This year, La Prairie is celebrating 30 years of its seminal Skin Caviar collection. Long coveted for its rich nutrients, caviar was harnessed by the Swiss luxury skincare brand in 1987, creating a line that quickly became an icon for the beauty world.
At the heart of Skin Caviar is an infusion of Caviar Extract, composed of omega-3 fatty acids, nourishing vitamins and minerals, phospholipids and proteins.
La Prairie is founded in science, research, and development, and so it continued to mine caviar for future scientific breakthroughs like Caviar Water and lately Caviar Absolute used in the latest firming and lifting product: the Skin Caviar Absolute Filler.
La Prairie Skin Caviar Absolute Filler
Courtesy of La Prairie
There is beauty in the balance and unity of proportion. As we age, however, we lose the natural plumpness in our skin. Skin Caviar Absolute Filler returns the face to a fuller shape, restoring a harmony of contours and elasticity. A voluptuous, more hydrated visage and décolleté is achieved thanks to a new key component: Caviar Absolute. This concentration of oil and proteins increases skin volume, stimulates collagen, and moisturizes the skin—all delivered via La Prairie’s signature blue and mirror packaging featuring an innovative airless pump that delivers the perfect dose of cream with each press.
Whitewall spoke with La Prairie’s Director of Innovation, Dr. Daniel Stangl, about the Skin Caviar collection’s 30 years of innovation and the brand’s latest achievement toward timeless beauty, the Absolute Filler.
WHITEWALL: What was unique about the Skin Caviar collection when it first launched?
DR. DANIEL STANGL: It was a scientific breakthrough when we started using caviar in skincare 30 years ago. Nobody had thought of incorporating caviar in a skin care product for the face. Today, it is our most iconic collection.
We started with the hard-shell encapsulation of caviar in Skin Caviar back in 1987, which was new at the time. Then we came up with Liquid Lift, Essence-in-Lotion. We have developed more ways to harness the benefits of caviar over the years, as in this latest form of caviar, Caviar Absolute.
We’ve had a lot of milestones that were quite daring. And this has created the myth of the Skin Caviar collection. We are continuously exploring caviar, and we are not yet at the end of serving the needs of our clients. There is still a lot of work to do.
La Prairie Skin Caviar Absolute Filler
Courtesy of La Prairie
WHITEWALL: The Absolute Filler restores volume to the face, neck, and décolleté. What came first, the discovery that caviar could lift and firm, or the desire to create a product that restores density?
DR. DANIEL STANGL: It runs in parallel. Independent of individual products, we are always working to understand the full potential of the benefits caviar can offer. Whenever we discover a new form, we test it, see the results, and move forward. At some point, we realized that this form of caviar was capable of increasing volume.
At the same time, we had consumer concerns about losing volume. Loss of volume is related to sagging and lack of firmness—everything is interlinked. At some point, these two insights come together and we create a product based on both the consumer needs and new research in science.
La Prairie Skin Caviar Absolute Filler
Courtesy of La Prairie
WHITEWALL: The Skin Caviar collection launched with a product that mimicked the very shape of caviar beads, and the Absolute Filler’s bouncy texture references the desired results of using the product. What is the relationship between function and form for La Prairie?
DR. DANIEL STANGL: We have real experts in formulation in our laboratories. It’s key that the sensorial experience reflects the benefits of the product. Here, this bouncing effect transmits the idea of firmness and volume.
We try to achieve the unexpected. I think the function of art is to open your eyes, to show you a new view of your everyday. In that way, we try to come up with new ways of approaching skincare. It’s about making links nobody would think of otherwise and thinking the unthinkable. Most of the time it stays a crazy idea, but sometimes something comes out of it, and there’s a breakthrough that surprises and delights.
