Kiehl’s to Launch Personalized Skincare Service in Canada
Kiehl’s Apothecary Preparations, on display at the Toronto press launch
In September, Kiehl’s will bring its Apothecary Preparations personalized skincare service to select locations in Canada. The launch is inspired by the L’Oréal brand’s heritage: Kiehl’s started out in 1851 as a homeopathic pharmacy in New York’s East Village, offering custom treatments.
The new Apothecary Preparations service begins with a detailed, specific skincare consultation: a Kiehl’s customer representative will ask each person to rate their concerns using the brand’s Skin Atlas. The vintage-looking book features medical-grade photos (similar to what dermatologists would use) depicting five issues with varying degrees of severity: wrinkles, uneven tone, rough texture, large pores and redness. So instead of describing their concerns subjectively (one person’s “deep lines” could be another person’s “no big deal”), each consumer can select the picture that most closely matches their condition.
“We’re known for giving personalized consultations at Kiehl’s, [but] we go a little more in-depth with this, because we truly want customers to walk away with not just a closer look at their skin, but a more objective understanding of what their skin concerns are, and what the best remedies would be,” Cammie Cannella, VP of global education for the brand, explains at the Toronto press launch.
The consultation will determine which components make up the customized serum: there’s a “base,” the bottle of Skin Strengthening Concentrate, which is the same for everybody; and then two potent complexes (out of five possible options). In a nice personal touch, the three-piece kit comes complete with the customer’s name printed on the label.
Skin Strengthening Concentrate
35% squalane (lipid derived from olive fruit) and 20% Skin Lipid Complex (a blend of oils from apricot, coriander and other plants)
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Two of the following five options:
Visible Redness Neutralizing Complex
Sunflower seed oil extract and vitamin E
Texturing Refining Complex
Vitamin F (unsaturated fatty acid blend) and lipo-hydroxy acid
Brightening Complex
Vitamin C and scotch pine extract
Pore Minimizing Complex
Samphira oil and salicylic acid
Wrinkle Reducing Complex
Retinol (vitamin A) and pro-retinol (vitamin A palmitate)
The final part of the apothecary experience happens at home: that’s where the consumer “almost gets to play chemist,” says Cannella, “because it’s in their power to freshly mix [the three components] and activate the formula.” Once it’s blended altogether, the product shelf life is six months.
Apothecary Preparations, $110, will be available September at Kiehl’s stores in Toronto (Eaton Centre, Yorkdale Shopping Centre), Vancouver (Richmond Centre, Metropolis at Metrotown, Robson Street), Montreal (Ste-Catherine Street) and Calgary (Chinook Centre).
