In 1989 Nathalie Gueneau, a French entrepreneur with a strong passion and interest in the world of plants and their alternative health benefits, made a trip to Chile. Here, she personally experimented with Rosa affinis rubiginosa oil, when she experienced sunburn on her lips and discovered its impressive therapeutic and regenerating potential. This is a variety of rosa canina that grows in the wild, in the pristine and uncontaminated environment of the highlands of central southern Chile – here it is known as Rosa Mosqueta. Its oil that is uniquely rich in essential fatty acids is extracted from its fruit.

Nathalie Gueneau makes contact with a team of researchers at the University of Concepcion in the department of medical chemistry who had been researching and experimenting since the ‘80s with the ‘dermocosmetical’ potential of the oil’s properties.

This relationship is the spark that kicks off the birth of Italchile, an organisation whose drive and mission is to develop production methods for the oil, using natural techniques, in order to preserve its exceptional properties. Thanks to its Chilean branch, Italchile controls the entire production process of the oil, from harvest and desiccation and extraction to transformation.

Since 1991, simultaneous work has been occurring on the distribution of the oil and development of the first cosmetic lines, which have met with immediate success across the European market, as well as in Italy.

Italchile was the first on the market, in 1995, to develop the exclusive method of cold extraction in Chile. Up until that point, the only method that had been available to extract oil was by the use of hexane. The new cold extraction method allowed for the oil to be made available in an ‘extra virgin’ format, which guaranteed the preservation of the integrity of its components as well as its purity and freshness. More recently, another new cold extraction method has emerged: supercritical CO2 extraction.

In 1995, Italchile was the first on the market to obtain Organic Certification, delivered by ECOCERT for its Rosa Mosqueta Oil – again, in keeping with its business philosophy of ‘cosmetic innovation and a passion for organics’. The oil is the main ingredient present in the entire line of plant based cosmetics Mosqueta’s and in the Omegarosa and Omegarosa Plus dietary supplements.

In another innovative move, in 2002 Italchile was again at the forefront of the producers on the market to be allowed to use the term of ‘Cosmétique Biologique’ to define its product line, from Ecocert France. This is notable as since 2002, this certification is reserved exclusively to cosmetics that contain 95% plant raw ingredients that are of organic origin and conform to the rigorous standards set up jointly by Ecocert and the French Department of Industry.

DYNAMISATION: AN  ITALCHILE  EXCLUSIVE