Meeting Alice
I met Alice Mazel at the Empathy School in Ubud, and at first glance, I assumed she was a city girl from Paris. An impression shaped, perhaps, by my own city-dwelling lens. We often see reflections of ourselves in others. But soon I discovered this could not be further from the truth. Alice lives in the South of France where she and her partner Anthony and their daughter Anemone make their home in a simple yurt, surrounded by wild nature and healing plants.
Even more surprising was her work: Alice runs her own all-natural cosmetics company, crafting each product by hand with plants she forages herself. Her face lit up when she spoke about this and I couldn’t help but sense there was a deeper story here.
Alice radiates a kind of calm confidence, like someone deep in touch with her true self and fully aligned with her Soul’s purpose. I was captivated by her energy and curious about the journey that led her to this life.
Her story, like her potions, is rich with intuition, creativity and an almost otherworldly connection to the natural world. Let’s discover it together.
Plants Are Friends
Alice grew up in the idyllic South of France, a region steeped with medicinal plants, and the air filled with fragrances of lavender, thyme, and rosemary. Born into a family of three girls, she was the youngest, with an innate connection to nature. Her grandmother was a florist and her mother knew a lot about homeopathy, using plants as medicine. Synthetic remedies were unheard of; the family relied solely on nature’s bounty.
Alice’s childhood was filled with quiet magic. She spent hours in her treehouse or the bathtub, mixing wildflowers into potions, completely immersed in her imagination.
“I think the flowers and the plants were my friends, and I was communicating with them,” Alice shares with a smile. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but they made me feel safe—like I could be completely myself.”
It was a world she cherished, one where nature spoke without words and Alice listened, intuitively, instinctively. But as childhood gave way to adolescence, her connection to this enchanted world faded, focusing her attention on other activities.
A Crushed Dream
For 15 years, Alice poured her heart into acting, certain it was her destiny, her way of expressing creativity and joy. Then, at 18, everything changed. She failed to gain entry into the prestigious drama school she had set her heart on.
“It was devastating,” she admits. “I’d spent my whole life dreaming of being an actress, and suddenly, that door was slammed shut.”
Her family’s support waned. Acting was suddenly dismissed as impractical, not a real career. Without their encouragement, Alice felt adrift. “I didn’t know who I was without that dream,” she says. “All my acting friends got accepted in the school, so I felt very alone, like I had my first heartbreak.”
She turned to her parents for guidance and reluctantly followed their advice to enroll in a hospitality and business school. For three years, she went through the motions, completing the program with ease, making lots of friends but not feeling like she learned anything.
“I felt so disconnected from myself,” Alice recalls. “For three years I did what my parents wanted me to do, and after that I asked myself: ‘What do I really want?” Alice tried to tap into her heart and the answer came: travel.
A Leap into the Unknown
With a backpack and no clear plan, Alice flew to Peru. What was supposed to be a three-month adventure turned into seven years of wandering, a pilgrimage across continents that would slowly put her life back together.
“I was completely naive,” she laughs now. “But I think that’s what made it so beautiful. I was very curious and open to everything.”
In the mountains of Peru, Alice saw joy where she least expected it. “People had so little, but they were so happy, deeply spiritual and connected.” This realization became the thread that wove through her journey. From South America to Australia, to India and Southeast Asia, Alice discovered that, despite cultural differences, people everywhere shared the same longing; love, connection and a sense of purpose.
Her travels brought her back to herself in unexpected ways. And in the remote landscapes of Northern Australia, something stirred. The plants began to speak to her again.
The Plants Speak
Alice started practicing yoga and started doing guided meditations and slowly opened up to the messages of the plants and trees around her.
“I started having dreams about plants,” she says, her voice full of wonder. “They would speak to me, showing me how to use them.”
She began experimenting, collecting unfamiliar flora, touching them, smelling them, creating simple potions and remedies. With each step she felt her childhood return: “I remembered how much joy it gave me as a child, this magic of creating with plants. I hadn’t felt that kind of joy in years.”
Potions In Motion
One day, Alice’s sister called from France, sharing the happy news her niece was born, but also seeking help for her newborn’s persistent skin condition. Alice trusted her intuition, crafting a balm with lavender, beeswax and olive oil, sending it to France for her sister to use.
“I didn’t have any formal knowledge,” Alice confesses. “I just knew it would work—and it did.. My niece’s skin healed completely.”
That moment was pivotal:”I loved making potions, but now I realized I could make them for other people and heal them.”
Every time she was in France in between travels, Alice would make tons of creams and would give them to friends or sell them to people, feeling the joy like a fire inside of her.
Still Alice didn’t yet see this as a real career. She continued traveling, letting plants guide her path, learning about traditional medicines and remedies from the cultures she visited. “I felt like I found my people,” she says.
Heartbreak And Healing
But just as Alice was finding her footing, life threw her another curveball. Her marriage to her American husband ended abruptly, leaving her heartbroken and back at her parents’ home at 27.
“It was one of the darkest moments of my life,” she admits. “I couldn’t even feed myself, feeling so depressed and like a failure. I just wanted to create potions, that was the only thing that brought me joy.”
For seven months, she poured herself into her craft, refining recipes and finding solace in the plants. Without consciously realizing it, she was building her future. Fueled by heartbreak, anger and determination, Alice launched her all-natural skincare brand, Comette Cosmetics.
“Within eight months I had my products, my website, everything.”
Plant-Based Purpose
Eight years later, Alice’s brand is still thriving. Her products, crafted with love and dreams, have touched lives around the world. From mothers and babies to those undergoing chemotherapy, her balms and creams have become a source of comfort and healing.
“Every product I make is infused with the same love and curiosity I had as a child,” she says. “The plants guide me. The recipes come to me in dreams. I don’t even measure the ingredients, it’s all intuition.”
As soon as Alice starts creating her potions, she enters a meditative state, often not remembering how she produced it afterwards.
“I recreated the safe space I had as a child, feeling happier than I ever thought I could be.”
Like Mother Like Daughter
Today, Alice’s daughter Anemone joins her in foraging and creating potions. To Alice’s amazement, Anemone instinctively knows which plants to pick and which to avoid.
“Watching her brings tears to my eyes,” Alice shares. “It’s like seeing myself as a child, so connected, so joyful.”
Alice’s Message For You
For years Alice felt like she didn’t fit in, always walking a different path from those around her. Yet, looking back, she’s grateful for every moment that seemed like life was falling apart- from failing to get into theatre school, to the end of her marriage- because they ultimately led her to her purpose. “I often look in the mirror and remind myself how strong I am, how much I’ve overcome,”Alice shares. “And then I think: wow, you’re doing so great!”
For those feeling lost, Alice offers this advice:
“Joy is your Soul speaking to you. Follow it. Unplug from what you think you know, and trust that there’s always a way forward. If you’re scared? Do it anyway. Life is scary, but that’s where the growth is.”
The Inner Child Leads The Way
Alice’s story reads like a modern-day fable, a testament to the power of joy, intuition and connecting to your inner child. Her life reminds us of something Paolo Coelho once wrote in The Alchemist: “At some point in our lives we lose sight of our personal legend. But it’s always there, waiting for us to return.”
For Alice, the plants called her home; to her purpose, her joy and herself.
Perhaps her story is the nudge you need to ask yourself: What joy is awaiting for me?
Follow Alice Here:
https://comettecosmetics.com/
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