Clinique offers targeted treatment with new Smart Custom-Repair Serum

Clinique’s new Smart Serum is said to know exactly what skin does – and doesn’t – need

Clinique has updated its skincare portfolio with a new Smart Serum said to offer customised, targeted repair that visibly addresses skin’s changing needs. The product was unveiled last month in London – The Moodie Report was the exclusive travel retail media present.

Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum will be introduced to travel retail doors in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas from July, before being rolled out to Asia Pacific in September. The recommended travel retail price-points are £40.80, £57.80 and £93.50 for the 30ml, 50ml and 100ml references, respectively.

“At Clinique, we recognise that every woman is an individual,” noted Senior Vice President Product Development Janet Pardo, at the launch event. “We also know that our global client base is more than 50 million strong and includes all ethnicities – which keeps us pretty busy. We know that women are looking for products designed for their personal specifications. And our global sales volume of over 140 million units each year tells us we are giving them what we want.”

Pardo described the new serum as a product that was smart enough to understand the skin’s past – and to change its future.

“Code-named Project Platinum, [our new serum is the] culmination of decades of research, by over 100 scientists and researchers; is powered by five targeted technologies; backed by 37 worldwide patents and 12 scientific papers,” she observed. “We have created one product that reacts accordingly to everyone’s personal needs.”

Given that skin shows its age in different ways, at different rates, there are a number of different concerns to address. Some customers wish to tackle dark sports or dullness; some are troubled by lines and wrinkles; others by a lack of moisturisation and suppleness.

Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum works by understanding the distress signals sent out by damaged skin – and delivering the appropriate ingredients needed for a specific concern.

At the London launch Clinique’s Dr Tom Mammone explained how the field of epigenetics played an important role in the serum’s development

“If ingredients are not needed for a specific concern, they simply remain on call,” Pardo underlined. “The formula is that smart. It delivers only what is needed, and acts only when called upon.”

Dr Tom Mammone, Executive Director of Skin Physiology and Pharmacology, Clinique Research & Development, Worldwide, explained to media guests how both internal and external factors affected the ageing process, and how such changes transmit different signals within the skin.

Mammone also talked guests through the serum’s different sets of ingredients, each of which addresses a different skincare concern.

“First we have a soothing complex, to calm skin and prepare it for repair,” he noted. Red algae, cultivated in the Israeli desert, in a key ingredient, alongside liquorice extract and caffeine, to optimise cellular efficiency and keep irritation at bay.

The set of ingredients that targets uneven skin tone, dark spots and dullness features brightening elements such as grape extract and Dianella Ensifolia; the antioxidants Vitamin C and Ergothioneine; plus glucosamine and salicylic acid to promote cell renewal.

Lines and wrinkles are targeted with a blend of collagen-boosting peptides, encapsulated repair enzymes (Ultrasomes, Photosomes and Roxisomes), sodium RNA to visibly repair UV damage and whey protein to rebuild the skin’s support structure.

Lastly, moisture levels are maintained thanks to the inclusion of hyaluronic acid, barley extract, wheatgerm and cucumber extract.

“What I can’t overstress enough is the challenge of optimising all these different ingredients and making them work together,” Mammone noted. “It took many years and many different directions to get them to work together to the best of their abilities.”

In sensory tests incorporating eight different ethnicities, after four weeks’ use, 91% of Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum users said their skin looked smoother, 87% said it looked healthier and 81% said it looked younger. In addition, a 12-week clinical study showed visible improvements in treating uneven skin tone, dark sports, dullness, lines and wrinkles, according to Clinique.

“Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum does what is right for your skin, and your skin only,” Pardo told the launch event audience. “We believe that the whole idea of “˜custom’ and “˜smart’ is the future [for cosmetics].”

Clinique SVP Product Development Janet Pardo shares a selection of testers’ feedback
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