This piece is an excerpt from our 2026 Spring Digital Catalog. View the entire catalog for more features like this.
An Interview with Corinne Lefebvre
Founder of River Organics
One of the most persistent misconceptions about clean beauty is that it sacrifices performance. The assumption is that if a product is formulated without heavy synthetics or long ingredient lists, it must also be less effective. For River Organics founder Corinne Lefebvre, the solution is approaching clean beauty from a different angle.
The Origins
For Corinne, performance is not about creating formulas that cling to the skin at all costs. It is about wearability, comfort, and how the skin looks both during and after use. “Yes, they do last. The makeup performs like normal makeup,” she explains. “But not like permanent markers that you’re putting on your lips.” River’s lip stains, for example, rely on iron oxides for pigment, which naturally hold color without requiring aggressive binders or film-forming agents.
“When people ask me, ‘Is it going to last 48 hours?’ I’m like, ‘Why would you want it to?’ You want your skin to breathe.”
River Organics began in 2016 with a lip balm recipe Corinne had been making in her kitchen. What followed were years spent selling at local markets along the North Carolina coast, where direct conversations with customers shaped the evolution of the line.
“I never realized what selling and talking to people actually could do for your business,” she says. “Seeing what sells, what people like—that completely helped shape my business.”
As the brand grew, so did the technical ambition. Highlighters, blush, brow wax, concealer, and even solid mascara were introduced—categories where more natural beauty products often struggle to compete. Corinne chose to develop them anyway.
“When we started developing products
that are hard, like eyebrow wax or concealer, that’s really when we started to get noticed.”
The Power of Restraint
The foundation of River’s formulas lies in restraint. Rather than using extensive ingredient decks, Corinne intentionally keeps lists short. Transparency is equally central, even when it complicates production—like the recent, extensive
process to remove titanium dioxide from all formulas to match shades using alternative pigments.
“I really try to have short ingredient lists,” she says. “Like five, six, seven—not
so many ingredients. They bury it as deep as possible. They just want to kind of bamboozle you so that you don’t go too deep.”
“Once an ingredient has that attachment to cancer, that’s it. People don’t want it, and I don’t blame them...It’s leading us toward more natural pigments that aren’t even being used yet. Our audience is guiding us into a new realm, and it’s to everyone’s benefit.”
The Small-Batch Advantage
Being a small-batch brand makes that responsiveness possible. “We’re nimble,” Corinne
explains. “I’m like, okay, not another batch is going out until we figure this out.” Smaller production runs allow for faster adjustments, fresher turnover and more control over quality.
After nearly ten years in business, Corinne remains focused on consistency rather than
expansion for its own sake.
In a market saturated with claims of long wear and instant transformation, River Organics takes a quieter but more durable stance. Clean beauty, in Corinne’s view, is not about trend cycles or aesthetic movements. It is about reducing unnecessary exposure, simplifying formulations and creating products that enhance the skin rather than overpower it. Performance, ultimately, is measured not by how long something refuses to come off, but by how well it supports the person wearing it.
“I can’t be everything for everyone. This is what we do. I just want it to be better... more transparent and better working.”
