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Clarins: The Ultimate Anti-Ageing Skincare Guide
By Gabriella Buckner
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Sure, you could avoid smiling and sun exposure for your entire life to slow down signs of ageing, but that doesn’t sound like much fun to us. So it’s pretty important, especially if you’re worried about sagging skin and age spots, to start early on an anti-ageing skincare routine.
That being said, if you’re late to the skin regimen party, don’t fret (that’ll only cause more wrinkles!), you’ll still get great results with a routine built on highly effective products from brands that specialise in anti-ageing.
Enter French family-owned brand Clarins!
Just one of many things we love about Clarins is the principles on which it was founded—listening to women’s needs and utilising the power of nature.
Since its start in 1954 by Jacques Courtin-Clarins, the brand has been all about understanding what products women want and then creating highly effective solutions with plant-based ingredients. They ‘always choose a natural ingredient over a chemical one’ as long as the efficacy is the same, and are constantly discovering new properties of botanicals that do wonders for skin.
Sustainability
But Clarins don’t just stop at using nature, they respect it.
In Domaine Clarins, the brand’s open-air laboratory in the Alps, growers use gentle farming techniques in pollution-free soil according to plants’ natural growing season. On top of that, they’re part of a plethora of initiatives that provide meals for children, support the planet’s biodiversity by protecting and growing forests, combat plastic waste in water and much more.
As for future goals, by 2025, Clarins have committed to a 100% sustainable supply chain, 100% recyclable packaging and a 30% reduction in their carbon footprint—to name a few.
How to build an anti-ageing skincare routine
Clarins recommend using an anti-ageing day cream, night cream and eye cream daily, paired with a face scrub or exfoliating treatment once or twice a week to slough off those dead skin cells and help your products get into your skin.
They offer expertly crafted products for all skin types, designed to give you back the suppleness, firmness and radiance of youth.
To help you get started, we’ve rounded up our favourite products from Clarins. Whether you’re building an anti-ageing routine from scratch or are just looking for a few new wrinkle-busters to add to your collection, there’s definitely something for everyone from this chic and sustainable brand.
CLEANSERS
Whilst none of Clarins' cleansers have explicit anti-ageing properties at a first glance, they're pretty much all super gentle to the skin, which is a must-have for maturing skin - which becomes more delicate as we age. They also all contain a blend of Alpine herbs that are grown on Domaine Clarins, designed to soften and protect the skin.
Dermatologists recommend choosing cleansers that are gentle, barrier-strengthening and oil, milk or cream based to ensure you don't strip your skin. You want something that will give you an effective cleanse, getting rid of impurities and makeup, to make way for all of the other amazing anti-ageing products in your routine.
We love how nourishing Clarins' cleansers are, and we're sure your skin will love them too!
Shop our favourite cleansers:
Clarins Velvet Cleansing Milk
£16.01 £25.00 (36% off)This best selling cleansing milk is creamy and comforting, soothing the skin with yellow gentian extract and lemon balm extract as it cleanses away light makeup. The moringa in it detoxifies your skin of pollution particles.
Clarins Total Cleansing Oil
£19.58 £27.00 (28% off)This lightweight cleansing oil activates with water to become a silky milk texture your delicate skin will love. It dissolves even heavy makeup and any pollutants on the skin, leaving you with a comfortable and soft complexion. It also preserves the skin's natural microbiota balance, which is super important for maintaining your skin barrier.
Clarins One Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser
£24.41 £32.00 (24% off)The anti-pollution formula in this cleanser-toner hybrid is perfect for mature skin, as pollution particles can cause premature ageing. Moringa and orange extracts remove stubborn makeup and help give your skin a healthy, youthful glow, whilst silica microbeads offer a gentle exfoliation to clear out your pores and remove dead skin.
For oily, normal, dry and combination skin.
ESSENCES AND SERUMS
Once you've cleansed and toned, it's time for your essence and serum! Clarins have a huge range of options for preventing signs of ageing, no matter your skin type.
Generally, essences are targeted more towards hydration whilst serums are slightly thicker and contain high concentrations of ingredients to address different skin concerns. You don't always need both, but if you'd like to cover all your bases, skincare experts recommending using an essence and then serum (since you're moving lightest to heaviest when it comes to skincare).
Shop our favourite anti-ageing Clarins' essences:
Clarins Multi-Active Treatment Essence
£24.99 £39.00 (36% off)Ideal for those in their 30s looking to preserve their youthfulness, this essence combines powerful botanicals (like meadowsweet to mattify and ginseng to energise) with a hyaluronic acid complex for intense hydration. It also helps prep the skin for the rest of your skincare routine and reduces the appearance of pores!
Clarins Super Restorative Treatment Essence
£26.85 £41.10 (35% off)For older women going through menopause, choose this essence! It contains the botanical harungana, which acts as a less irritating retinol to firm your skin, as well as red jania extract for moisturising and protecting and organic gorse extract for helping stimulate collagen and elastic production. Skin is left rejuvenated and more toned.
Clarins Nutri Lumiere Treatment Essence
£36.30This nutrient-rich essence lotion exfoliates and energises mature skin, thanks to organic horse chestnut to give skin healthy luminosity, oat for smoothing and soothing and hibiscus for removing dead skin cells.
And here are our top anti-ageing Clarins' serums:
Clarins Double Serum
£41.95 £89.00 (53% off)One of the brand's most popular products ever, the Clarins Double Serum is an anti-ageing concentrate that helps with hydration, nutrition, oxygenation, regeneration and protection - five vital functions for healthy, firm and radiant skin. It uses 21 active plant extracts to smooth fine lines, reduce the appearance of pores and strengthen your skin barrier. Avocado, kiwi fruit, goji berry and leaf of life are just some of its powerful botanical ingredients.
Clarins Shaping Facial Lift Total V Contouring Serum
£46.99 £62.00 (25% off)Claiming to be the latest advancement in contouring, this serum uses organic agropyron, a wheat grass that is Clarins' new plant innovation. It visibly sculpts, slims and depuffs your face for youthful definition, whilst hyaluronic acid hydrates your skin and zerumbet ginger extract and horse chestnut help drain tissues for extra depuffing.
Clarins Super Restorative Remodelling Serum
£79.28 £90.00 (12% off)Another innovative serum from Clarins, this one helps prevent the melting of adipose tissue and redefines your facial contours for a youthful look. Organic harungana extract reactivates fibroblasts in your skin to combat the wrinkles caused by gravity as we age. Plus, the serum also reduces age-related dark spots! What's not to love?
Clarins Double Eye Serum
£66.31The delicate skin around your eye often shows the first signs of ageing, so we love a strong eye serum like this one to smooth, firm and brighten the area. Made with 13 plant extracts such as wild chervil, turmeric, oat and leaf of life, the serum also offers protection from pollution particles and depuffs under-eye bags.
MOISTURISERS
As we already touched on, as we get older and our cell processes slow down, our skin often appears drier, duller and more sagging. We lose collagen and therefore structure and elasticity in our face, but Clarins has created several moisturisers that help it look plump and glowing. With lovely ingredients to tone and hydrate the skin, such as their botanical alternative to retinol called harungana, Clarins' moisturisers are sure to give your skin a real boost.
Our favourite anti-ageing Clarins moisturisers:
Clarins Super Restorative Day Cream All Skin Types
£63.99 £82.00 (22% off)This day cream protects your natural skin barrier with squalane while fighting gravity's effect with harungana for bouncy, smooth skin. There's also vitamin C derivative, desert date to even out skin tone and coconut water for cell nutrition. And if you fall in love, you can also get a night cream version of this product!
Clarins Extra Firming Day Cream All Skin Types
£60.50This wrinkle-control daily moisturiser is fresh and silky, plumping up your skin with extract of kangaroo flower and making your facial contours more prominent for an overall youthful effect.
Clarins also offer an SPF15 version of this product to help prevent premature ageing from the sun, plus a dry skin day cream version as well as a night cream. Time to load up!
Clarins Multi Active Night Cream For Dry Skin
£44.37 £51.76 (15% off)Ideal for those in their 30s with normal to dry skin, this night cream contains golden poppy extract to reduce signs of ageing as well as lack of sleep, restoring your radiance for youthful skin.
Here's how Clarins recommends applying your face creams:
BODY CARE
As we always say, skincare isn't just about your face. And this is especially true when it comes to anti-ageing skincare, as your body can also show tell-tale signs of age.
Clarins have plenty of firming treatments to help tone and firm sagging skin all over the body, so here are just a few of our top picks.
Clarins Firming Treatment Body Shaping Cream
£33.60 £42.00 (20% off)Use this cream on all skin types that show signs of ageing, massaging in poppy extract - which helps eliminate stubborn fat - and hibiscus flower extract - which exfoliates skin naturally. There's also betaine from beet root to hydrate and smooth.
Clarins Bust Beauty Extra Lift Gel
£38.48 £45.00 (15% off)For a lift in the bust area, you'll love this tightening and refreshing gel that uses collagen-boosting vu shua and oat sugars. There's an immediate tightening effect to sagging breasts, and with continued use you can get lasting results.
Clarins Body Treatment Oil 'Anti-Eau' Contouring/Strengthening
£35.70This award-winning body-contouring oil uses 100% pure plant extracts to firm your skin, eliminate toxins and lock in moisture. Plus, the aroma is totally relaxing despite the way this oil energises your skin!
GIFT SETS
You know we love a good gift set, whether it's actually for someone else or if you're planning to pocket both the gift and the savings that usually comes with buying a set.
Clarins' gift sets come in the cutest bags, with everything you need to support glowing and youthful skin.
Clarins Super Restorative Collection
£76.87 £82.00 (7% off)This collection supports peri- and post-menopausal skin with the Restorative day and night creams and Super Remodelling Serum. The ingredients in this trio brighten, tighten and smooth skin, fighting wrinkles and other signs of ageing.
Clarins Extra-Firming Collection
£60.69 £62.00 (3% off)Featuring the Extra-Firming Day and Night Creams we've already gushed about as well as the cult-classic Extra-Firming Phyto-Serum (a lifting serum with the botanicals mitracarpus, kangaroo flower and white lupine to tighten and reduce wrinkles), this collection gives your skin back its youthful bounce.
Now that you're all loaded up on knowledge about Clarins and a cartful of their anti-ageing goodies, you might like to read about The Best Retinol Alternatives for Sensitive Skin to further address signs of ageing or more of our favourite Anti-Ageing Skincare Products for Fine Lines and Wrinkles.
Written by Gabriella Buckner
Gabriella is a junior content writer with a background in creative writing, content marketing and journalism. She’s passionate about all things makeup and skincare, but especially vegan and cruelty-free beauty that is effective and inexpensive.
