PARIS — L’Oréal is ceasing the commercialization of Decléor, the French beauty brand it acquired in 2014.

“L’Oréal has a portfolio of complementary brands. The group’s strategy is to amass and, sometimes, exit brands, to maintain a really strong portfolio and the complementarity it must thrive over the long run,” the group said in an announcement.

“The success of L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty relies on a method and a business model focused on brands prescribed by health care professionals. Under these conditions, the division has decided to stop the commercialization of Decléor,” L’Oréal continued.

Further details couldn’t be learned.

The news comes lower than three weeks after L’Oréal said it was exiting its investment in Sanoflore, a green beauty brand it acquired in 2006. That, too, had been a part of the group’s Dermatological Beauty division.

L’Oréal acquired Decléor and Carita together from Shiseido Co. Ltd. for 227.5 million euros in April 2014.

On the time, each brands were distributed in skilled and retail channels, particularly in Europe. The duo generated sales of roughly 100 million euros in 2012, which gave them together a number two rank in the worldwide skilled skincare market across beauty institutes, spas and salons.

Decléor and Carita were first moved into L’Oréal’s Skilled Products division, with the aim of growing them internationally. But then the market evolved and skilled hair care businesses needed to reinvent themselves, so Decléor and Carita were put to other divisions. Decléor ultimately ended up within the Dermatological Beauty division and Carita in L’Oréal Luxe.

Around seven years ago, L’Oréal began segueing Decléor, a predominantly spa brand founded in 1974 by Solange Dessimoulie, into more of a consumer-facing skincare line, as well. Shaping its messaging were the pillars of Decléor — skin, body and mind.

At Decléor’s peak, it was rumored that one bottle of Aromessence serum — the brand’s anchor product — was sold every 30 seconds. The amber-colored ampoule was a staple in French beauty institutes.

L’Oréal’s ultimate goal was to construct Decléor right into a hybrid consumer-and-spa brand, for it to be carried in each speciality retailers and skilled spas, where the brand’s products were used.

However the coronavirus pandemic struck and with it, shifting consumer beauty habits. The hunt for well-being using doctor-backed brands amplified, while the holistic well-being beauty market, centered on plant-based products, became increasingly competitive. Concurrently, the demand for prestige beauty grew strongly.

As Decléor lost traction, Carita was being built up into an ever more high-end luxury brand. Its relaunch began in January 2022, with the remodeling and premiumization of its 20 stock keeping unit product offer centered around face care, with recent formulations, packaging, protocols and technology.

 A key a part of Carita’s repositioning was the reopening of the brand’s “Maison de Beauté” — a streamlined, arch- and light-filled beauty institute, standing on Paris’ tony Faubourg Saint Saint-Honoré.

Like Decléor, Carita was founded in France, by sisters Maria and Rosy Carita, in 1952.

The L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty division, which incorporates brands La Roche-Posay, Vichy, CeraVe and SkinCeuticals, has been homing in on health care-prescribed brands. The branch’s most up-to-date acquisition, last 12 months, was of Skinbetter Science, a physician-dispensed, U.S.-based skincare brand.