SCENE Magazine

Beauty and the Blog: third generation editor Clémence von Mueffling launches online magazine.

“I always say I was born in a jar,” exclaims Clémence von Mueffling with a twinkling laugh. The Frenchwoman-turned-United States citizen (a fact she proudly reveals) comes from a long lineage of beauty editors. Her grandmother and mother were both veterans at French Vogue, hence her prenatal addiction to beauty products. Now von Mueffling is focused on a more holistic approach to her regimen and is generously sharing her decades of knowledge in her new e-zine Beauty and Well Being. The online publication launched in early May, introducing a mélange of runway makeup trends, fast and tasty recipes and cultural tips.

“When I had children, a good friend gave me a book on health, nutrition, the impact of industrial farming and chemicals…it completely opened my eyes,” she says, explaining the genesis of her project. Von Mueffling is realistic about her modern reader, emphasizing a positive message on the site and never guilting her audience into extreme diets or giving up a certain type of product; she’s there to offer solutions, and her worldly contributors, including a friend who is a global affairs officer at the United Nations, share a web of knowledge with other women around the world.

Von Mueffling’s own work experience includes years at revered beauty houses like Clarins, Dior Beauty and Spanish fragrance leader Puig. After moving to the United States and working as a journalist for a stretch of time, she decided to venture out on her own. “I just felt that I had so much I wanted to share with people—wellness and beauty is limitless,” she says, sipping her tea.

The editor’s certain je ne sais quoi and timeless beauty can be attributed to facial massages and other decidedly French practices that she plans to introduce to American readers. She cites Avène, Caudalie, and Joëlle Ciocco in her must-have beauty roster and gushes about an article she recently wrote about Stanley’s Pharmacy, the pharmacy-cum-wellness spa that she and her husband frequent on the Lower East Side.

Though she’ll be working in London and taking holidays in France this summer, her passion for New York is abundantly clear—from taking her twins on walks through the park to indulging at the restaurant Suite ThreeOhSix in Tribeca. It seems she caught a whiff of the American entrepreneurial parfum and hasn’t looked back since.