The essence of skincare with Clarins president Christophe de Pous

One of the world’s great makers of luxury skincare has decided to show you how it does it.

Christophe de Pous almost bounces into the room, his energy and passion apparent from the moment he introduces himself. The president of international markets for Clarins is far too cheerful for someone who just a few hours ago got off a flight in Sydney from Singapore, after having travelled earlier in the week from Paris. There is no way he should look this good.

And it turns out it may not just be love for his job at the French luxury skincare company that is responsible for his youthful exuberance and lack of apparent jet lag.

“Do you know that when you take a plane, what gives you the most jet lag is a loss of water?” he asks me. “The air is so dry on a plane – 70 per cent is recycled every few minutes – and you lose 80 per cent of water through your skin. So you have to cover your skin before you travel.

President of Clarins, Christophe de Pous. Photo: Supplied

“Whenever I get on a plane, I go to the bathroom beforehand and put Clarins’ super-hydrating body lotion on my whole body and our Double Serum on my face. Even after a 14 hour-flight from Paris to Singapore, your skin is perfect! That’s why I look so fresh today”.

De Pous is in Australia for his first visit since the pandemic shut down the world and is meeting his local Clarins team. The French company has been in Australia since 1977 and is now the number-two prestige skincare brand in department stores across the country. It was founded by Jacques Courtin-Clarins in 1954 when he started a day spa offering massages and facials in Paris. It was only at his clients’ continual urging that he started selling the treatment oils he used on them.

Clarins factory formula: plants. Photo: Supplied

“They were all 100 per cent natural products,” explains De Pous. “He was maybe 50 years ahead of his time. The company is still 100 per cent family owned and respectful of all the values held by Jacques Courtin-Clarins, whose mission was to make life more beautiful for his clients and the planet. They really are the fundamentals of his vision and they have guided the company since then.”

The Courtin-Clarins family plays a big role in the company, with Jacques’ son Olivier Courtin its managing director along with his granddaughter Virginie Courtin.

De Pous says one of the key pillars of the Clarins business is to listen to consumers – women – which Jacques began with his spa in Paris. He was always quizzing his mother, sisters and family about what they wanted, and he incorporated that knowledge into the skincare and beauty products he later created.

Clarins factory formula: weighing. Photo: Supplied

“Everything started from listening to women,” says De Pous, who has spent 25 years working in the beauty and fashion industry. “The philosophy of what Jacques has done since is based on listening and the taking care of customers.” He says this approach is behind the company’s groundbreaking transparency initiative, which uses blockchain technology to allow clients to trace the origin and manufacturing process of products.

The program is called T.R.U.S.T (traceability, responsibility, uniqueness, security and transparency), and it means you can put the batch number of a particular product into the Clarins website and trace its journey from start to finish. It begins on the farms around the world where the plant ingredients are sourced and moves to the Clarins factory in Pontoise, France, where the product is made and then to the warehouse in Glisy where it is tested for quality and distributed. The process is date stamped.

“A few years ago we saw technology evolving that meant there would be opportunities to trace the raw material ingredients we use and the whole process from the fields to the final product,” De Pous explains. “We are the first skincare brand to publish that information. We haven’t done all the products yet because it is a lot of work tracing all of our active ingredients and where they are grown. Sometimes they are in our own plantation in the French Alps, where everything is done by hand, or they are grown by our suppliers in the fields in Madagascar or Burkina Faso.”

Clarins factory. Photo: Supplied

De Pous says 43 products are now fully traceable and by the end of the year that will rise to 70. He believes Clarins aims to have every single skincare and makeup product traceable within two years. “I think there is a requirement and an expectation from consumers now that they want to know more and see everything that we do,” he explains. “And I think we owe that to consumers as an ethical manufacturer to offer that full transparency.”

As for what is next for Clarins and what innovative research and products may be in the pipeline, De Pous is predictably staying mum. “There are plenty of things happening but I can’t tell you much,” he says. “What I can say is that I think there’s a better understanding of the actions of the skin and the communications between the cells and how that has an impact on ageing.”

Given how good De Pous looks after stepping off his overnight flight on this rather humid Sydney day, I cannot wait to find out.