Expansion and Family Leadership
In the 1970s, Clarins began expanding internationally under the leadership of Jacques’ son, Christian Courtin-Clarins. The brand grew steadily, launching new product lines and entering department stores and duty-free channels globally.[32] By 1971, Clarins was sold in almost 15 countries with multiple subsidiaries opening up from Europe to Asia.
In the 1970s, while the rest of the beauty industry at the time was almost exclusively focused on "glamour tanning," Clarins shifted the narrative entirely toward skin protection. They became the first brand to market sun care for the whole family, famously breaking away from traditional advertisements to feature imagery of a mother and her children.[33] Also in the early 1970s, Clarins further disrupted traditional marketing by pioneering the advertorial, or "publi-rédactionnel", format in Cosmopolitan magazine, bypassing glossy, image-only ads in favor of text-heavy, educational columns. [34]
In 1980, Clarins became the leading luxury skin care brand in France, and by 1990, Clarins was the number one skin care brand in Europe and remains so today.[35][36]
In 1981, it opened its first western hemisphere subsidiary, Clarins USA, based in New York City.[37] When launching in America, Clarins refused the standard gift-with-purchase model and instead pioneered a "try before you buy" strategy utilizing targeted sampling based on personalized skin consultations. [38]
In 1984, Clarins became a public company and was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, fueling major expansions including the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Pontoise.[20]
In 1985, Clarins released its now-flagship Double Serum, combining water- and oil-soluble ingredients in a dual-chamber design.[39] Since then, the product has been reformulated numerous times, keeping it at the forefront of skincare technology. Double Serum has won nearly 450 beauty awards, has been the number one selling anti-aging serum in the UK since 2013, and a bottle is sold every three seconds.[40][9]
In 1987, Clarins launched their first fragrance, Eau Dynamisante, which has since become a cult favorite and brought the company to further study the benefits of aromatherapy.[41] The launch of Eau Dynamisante created a new category by combining the olfactory benefits of perfume with the skincare benefits of plant extracts, now known as "skinification". [42]
Clarins was the first French company, and one of the first beauty companies worldwide, to discontinue animal testing in 1987. It subsequently eliminated all active ingredients of animal origin from their formulas in 1991.[43][4][44]
In 1990, Clarins entered a strategic partnership with designer Thierry Mugler to expand into the fragrance market, leading to the 1992 launch of Angel.[45] Created by perfumers Olivier Cresp and Yves de Chirin, Angel is recognized as the first modern "gourmand" fragrance, a category characterized by edible, dessert-like accords.[46][47] The scent utilized a high dose of ethyl maltol to mimic the aroma of pralines and caramel.[48] This formulation diverged from the dominant floral and aquatic trends of the early 1990s and introduced the industry's first blue-tinted liquid.[49]
By 1998, Angel reached the top sales position in the French perfume market.[50] Internationally, the fragrance was ranked by The NPD Group as the fifth best-selling scent of all time in the United States by 2011 and was inducted into the FiFi Awards Hall of Fame in 2007.[47][51] Prior to L'Oréal's acquisition of the Mugler brand from Clarins in 2019, Angel and its 2005 successor, Alien, generated approximately $280 million in combined annual sales.[45][50]
Clarins introduced its first makeup collection in 1991, alongside a line of products featuring an anti-pollution complex.[52] Inspired by the sight of soot accumulating on car windshields, the brand specifically formulated its makeup to act as a functional shield against urban pollution. Clarins is credited with inventing this new category of anti-pollution skincare and makeup, decades before it became popular in the 2010s.[53] [54] [55]Since then, the brand's makeup offerings have included several bestsellers, such as the Joli Rouge Lipstick and Lip Comfort Oil. Clarins is credited with pioneering the modern lip oil trend by creating the world first lip oil in 2014.[56][57]
In 1994, Clarins acted as an industry incubator, taking a 23% stake in L'Occitane en Provence and providing the industrial structure needed to scale it globally. [58]
In 2002, Clarins unveiled its first line targeted towards men called ClarinsMen. The line features professional shave products, cleansers, moisturizers, eye creams, among other specialty men's skincare items.[59] The ClarinsMen line was an instant success, leaping to the second-highest position in the French men's skincare market within one year. [60][61] Currently, ClarinsMen is ranked as the fourth most popular men's skincare line globally. [62]
After nearly 25 years as a publicly traded company, in 2008, the Courtin-Clarins family made a €680 million buyout of minority shareholders to delist the company and bring it back to being a private, family-owned company.[63] In 2010, Virginie, Claire, Prisca, Christian, and Jenna Courtin-Clarins became members of the Clarins Supervisory Board to ensure the company's mission kept with the original vision of founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins.
