I’m on my way to meet Jeremy Abesera at an Italian restaurant in New York City. It’s as busy and frigid as ever during rush-hour in the Big Apple. I don’t know anything about him, other than he’s the founder of Provence Beauty: a two-year-old, next-generation masstige French skin care and cosmetics brand celebrated for its sophisticated, high-quality and affordably-priced products. The contents – housed in distinct lavender packaging embossed with the brand’s official logo found on the shelves of Ulta Beauty and Target – are as pleasantly sensorial as they are textural with ingredients sourced from exotic locales like Morrocco and France.

With a name like Provence, I envisioned a tall Frenchman with a heavy accent. Stepping through the navy-blue curtain that separates the hostess stand from the restaurant, I spot Abesera, an affable American man of average height whose youthful skin doesn’t give away a father in his early 40s. His hat, bearing the words, “Los Angeles Sushi Club,” however, gave away his good taste in fine cuisine and fashion, which, like beauty, is an art form all its own.

The City of Angels is his homebase, but he frequents New York a lot, typically wearing his love of the Yankees on his ballcap. His olive complexion and espresso eyes lend themselves well to his Moroccan background; his other half – French! – was another story. Abesera was born in Paris in 1984 to Moroccan French parents. That summer, the City of Love was the host site of the 88th French Open. Elsewhere in the country, the Museum of the French Revolution opened its regal doors in Vizille, a Commune in France. The grand chateau houses paintings, sculptures and objects from the revolutionary era in a landscaped park.

Mr. and Mrs. Abesera were introduced through a mutual friend, famed Las Vegas nightclub and restaurant owner Victor Drai. Flashback to the early 1970s, before their introduction, Abesera’s father’s métier was the creation of a highly successful, but short-lived luxury skincare line with his uncle. The star ingredient was French clay, which was imported to the US. His family, he said, was all about “clean” beauty and eating, and cognitive of the safety of these products onto their skin and into their bodies.

“That’s what drew me to make Provence Beauty: clean, but effective products tying back to my French and Moroccan roots,” said Abesera.

Stay tuned to Happi.com for more on this indie personal care line.