This Iconic Serum Is The French Secret For Glowing Skin

Cult Status is TZR’s series that highlights an iconic item from brands both established and buzz-worthy. In these features, you'll discover the fascinating history of how one extra-special piece exceeded expectations and became a forever product. This time, the focus is on Clarins Double Serum.

In our youth-obsessed society, it’s comforting to know that there are some things that get undeniably better with age: a bottle of Bordeaux, sulky teenagers, and Clarins’ Double Serum, to name a few. Of the latter — the instantly recognizable amber bottle from the French beauty brand has been a mainstay in many a chic woman’s skin care routine ever since it first disrupted the industry in 1985. In today’s overcrowded beauty market where launches happen faster than you can say “viral,” Clarins chose to eschew the endless churn and instead follow the Steve Jobs Apple model, focusing on a hero product and making it better, more effective, and equipped with the newest technology in each new iteration. Double Serum has gone through eight (!) versions over the past 30 years — but the brand’s ninth iteration is the most boundary-breaking yet.

But first, a quick history lesson. Clarins itself was launched in 1958 by Jacques Courtin-Clarins, a masseur who launched the brand with his own line of treatment oils that he sold out of his practice in Paris. The label was knockout hit and the first luxury skin care brand to incorporate botanical oils and natural ingredients at the core of its ethos. French women flocked to it; the rest of the world followed. Today, Clarins is run by Courtin-Clarins’ son, Olivier, and remains a family-owned and run business (his daughter, Jenna Courtin-Clarins, is a brand ambassador).

Nearly 30 years after its start, Clarins brought its first iteration of Double Serum into the market. What made the serum special was the “one third, two third” ratio — one-third of the formula was the “lipidic phase” and two-thirds was the “hydric phase.” “I call it the film we have on top of our skin,” says Marie-Helene Lair, Clarins’ global scientific communications spokesperson. “It guarantees the perfect penetration and affinity with the skin, which allows the penetration of our active ingredients.” In other words, because of the skin-mimicking formula, the active ingredients and botanicals in Double Serum were able to penetrate more deeply into the skin. It was, in short, groundbreaking.

Clarins Double Serum: The Innovation

Similar to how the iPhone 16 feels completely different to an iPhone S (remember those?), the new Double Serum takes the concept of its original formula and weaves in some pretty fascinating new science — namely, around epigenetics.

What are epigenetics? Put simply, they’re the study of how our lifestyles can negatively or positively impact our genes — and before you ask, yes, our genes are tied to how we age and show aging. It all goes back to a process called DNA methylation, which involves the attachment of small chemical groups called “methyl groups” to DNA building blocks. According to this study, when methyl groups are present on a gene, that gene is turned off or silenced, and no protein is produced from that gene — but there might be certain ingredients that can affect that process.

Along with running his family’s namesake skin care brand, Olivier is also a doctor who has spent the past 14 years practicing surgery out of a hospital near Paris. It was there that he started noticing the impact of lifestyle habits on his patients’ skin, from how long it would take to heal to the skin quality. He became fascinated with the study of epigenetics — even penning a book called Guess My Age If You Can — and eventually launched a five-year program dedicated to studying epigenetics and its effect on the signs of aging. He believed that certain skin care ingredients could actually affect the DNA methylation process, but needed a way to prove it. What happened next feels straight out of a science fiction movie. Enter: twins.

In It To Twin It

Olivier realized that the only way to truly measure epigenetics is to study people who share the same DNA and compare how their different lifestyles may have affected them — which is why he started seeking out twins. Eventually his team was able to gather 60 identical (monozygotic) twins between the ages of 35 and 64 who showed a major “gap” in signs of aging. “They have the same genes, so they're supposed to age with the same speed, with the same signs of age,” says Olivier at a press preview for the new serum. “But it was not the case. Why? Because of differences in their lifestyle.”

He then told the twin who had the most signs of aging (which he defined as “the formation of wrinkles, the lack of radiance, and the lack of skin uniformity”) to apply his new Double Serum formula every night for the next 30 days. The other twin was instructed to just cleanse and moisturize without Double Serum.

After a month, scientists measure the twins’ skin — and the results were extraordinary. “Double Serum is able to decrease the impact of epigenetics on wrinkles by 22%, increase the lack of radiance by 46%, and the lack of uniformity minus 46%,” says Katalin Berenyi, Clarins’ global GM.

The Hero Ingredients & New Packaging

The superhero ingredient Clarins credits for fueling the ninth generation of Double Serum is something called the Organic Giant Provencal Reed Extract, which it has trademarked. “It grows not far from the South of France and is really a resilient plant, [it survives] in a very tough environment, with dryness, sun exposure, dehydration,” says Berenyi. She notes that the lab studied over more than 800 plants before finding that the giant provencal reed was rich in a specific molecule that could affect epigenetics. “Our new Giant Provencal Reed extract is able to block the hyper methylation induced by distress and the epigenetic system,” she says, also noting the brand plans to publish a scientific paper on the benefits on this extract to be released in the near future.

Along with the extract, the Double Serum also features 22 other skin-boosting botanicals and five “duos” which feature standout plant ingredients paired with active molecules like vitamin E, C and peptides for a supercharged effect.

The packaging also received a refresh, with three years of designs leading up to a brand-new bottle with a dial that adjusts to a made-to-measure dosage that works for your skin’s needs.

The Takeaway

Science aside, at the end of the day, people will happily shell out money for a product if it actually works — and after using Double Serum every night for the past few weeks, I can confidently say that it does. I was experiencing a compromised skin barrier and sand paper-y feeling skin after accidentally overdoing it when testing a new acid-based face mask (not from Clarins). Over the next few days, I only applied Clarins’ Double Serum and my favorite barrier cream — after only three nights, my skin felt smooth again. After a week, I was getting compliments on my skin from coworkers. And now, after a few weeks of use, I can gladly say that Clarins new Double Serum has earned a permanent place in my skin care lineup. I love the fresh, floral (but not overpowering) scent, and the water-like texture that sinks in instantly. It healed my skin barrier in days, and has kept my oily-combination skin looking noticeably brighter, smoother and softer. The new Double Serum is a new holy grail— and I don’t even need to have twin to stand by that.