La Prairie’s revolutionary White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire and White Caviar Illuminating Pearl Infusion dramatically reduce hyperpigmentation and skin tone unevenness, while also firming the skin.
English text by Irene Luo
Pictures courtesy of La Prairie
For many Asians, the first signs of aging are skin discoloration and age spots. Like the shadowy patches of the moon that obscure its light, age spots dim the face, dulling the luminosity of youth. After 15 years of research into active ingredients to combat discoloration and age spots, the Swiss-based luxury skin care brand La Prairie brought to market the ingredient Lumidose, introduced in 2017 as a cornerstone of the revolutionary White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire. Today, when used together with the timeless White Caviar Illuminating Pearl Infusion, the serum and cream dramatically reduce hyperpigmentation and unevenness in your skin tone, returning youthful luminosity to your complexion. The two products also smooth and firm your skin, leaving your face feeling soft and supple.
In an exclusive interview with Elite Lifestyle Magazine, La Prairie’s director of innovation, Dr. Daniel Stangl, shared the magic behind these potent formulas and how they restore an even skin tone and a youthful glow. He also offered valuable advice on how to nourish and protect our skin.
White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire is a lavish, firming face cream infused with a potent brightening ingredient called Lumidose that dispels discoloration and age spots.
The Science Behind Skin Luminosity
As we age, the naturally occurring pigments in the skin—brown, red, yellow, and gray—become more pronounced over time. Too much color is concentrated in the face and dulls the complexion. At the same time, less light is reflected as our skin becomes more uneven and wrinkled, and its collagen network loses density and structure.
Brown age spots appear on our faces and hands because these are the parts of our bodies that are most frequently exposed to the sun. When our skin is exposed to external stress factors like UV rays from the sun or infrared rays and blue light from computers and phones, it causes damage to the skin cells, especially the ones that produce melanin, the pigments in our skin. Damaged and out of control, these melanin-producing cells synthesize far too much melanin, creating large concentrations of pigments that become age spots.
To find the most effective solution to age spots and discoloration, the scientists at La Prairie screened over 50,000 active ingredients. Their tireless search was rewarded with an extraordinarily potent ingredient called Lumidose, which works by inhibiting tyrosinase, a key enzyme involved in the synthesis of melanin. Whereas other skin care companies typically test anti-age-spot formulas on mushroom tyrosinase, Dr. Stangl and his team decided they had to test Lumidose on human tyrosinase to be absolutely sure of its efficacy. After several years of developing human tyrosinase and conducting extensive tests, they found that Lumidose was more effective than any other currently known brightening ingredients, such as Vitamin C, hydroquinone, and kojic acid, while still being safe. “What we have seen is a dramatic decrease in the intensity of the brown color of the age spot,” Dr. Stangl says.
As part of the White Caviar Collection, the cream also contains rare Golden Caviar extract, the collection’s signature ingredient, which stimulates collagen production to firm and lift the skin. As wrinkles diminish, more light is reflected and luminosity returns.
A common misconception people have, Dr. Stangl says, is that more is better. Just as using more products does not necessarily mean you’ll have better skin, a product with higher percentages of active ingredients is not necessarily more effective. “It’s not important how much is in the formula. It’s important how much of that ingredient is in the viable skin—that means how much is penetrating,” Dr. Stangl says. Thus, La Prairie products are always formulated in ways that promote the penetration of active ingredients into the skin. For instance, in White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire, powerful brightening actives like glabridin penetrate the skin through a special delivery system called Smart Crystal White.
When used together, the ingredients in White Caviar Illuminating Pearl Infusion and White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire combat not just brown age spots but also the other forms of chromatic disturbances, namely, yellowing of the complexion from collagen degradation, redness from inflammation, and grayness from the accumulation of dust and pollution plus the oxidation of particulate matter on the skin. Studies have shown that overall complexion visibly improves after one month of using these two products, and after two months, your skin will glow from within.
As part of its commitment to uniting science and art, La Prairie collaborated with South Korean artist Chul Hyun Ahn, who created a series of light sculptures that explore luminosity, color, and reflection.
Protection and Prevention
For those wondering how to properly take care of their skin, Dr. Stangl has three simple pieces of advice. First, it’s important to cleanse the face gently. “The skin is very fragile, vulnerable. You can easily damage your skin and your skin barrier,” Dr. Stangl says. “My second piece of advice would be to take care of hydration of the skin. So moisturize your skin, because if the skin is not properly moisturized, all the skin functions—everything just moves downhill. And the third, probably the most important aspect, is prevention, protection.”
You should wear sunscreen whenever you will be in the sun for more than a short period of time, and not just in summer, but also in winter. This is especially true when you’re surrounded by snow or you’re at high altitudes, because the UV light is especially intense.
Dr. Stangl experienced firsthand the long-term results of not protecting the skin. “Since I was a boy, I was out in the mountains all the time, you know, also in the snow, skiing and so on. And at that time, the highest SPF that we had as a cream was an SPF 6. That doesn’t work at all. So now I see the results on my skin,” Dr. Stangl says. “You don’t see it for maybe 10 or 20 years, but at some point, you will see that you didn’t take care of your skin.”
That’s why almost all La Prairie products have both repairing and protective ingredients, such as SPF or antioxidants that bolster the skin’s natural defense mechanisms, defending cells from damage caused by free radicals generated by pollution, sunlight, and other factors. It’s harder to repair than to prevent, which is why it’s important to always protect skin from external stress factors. Dr. Stangl recommends the brand’s Cellular Swiss UV Protection Veil SPF 50—a daily-moisturizing broad spectrum that protects against the elements and pollution as well as the harmful rays of the sun. It also utilizes the brand’s Smart Crystal White Technology.
“I really feel that we should take care of our skin and listen to our skin,” Dr. Stangl says. “You only have one.”
Cellular Swiss UV Protection Veil SPF 50 is a daily-moisturizing broad spectrum that protects against the elements and pollution as well as the harmful rays of the sun.
