It's probably no coincidence that MDC Cosmetic, Melanie Dal Canton's Berlin store in Prenzlauer Berg, is a bit reminiscent of an old pharmacy.

Porcelain bottles in light colors line the walls on simple, recessed shelves.

The smell is subtle, not perfumed.

Melanie Dal Canton has been running MDC Cosmetic for ten years, other shops have been added: in the neighborhood and in Munich, where she only sells the products of the monastery pharmacy Santa Maria Novella.

Here we are again, at the pharmacy.

Although pharmacy is of course not correct, at least not in the current sense of the word.

Dal Canton sells cosmetics, but also everything else that has to do with body care and well-being in the broadest sense: good brushes, good shampoo.

She offers cosmetic treatments and soon also massages.

MDC Next Door, the store she opened next to her first store, also sells crockery, jewelry and small home furnishings.

Your concept seems to work because it is expanding.

A new location for body treatments is scheduled to open in Berlin shortly.

Wonder boxes in Italy and Paris

Dal Canton's journey to becoming a beauty salon owner wasn't exactly predictable.

She comes from Lake Constance and studied political science.

After her studies she became managing director at Andreas Murkudis.

At that time, concept stores started to include cosmetics in their assortment.

That's when Dal Canton noticed that it wasn't easy to simply expand the product range: "If you're actually trained to sell fashion or furniture, then you can't give good advice to a customer who asks: 'I have such small veins, what's the point I take there?'”

She looked for old brands of cosmetics and drove to the historic monastery pharmacy of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

“In Italy and France there are these great old drugstores that I used to love going to when I was a kid.

You stood there as if in a little miracle box.

There were such pretty little bottles everywhere, with such pretty colors, and it smelled so good,” says Dal Canton.

She had these childhood images in the back of her mind when an ideal shop on Knaackstrasse became available in 2012.

Customers' initial reactions were hesitant: "Why is all this so expensive?" Indeed, Dal Canton's products are not cheap.

A cosmetic treatment can cost 145 euros and more.

You have to be able to afford it – and want to.

Ten years ago, people would rather have spent their money on expensive coats or bags than on cosmetics, says Dal Canton.

It took her three years to establish herself.

“I am healthy, I use something good”

Many customers kept coming back and got them through the Corona period - with orders, vouchers or simply by knocking.

The district, Prenzlauer Berg, which has long been prosperous, may have helped.

But also the zeitgeist: naturalness is trendy.

There is also a certain longing for peace and “self care” that is trending.

Dal Canton notices that the demand is increasing: “The Corona period, which was also threatening, made many people focus on themselves again.

And she showed that life is finite and that you should do something good for yourself.”

Then there's the climate: at least you don't want to harm the environment.

But what makes a sustainable product?

Dal Canton says today there is a lot of "greenwashing" and sometimes a misunderstanding of naturalness.

Sometimes it is more resource-efficient to synthetically recreate an ingredient than to use the original ingredients.

In the case of hyaluronic acid, which used to be made from cockscombs, this may make sense.

Why not also with rose water?

"If a rose water is relatively cheap, I ask myself: who harvested and processed it?" Many of the products that she sells do not have an organic label, but that says little now.

Instead, she only works with brands whose working methods and manufacturing processes she knows.

Just like with Susanne Kaufmann, the Austrian entrepreneur who met Dal Canton 16 years ago when Kaufmann was just starting out with her cosmetics brand.

The meeting was a crucial experience.

Kaufmann had taken over her family's hotel and had never found products that she liked for the associated spa.

So she started her own company.

"That was the first brand that looked great," says Dal Canton.

"It was designed really differently from all the other care products and conveyed the message: I'm healthy, I'm using something good."

It is no accident that she mentions the Susanne Kaufmann design.

“Because everything used to be tight, things were beautifully designed.

In an aesthetic that is also pleasing to the eye.” This idea also fits the surprising answer to the question of how her interest in cosmetics actually came about: “I've always been a bit concerned with it because I'm very fond of the old Egypt interested.

The people there were very progressive in this regard.” So there are plenty of suggestions.

She will probably celebrate her 20th store anniversary this way.