A brief history of Clarins

What's the story? A masseur called Jacques Courtin started Clarins, a French luxury skincare brand, in 1954. Courtin made his own treatment oils that he claimed firmed the skin, and sold them from his salon in Paris. He built up quite a fanbase, including endorsements from some big French celebrities of the time. He pinched the name Clarins from a character he played in a school production, and saw it as a good luck charm. In fact, it seems he loved the name so much that he incorporated it into his own in 1978, becoming Jacques Courtin-Clarins. In 1980, Clarins was the top-selling luxury skincare brand in France; in 1981 it had expanded to the US; by 1990 it was the top selling brand in Europe; and today it is distributed to 150 countries around the world. Courtin-Clarins died in 2007 but his sons, Christian and Olivier, are now involved in carrying on the family company. What's the thinking behind it? Courtin-Clarins very much had the ladies in mind when creating his line of products. He believed that, for women, happiness was inextricably linked to beauty. In 1996, he said in an interview that "Beauty has become an important element in a woman's psychological make-up." Really? Well, he's entitled to his opinion ... What else? Clarins abandoned testing on animals in 1987 - the first French company to do so. They also have a decent track record on all things fair trade and environmentally aware. And what's good? One of their top sellers is the hand and nail treatment cream (left, £18 for 100ml, clarins.co.uk ), which comes into its own in the cold weather to help with chapping and general irritation. Personally, I'm a fan of the moisture-rich body lotion (£29 for 200ml, as before). It's a thick, super-moisturising cream which works wonderfully well on my dry arms. Not sure if it has a profound effect on my "psychological make-up" though.