both deepened our relationships with our long-standing customers and established new partnerships that have expanded our network, while investing in research and development to bring innovative products to market and seeking to anticipate industry trends.
Our profitability also improved thanks to significant measures in our production processes, in particular through more rigorous working capital management, both in terms of purchasing and inventory.
As for 2025, we are on a positive trajectory. Our objective for this year and beyond is clear: growth. We have made significant investments in human resources in the Sales, Marketing and R&D departments, doubling the size of our teams.
Economically, volumes remain solid, even though they are naturally affected by the continuing uncertainty surrounding US customs duties. During the first half of the year, there were a remarkable number of new product launches, not only in the mascara category, but also in the face and lip products categories, which are becoming increasingly central to our overall offering.

Let’s talk about customs duties!

David Chant: Customs duties are a key variable that directly affects our sector, particularly for a highly international company like ours. This unpredictability has inevitably created considerable uncertainty, which is very damaging for any business.
But as early as November 2024, we began developing different scenarios based on initial reports and speculation about these changes. This allowed us to put in place a series of contingency plans.
Despite this difficult context, we remained true to our core principles, continuing to invest and focus on what we do best: innovation, quality and service.
We doubled the capacity of our laboratory, strengthened our R&D department and maintained exceptionally high levels of service, all with the aim of consolidating the relationships of trust we have with our customers. At the same time, our investments in the Marketing and Sales departments are enabling us to seize new opportunities, with the aim of increasing our geographical diversification.
In this sense, while customs duties are a challenge, they are not slowing down our development. On the contrary, they are pushing us to be even more flexible and innovative, thereby strengthening our role as a strategic partner for our customers.

What are your strengths today?

David Chant:  Since our creation in 2002, we have managed to find our place in the highly competitive cosmetics sector by focusing on mascara and its applicators and combining in-house brush production with high-performance formulas. Over time, we have gradually expanded our product range and developed our applicators to include products for the eyes, face and lips, thereby broadening our expertise and offering more comprehensive and integrated solutions to our customers.
Today, we have a portfolio of over 200 customisable applicator options and provide tailor-made solutions that enhance product performance and help our customers create truly unique user experiences.
Our strengths are, of course, creativity, passion and the pursuit of excellence in innovation. The fact that we produce brushes in-house ensures perfect synergy between formulas and applicators, reducing delivery times and maintaining flexible workflows.
Innovation is at the heart of our strategy. Our team of R&D experts works to develop cutting-edge formulas and next-generation applicators, combining new materials and revolutionary ingredients. As a result, we offer hybrid make-up solutions and new sensory-rich textures.

What about the future? What new products are you offering?

David Chant:  In the future, we want to expand and further internationalise our customer portfolio. While Europe and the United States remain key markets, we are actively strengthening our global presence, focusing increasingly on Asia and other high-potential regions where demand for innovative, high-quality new cosmetic solutions continues to grow.
In 2025, our product launches reflect market developments. Consumers are looking for clean, effective and versatile solutions. We are focusing on formulas that are not only high-performing, but also safe and increasingly natural.
Key new products include:
· Innovative textures, such as cushion, vinyl, jelly and jam-like finishes;
· Hybrid products that combine the performance of make-up with the benefits of skincare;
· Multi-sensory experiences that appeal to several senses, transforming habits into immersive experiences;
· Multi-purpose stick formats, allowing consumers to create a complete look with a single formula;
· Clean formulations, developed from safe, natural ingredients, some of which are even 100% natural.
One of our flagship launches is the ‘Playful Muse’ collection, which perfectly embodies this trend. These are highly natural products, with some formulas being entirely natural, combined with new and sensory textures. From jelly-like to jam-like consistency, these playful textures are fresh and penetrate the skin perfectly.
When it comes to innovation in mascara, which is at the heart of our expertise, we are pushing the boundaries with cleaner, higher-performance polymers and tubing mascaras. We are also investing in microplastic-free formulations made from 100% natural ingredients, while continuously optimising the synergy between our formulas and our new-generation brushes, all designed in-house. This guarantees exceptional precision, performance and quality.

Like most suppliers in the beauty industry, you are obviously facing significant environmental pressure!

David Chant: We are no exception to the rule, but for us, sustainability is not just a trend, it is part of our DNA.
We have been committed to the environment for many years and, after obtaining ISO 14001 certification in 2019, we continue to improve our practices with a focus on measurable results. Every year, we conduct a comprehensive environmental analysis to monitor our waste, energy and water consumption, and emissions, which allows us to define clear key performance indicators.
Over the years, we have collaborated with the Politecnico di Milano on several projects, including life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and in-depth analyses of water and energy consumption in our production processes.
We are proud to be part of the EcoVadis platform, where we submit our environmental progress reports annually and share our dashboard with our customers in a spirit of complete transparency. As a SEDEX member, we are also subject to SMETA 4-Pillar audits, which include strict environmental criteria.
Starting this September 2025, we are launching a carbon footprint project to measure our Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions, both at the factory level and across our entire product range.
As for our staff, we now offer them annual environmental training.