Building Mayteo: A Family Skincare Brand Rooted in Nature
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“Can it be natural too?” That’s the question Michaël Hutsebaut, Founder of Mayteo, set out to answer with his brand. And when it came to manufacturing, Selfnamed’s answer was simple: yes.
Mayteo is a Belgian family skincare brand rooted in a natural approach. Its products are naturally formulated, cruelty-free, and most are ECOCERT COSMOS certified. But for Michaël, the brand’s real differentiator goes beyond the products themselves: it’s his approach.
"I never positioned Mayteo inside a niche. I am the niche: one father who learned to read labels and takes people along on that journey."
Turning that philosophy into products, however, required a manufacturing partner that could match Mayteo’s standards from formula to certification. That’s where Selfnamed came in.
Key Takeaways
Michaël Hutsebaut turned one question – “Can it be natural too?” – into a certified natural skincare brand.
The story sells. Founder-led content and plain ingredient explanations outperform polished ads, every time.
You don’t need to have a perfect launch. Mayteo's first labels were redesigned – and that was fine.
Long-term organic growth is the strategy. Mayteo grows through story and connection with audience, not discounts.
The Seed of Mayteo
For Michaël, building Mayteo was always about creating a brand people could trust one ingredient, one product, and one explanation at a time.
As a child, Michaël planted a supermarket apple seed in one of his mother’s flower pots, convinced nothing would come of it. Months later, a tiny apple tree appeared.
“Nature had found its way, despite everything we had done to it.”
That curiosity stayed with him. It led to an interest in nature, growing fruit and vegetables, and eventually became part of the philosophy behind Mayteo.
But the real turning point came years later, when Michaël became a father. “When my son wrapped his little fingers around mine for the first time,” he says, “you start questioning everything you put on your children’s skin, and yours as well.”
Synthetic ingredients. Animal testing. Labels that were difficult to understand. For Michaël, the disconnect was hard to explain, especially when he believed there was another way.
That became the starting point for Mayteo, a family skincare brand named after his two oldest children, Maya and Matteo.
And now, with a third child on the way, the story has come full circle.
From Questioning Labels to Creating Them
Mayteo’s approach is deliberately simple: help people understand what they are putting on their skin.
Rather than positioning the brand around a clean beauty niche, Michaël puts himself at the center of it.
“My customers aren’t in need of fixing; they’ve just lost touch with what nature can already give them. My job is to reconnect them.”
That philosophy extends to the way Mayteo communicates about its products. Every ingredient is translated into a language customers can understand. It’s an approach that puts transparency ahead of hype.
And that same standard applied when Michaël began looking for a manufacturing partner.
Selfnamed Answered All The Questions
For a new beauty brand, choosing a private label manufacturer can mean balancing product quality, certifications, order volumes, compliance, and cost – all without losing sight of the original idea.
For Mayteo brand, four things were non-negotiable: genuinely natural formulations with serious certification, full ingredient transparency, entry volumes suitable for a starting brand, and answers he could rely on.
Selfnamed checked all of those boxes.
“Selfnamed did the heavy lifting on certifications, so my main job was building the brand and its website.”
Selfnamed’s support was particularly important as Mayteo grew its certified product range. Its Luna Baby line, for example, carries ECOCERT COSMOS Organic certification, the highest tier of the COSMOS standard. “And I didn’t have to build a lab to get there,” Michaël emphasizes.
But for Michaël, certification is only valuable when it is backed by transparency. “When I ask whether an ingredient is vegan, or how a fragrance is composed, I get a documented answer. For a brand built on honesty, that's everything.”
That support matters even more when you’re building a brand alongside family life. With Selfnamed handling the technical and regulatory side, Michaël gets to stay focused on the human side of Mayteo:
The story. The brand. The customers.
Family Brand, One Product At a Time
Michaël knew from the beginning that baby care would eventually be part of Mayteo. But the brand started with facial care, because a family brand has to include the parents too.
“Giving them good care and a good feeling in the mirror matters just as much.”
From there, Mayteo expanded into hair and body care, with future products shaped largely by listening to customers.
Then came Luna Baby.
The three Luna Baby products have since become Mayteo’s strongest launch and its most ordered products. It’s a result Michaël attributes not only to the ECOCERT COSMOS Organic certification, but also to the story behind them.
Right behind the baby range are Mayteo’s Anti-Age products and its Natural Retinol Alternative Serum with bakuchiol.
The common thread? “None of these were sold on just pure hype. They were explained.”
Growing a Beauty Brand By Showing Up
The same philosophy carries through to Mayteo’s marketing.
For Michaël, founder-led content has outperformed polished advertising. His strongest format is simple: turning the bottle around and reading the ingredient list together with his audience.
No elaborate production. Just a founder explaining what is actually inside the product.
“People don't want a brand that pretends to know everything. They trust me more when I admit what I don't know yet. Honesty converts better than confidence.”
Mayteo has also built a skin quiz that helps customers find a routine rather than simply pushing individual products, as well as a local partner programme that puts regional businesses in the spotlight.
For Mayteo, organic growth is a long game. Building an audience from scratch takes time, especially when the goal is to build genuine interest rather than rely on constant discounts.
“I want people to find Mayteo through the story, not through discounts shouted into the void. That takes time, but it’s the kind of growth I believe in.”
His approach is straightforward: one task at a time, show up consistently, and stay focused.
What comes next for Mayteo
The next stage for Mayteo is about going deeper rather than simply getting bigger.
Michaël plans to strengthen the brand’s presence across the EU, expand Mayteo’s local partner network, and grow Luna Baby beyond skincare into products that mark the first year of a child’s life.
There is also a more local ambition behind the brand.
Mayteo has partnered with Natuurpunt Scheldeland, a volunteer organisation protecting nature in the region. Through the partnership, 10% of every purchase made using their code goes towards the Nonnenbos, a small nature reserve near Michaël’s village of Serskamp.
The woodland, once belonging to a convent, is part of an effort to restore the historical forest belt around the village. Volunteers are reopening old ponds, while in spring the forest floor fills with wood anemones.
For a brand that began with an apple seed, the connection feels fitting. “Mayteo started with an apple seed. It feels right that part of what we build flows back into the soil it came from.”
Start Your Beauty Brand Before You’re Ready
If building Mayteo taught Michaël one thing, it’s that waiting for perfection isn’t the way forward.
His first labels weren't his last. They were too monotone for a nature brand, with too little color and fonts that were too large. He redesigned them. And that's okay.
“If I had waited for the perfect label, Mayteo wouldn't exist. Launch, learn, improve.”
His advice to other aspiring beauty founders is equally direct and worth taking note of: start before you feel ready, but verify before you claim.
Anyone can print a beautiful label. Building a brand people trust requires something more.
“The brands that last are the ones where every word on that label is true.”
For Michaël, that means finding manufacturing partners who are willing to answer the difficult questions, put those answers in writing, and provide the foundations for a product you can genuinely stand behind.
And it means being willing to put yourself at the center of the story.
“In a world of faceless brands, being one real person is the best strategy.”
For Mayteo, that strategy is already taking the brand somewhere far beyond its original question.
Can it be natural too?
For Michaël, the answer was always yes.
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