Clarins Double Serum launched in 1985 as two bottles because its water-based and oil-based actives would not combine, and it is now in its ninth generation. Here are the serum, its eye version, the moisturizers that follow it and the Clarins masks and oil I use around it.
Clarins Double Serum Started as Two Bottles You Mixed Yourself
Jacques Courtin-Clarins opened his first beauty institute on the rue Tronchet in Paris on March 15, 1954, and Clarins is still a family-run French company. In 1985 he created a serum with a problem: the water-soluble and oil-based plant actives he wanted would not sit together in one formula. So the original came as two bottles that you mixed yourself. That is where the name comes from, and Clarins Double Serum is now in its ninth generation, with 22 plant extracts. I like it because it behaves the way a face serum should, a few drops pressed in and then gone under whatever comes next. The original texture is slightly richer, and the Light Texture version is the one I use in summer. The Double Serum Eye concentrate and the Total Eye Lift cream round out the first row, one for depuffing and brightening, the other a firming eye cream you can refill. Use the serum first, the eye product second, and give it a minute before moisturizer.
Double Serum and the eye pair
Double Serum To Firm, Boost Radiance & Refine Pores
Clarins
$142
Double Serum Light Texture To Firm, Boost Radiance & Refine Pores
Clarins
$96
Double Serum Eye Brightening & Depuffing Anti-Aging Concentrate
Clarins
$86
Total Eye Lift Refillable Eye Cream for Firming, Wrinkles, Dark Circles & Puffiness
Clarins
$95
Day cream, night cream
The second row is two moisturizer pairs, each with a day and a night version. Multi-Active is the first one to try, with niacinamide for lines, pores and glow, and a texture that works under makeup. Extra-Firming is richer, with collagen polypeptide and niacinamide, and it is the pair I would choose once skin starts to feel less bouncy. The Extra-Firming night cream is my favorite of the four, nourishing without sitting on the surface. Use the day versions after the serum in the morning, and the night versions on their own if your skin feels balanced.
Two moisturizer pairs, day and night
Multi-Active Day Moisturizer for Lines, Pores, Glow with Niacinamide
Clarins
$62
Multi-Active Night Moisturizer for Lines, Pores, Glow with Niacinamide
Clarins
$65
Extra-Firming Energy Refillable Moisturizer with Collagen Polypeptide & Niacinamide
Clarins
$85
Extra-Firming Night Refillable Moisturizer with Collagen Polypeptide & Niacinamide
Clarins
$110
The extras I keep nearby
The last row is the part of the routine that is pure pleasure. Cryo-Flash is a cooling mask that shrinks the look of pores and lifts, and V-Facial is a depuffing mask for mornings after a late night. Santal is a face treatment oil made with plant extracts, soothing and fragrant, and it reminds me that Clarins started as a beauty institute. The Lip Perfector is a sheer, shimmering gloss that hydrates and plumps the look of lips. What I would skip is using both masks and the oil on the same night. One treat at a time is how you notice what each one does.
The order I use it in
Morning is Double Serum, the eye concentrate and Multi-Active day. Night is Double Serum, Total Eye Lift and the Extra-Firming night version. Masks and the oil come once or twice a week. It is a routine that started in a Paris institute more than seventy years ago, and it still feels like a small appointment with yourself.
If you want the same idea in a base, I wrote about Clarins Double Serum Foundation and the 1985 serum behind the name.
