Clinique is starting 2025 with clear eyes — and new technology backing a hero product.
The brand is introducing the Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Clearing Serum, the latest iteration of its hero dark spot product. The serum launches exclusively with Macy’s Thursday before rolling out to existing distribution 30 days later. Prices range from $63 to $124, depending on the size.
Citing Circana data, Michelle Freyre, global brand president of Clinique and Origins, said Clinique was the top beauty brand and the top skin care brand in the U.S. “Innovation is really critical for us,” she said. “Clinique is a dermatologist-guided brand, and it’s about telling our unique story: we offer safe, clinical solutions from skin care to makeup that are all allergy-tested and fragrance-free.”
Skin care sales at parent company the Estée Lauder Cos. have been challenged in other pockets of the portfolio, as they decreased 7 percent in the quarter ending Sept. 30, per a quarterly SEC filing. Nevertheless, industry sources think the reformulated serum will reach $120 million in global retail sales for its first 12 months on the market.
Most recently, newly anointed group chief executive officer Stéphane de La Faverie emphasized innovation — a facet of the business that analysts have said is lagging in recent years — was among his highest priorities.
Clinique has previously reworked other top sellers, such as its Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+, and expanded franchises around highly productive stock keeping units, such as the Clinique Pop Lip + Cheek Oil in the shade Black Honey.
The goal behind Even Better serum’s renovation, though, was to refresh the storytelling for new swaths of consumers. “We have a strong portfolio of hero products,” Freyre said. “New generations continue to discover it, and it’s important to continue building and telling the stories of those heroes.”
Equally, parlaying that innovation into a new product wouldn’t guarantee the same traction in the market.
“This product is so beloved and so effective,” said Janet Pardo, senior vice president of global product development at Clinique. “People love the formula, people love the texture. It’s safe for sensitive skin, 100 percent fragrance free.”
The underlying breakthrough for the launch was the correlation between irritation and hyperpigmentation. “We boosted the soothing and calming ingredients, we added niacinamide and vitamin C,” Pardo said. “We put it up on every skin color, we put it up in clinical testing, and we had a 96 percent improvement in dark spots on a cell of lighter skin tones, and we saw a 100 percent improvement on darker skin tones.”
The formula also highlights the brand’s proprietary antioxidant UP302, which took screenings of over 2,000 plant extracts to develop, in addition to glucosamine and salicylic acid.
“It also minimizes the appearance of pores, it brightens the skin, and you get this brightness,” she said. “This really is about great skin for all.”
The marketing mix is following suit. “Hyperpigmentation and dark spots are one of the top five reasons why a person of any age goes to a dermatologist,” said Christie Sclater, Clinique’s senior vice president of global marketing. “The concern is on people’s minds, and they’re worried about it.”
Sclater has tapped Clinique’s Dermatologist Creator Council to boost the products’ digital presence, and she is expecting a pipeline of organic content afterward.
“What we always see with our products is, as soon as they come out into the market, people tell the stories for us,” Sclater said. “It’s also a bit like a family affair, because people pass it down and they share it with the ones they love.”
Clinique’s TikTok following grew 75 percent in the last year, while engagement soared 400 percent, according to the brand.
“We believe that coming with this promise of better skin for all, and being able to talk about that, is about showing the amazing science in a simple, Clinique way. It’s not overly complicated, but telling you what you need to know,” Sclater said.
