Luxury Japanese skin-care and makeup brand Clé de Peau Beauté quietly launched in the Philippines just over a year ago with a pop-up store in Greenbelt, Makati. Best known for its concealer, Clé de Peau also has an amazing lineup of toners, essences, emulsions and creams that promise to unlock your skin’s radiance.
I recently got to visit the beautiful and fairly new Clé de Peau boutique in Greenbelt 5, thanks to The Beauty Edit’s Nicole Limos Morales, who organized a soiree for beauty editors, writers and enthusiasts.
As a brand, Clé de Peau is built on the premise that the skin is intelligent and has an innate ability to defend and repair itself. The skin can also discern good stimuli from bad and react accordingly.
Aside from the concealer, Clé de Peau is also known for La Crème or The Cream, which, as Nicole pointed out, has over 60 meticulously selected ingredients, each formulated to its best composition to address multiple skin concerns effectively.
Years ago, my boss’s wife gave me a jar of The Cream, which costs around P32,000 by the way, and it was an amazing experience using it.
The new iteration of La Crème contains CeraFerment Extract, which enhances the skin’s ability to regenerate and become firm from within. This extract is a type of yeast discovered in Japan’s Akita Prefecture, whose residents are known to have beautiful skin. The rare extract contains ceramide, which, when encapsulated, penetrates the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the epidermis. Because of this, the product is effectively absorbed into the skin.
I am usually not a believer of beauty products being absorbed by the skin but in this case, I can believe this claim because La Crème has a rich texture that makes your skin soft and supple when you wake up (it is ideal for nighttime use).
Best used after cleansing is Clé de Peau Beauté’s The Serum, which has the exclusive Skin-Empowering Illuminator Complex, a patented technology made with Platinum Golden Silk Essence, to encourage the skin’s natural ability to defend and repair itself.
In the Clé de Peau Beauté system, a serum is usually applied after cleansing instead of a toner. This is to “awaken” the skin and “activate” it for the other products you’re about to apply next. That makes a lot of sense actually, just like most Japanese products do.
Just like The Cream, The Serum also offers a sensorial experience. If you’re the type who wants their skin-care products without any fragrances, this brand is probably not for you.
I’ve used a number of Clé de Peau Beauté’s skin-care products and I’ve enjoyed them all. I’ve seen and felt benefits after only a few days of using them. I always thought cleansers are the same but Clé de Peau’s Softening Cleansing Foam is an antioxidant-rich formula that leaves skin clean but not dry.
Another product that I have used is the Intensive Fortifying Emulsion, a luxurious nighttime moisturizer that replenishes skin with lightweight moisture throughout the night for refreshed, vibrant skin by morning. It promises to nourish dehydrated skin overnight while helping to restore damage from UV rays and dryness.
If you think these Clé de Peau products are pricey, then you’ll be surprised that the brand has an even more expensive line.
The Synactif range puts the power of skin purification and regeneration first, targeting skin problems such as wrinkles, fine lines and sagging from within. This entire line costs over P100,000.
So what makes the Synactif line so special? Through lymphatic vessel activation, it helps to refine contours in the skin and also claims to power the skin’s ability to defy age.
The Synactif range was born in 2004 and is the result of long-term studies conducted by Clé de Peau Beauté on the relationship between the lymphatic capillary lumen and the skin. These studies were done in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
The Neck and Décolleté Cream targets one of the skin’s most vulnerable areas—neck, jawline, and décoletté—which are most prone to sagging.
You can have a Synactif facial at the Clé de Peau boutique in Greenbelt 5. You can also check out their makeup and the holiday collection. I have my eye on The Luminizing Face Enhancer, a highlighter that looks so beautiful and glowing on the skin. I am buying this for myself as a holiday present.
Image credits: Clé de Peau Beauté