Biche Brings the Beauty Ritual Home to Our Dogs

Beauty editor Alexandra Pauly built Biche around the relationship between pets and their people, pairing veterinary expertise with the sensorial expectations of a beauty consumer.

A beauty editor’s bathroom can tell you a great deal about what makes a product worth keeping. There are the formulas that earn a repeat purchase, the fragrances that make an everyday routine more pleasurable, and the bottles that feel at home on the shelf. For Alexandra Pauly, those expectations followed her into another part of her life: caring for her rescue dog, Cam.

The products available to him were falling short. Shampoos dried out his coat and left his skin flaky, while packaging tended toward the clinical or the overly cute. After years spent evaluating beauty products, Pauly found herself asking why efficacy and aesthetics seemed so much harder to find together in pet grooming.

“In the human beauty space, things like efficacy and aesthetics are table stakes,” she tells The Beauty Brief.

Biche, which she founded in 2024, brings that perspective to a category with a particularly intimate role in its customers’ lives. Its products sit within the routines people build around animals they love, often with the same attention they give their own care.

A routine built on trust

Cam had already been abandoned twice when Pauly adopted him. He was nervous, and she knew that helping him feel secure would take time. Regular grooming became one way to establish a foundation of care through touch, consistency, and positive reinforcement.

“It was a way to not only support his physical health, but create a bond through physical touch and positive reinforcement,” she says.

That experience shaped the purpose of Biche before it shaped the products. Grooming offered a recurring opportunity to spend time together and become familiar with Cam’s needs. The frustration was that the products involved could make the experience less comfortable.

Pauly also found herself hiding his grooming supplies in a closet. Having spent years immersed in beauty, she saw little reason why products designed for dogs couldn’t be effective, visually appealing, and enjoyable to use.

Her editorial background gave her another useful perspective. Reviewing pitches and testing products had taught her how much goes into making a brand memorable beyond its ingredient list.

“In addition to a great product, a brand needs to offer a distinct point of view, consistent storytelling, and a sticky user experience to get people hooked.”

For Biche, that point of view begins with the relationship between the person buying the product and the animal receiving the care.

Developing for a different customer

Pauly worked with veterinary dermatologist Dr. Joya Griffin to develop Biche’s formulas, choosing custom development over existing white-label options.

The decision came with additional expense, but it gave her an opportunity to address the frustrations she had experienced with Cam. She remembers trying the first lab samples and noticing a softer coat, without the itching and flaking she had encountered with previous products.

That personal experience helped inform a focused collection. Cloud Cleanser is a dog shampoo formulated with glycerin, vitamin B5, and cucumber extract to cleanse while supporting the skin and coat. Après Oil extends the routine beyond washing: a no-rinse conditioner for the coat that also moisturizes dry skin and paws.

The products are vegan and cruelty-free, and Cloud Cleanser is pH-balanced for dogs. Together, they establish a manageable routine that can fit into life between professional grooming appointments.

Keeping that routine approachable matters. Pauly sees at-home maintenance as an essential part of caring for a dog, even when owners also rely on a professional groomer. Bathing, brushing, and attention to areas such as the paws are recurring responsibilities, and products have to work within that reality.

Fragrance with another nose in mind

Scent is central to many beauty purchases, but creating a fragrance for a product used on dogs introduces a different set of requirements.

Biche partnered with Givaudan to develop Archie, its signature scent, with notes of sandalwood, fig, and honey. Pauly wanted something comforting and enjoyable for people while accounting for the sensitivity of a dog’s nose.

According to Pauly, Biche uses fragrance at levels of 0.5% to 1.5%. Arriving at the final balance took months.

“It was really a balancing act to create an enjoyable scent experience for the human that won’t irritate or overwhelm a dog’s sensitive nose,” she says.

That development process captures a central challenge for the brand. The person choosing the bottle brings expectations around fragrance, design, and experience. The dog has its own needs, which have to guide how those expectations are translated into a grooming product.

Knowing who the brand is for

Pauly is direct about Biche’s place in the market.

“We’re not a mass play. We’re not for everyone, and that’s OK.”

She says the majority of customers purchase Cloud Cleanser and Après Oil together. In her view, that behavior points to a consumer who was already prepared to invest in grooming but had struggled to find products that justified the purchase.

Her conversations with repeat customers often follow a familiar pattern: they were using another brand, felt it wasn’t meeting their needs, and began looking for something better.

For beauty founders, there is a useful distinction in that response. Premium positioning becomes more persuasive when it addresses a frustration the customer already recognizes. Biche’s packaging and fragrance help introduce the brand, while the experience of using the products gives customers a reason to return.

Pauly understands that willingness to invest through her own relationship with Cam. Pets occupy an increasingly integrated place in their owners’ lives, and the attention paid to their care reflects that emotional closeness.

“In many cases, we will actually prioritize our dogs over ourselves,” she says. “That’s just how much we love them.”

Making time for the ritual

When Pauly considers the future of luxury pet care, she returns to time.

She sees an opportunity for the category to help people slow down and enjoy the years they have with their animals. That ambition connects directly to Biche’s beginnings: a nervous rescue dog, a new relationship, and a routine that helped them learn to trust each other.

The beauty perspective gives Biche a recognizable visual and sensorial language. Its emotional relevance comes from understanding what those products are participating in each time someone reaches for them.

“I’m incredibly grateful for everything animals have given me,” Pauly says. “So with Biche, I really want to help pets and their people build rituals they’ll cherish.”