About Clarins

Clarins Group, trading as Clarins, is a French luxury skincare, cosmetics, and perfume company, which manufactures worldwide prestige quality products, usually through high-end department store counters and selected pharmacies.

Clarins started when a masseur called Jacques Courtin started Clarins, a French luxury skincare brand, in 1954. Courtin made his own treatment oils that he claimed firmed the skin and sold them from his salon in Paris. He built up quite a fanbase, including endorsements from some big French celebrities of the time.

The Clarins brand portfolio includes Clarins, Azzaro, Thierry Mugler, and My Blend. A skin care product range for men (ClarinsMen) has also been launched in 2002. The group’s division Clarins Fragrance Group, also includes Porsche Designs Parfums, David Yurman fragrances, and Swarovski parfume. It also used to own the organic cosmetics brand Kibio, and used to be a stockholder in L’Occitane but not anymore since 2008.

Courtin-Clarins very much had the ladies in mind when creating his line of products. He believed that, for women, happiness was inextricably linked to beauty. In 1996, he said in an interview that “Beauty has become an important element in a woman’s psychological make-up.” One of their top sellers is the hand and nail treatment cream which comes into its own in the cold weather to help with chapping and general irritation.

In 1980, Clarins was the top-selling luxury skincare brand in France; in 1981 it had expanded to the US; by 1990 it was the top selling brand in Europe, and today it is distributed to 150 countries around the world.