Le Clair skincare
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Le Clair luxury skincare is a newly launched range from award winning facialist, Clare Townley, whose worked for 25 years in the industry. Having worked on over 10,000 faces in her time, she wanted to create clean ingredient products that had science-based efficacy but were formulated from authenticity. I caught up with her to find out about her focus on hydration, working with pharmacists on formulation, and the launch in John Bell & Croyden.
‘During my time in beauty and working with different brands I have seen so many different types of skin – aggravated, frozen, inflamed – people were coming to me desperately using peels or treatments that didn’t suit their skin type.’ That was the catalyst to launch Le Clair that supported and maintained the skin barrier but also aimed to make the skin the best it can be without invasive treatments.
First launching in 2018 with a crème and eye serum, Covid hit and as Clare saw more clients over saturating and de-sensitising their skin with too many products ‘that just sit on the surface layer,’ she decided to go back to the drawing board and relaunch with the now five essential product range. ‘I wanted to focus on clean ingredients that were powerful but not going to upset the acid mantle and skin barrier and also strengthen the skin.’
‘I started mixing from my kitchen table – I have a lot of knowledge of textures and formulations- but found as an independent start up it can be difficult to source the botanicals and clean ingredients I wanted in a sustainable way. So, I began working with a local pharmacist who found the frankincense I wanted, for instance, and we went back and forth on testing.’
Le Clair first intrigued me as a sensitive skin sufferer who also suffers from skin de-hydration because Clare unusually makes ‘hydration’ the core tenet of all the Le Clair formulations. ‘All the skin types I treated over the years had de-hydration issues underlying. There is much misinformation out there about beauty but it is possible to have an oily skin type and also suffer from skin dehydration.’ This focus directs her unique botanical meet active blends which include sumptuous ingredients such as horse chestnut, walnut shell powder, orange blossom, sea algae and frankincense alongside Vitamin C,A,E. She also opts for ferulic acid over hyaluronic acid, ‘I love ferulic acid; it’s less known than hyaluronic acid but I find it 10 times more effective in both hydrating the skin and working to amplify the other ingredients such as Vitamin C to reach deeper into the skin layers.’
Le Clair’s bestselling Velvet Crème also includes retinol but Clare assures ‘the percentages are so low – 0.03 – which is just enough to help open the skin and allow in the other products.’ Those other products include sea kelp, ‘great for hydrating skin’, sea algae, ‘great for plumping and maintaining skin longevity,’ and Frankincense, ‘a great anti-inflammatory,’ alongside shea butter, green tea, aloe vera and the ferulic acid and Vitamin C, A, E. A miracle worker for natural anti-ageing, smoothing fine lines and wrinkles and improving collagen generating and skin texture.
Other enticing products that work across all skin types, ‘nothing we create will ever be detrimental to the skin due to the formulation blends and percentages,’ include Face Wash, Eye Lift Serum, Renewal Exfoliant, Radiance Mask. The Eye Lift serum includes horse chestnut which is good for strengthening the capillaries and hydrating orange blossom. What was the most challenging product to formulate? ‘I would say the exfoliator. I think people have had such bad experiences with main market exfoliators that they are quick to assume they are rough on the skin. We wanted to insure we created an exfoliator that was effective but still softened the skin: we use walnut shell powder and sugar cane that exfoliate, dissolve but not abrasive in texture. Sometimes I even leave it on like a mask for 10 minutes to allow the formulation to seep in. I am really proud of the product.’
The founder’s meticulous work around ingredients and formulations has paid off: Le Clair is currently undergoing the process of receiving an acclaimed Positive Luxury butterfly, ‘they go through brands intensely over a nine month period testing everything from ingredient transparency, sourcing to packaging and final product .’ It’ s a great endorsement ‘although obviously as a brand, it’s not fundamentally possible to be 100% organic and sustainable, because skincare products need a form of preservative to last.’ Le Clair have also worked with a new packaging manufacturer in Italy to switch all packaging and bottling to glass.
Next, they have the exciting launch in the prestigious John Bell & Croyden this month, ‘they have been so great to work with. I think they were interested in the niche concept of the brand, the clean ingredients and my background in the industry over a long period.’
Le Clair will be expanding the range with seven new products ‘not to overload but to elevate the product offer.’ Clare concludes, ‘I don’t believe in people who at 40years are expecting skin of a 17-year-old, I want people to embrace their skin.’ She continues, ‘However, Le Clair uses ingredients all scientifically shown to help with ageing, we ultimately want to maintain and strengthen skin.We want to make people’s skin the very best it can be.’
I look forward to following the developments.