Clarins’ New Labor of Love

NEW YORK — Clarins is counting on the power of love.

Later this year, the beauty company will put its beliefs to the test when it launches a pair of women’s fragrances — Par Amour and Par Amour Toujours — in tandem.

The two fragrances, each offering a different formula, will be presented as a mother-daughter combination. The plan is not to market the scents literally to mothers and daughters, according to Clarins executives, but to illustrate and dramatize the love that binds them.

“It can be viewed as an expression of love through the relationship a mother has with her daughter,” said Eric Horowitz, president of the Clarins brand in New York.

Caroline Pieper-Vogt, senior vice president of marketing, explained how the print ad is designed to promote two fragrances, called For Love and For Love Always. The visual shows a woman and child beneath a fairy-tale tree. The slogan is “Love — saying it; love — feeling it; love — sharing it.” The photographer is Claude Guillaumin and the tree was painted by Liliana Guderska.

The fragrances will be launched in Europe first. In the U.K., where Mother’s Day falls earlier, the debut is slated for March. In France, the fragrances are due on counter in April. The U.S. is holding its fire until August to get a good start on the all-important fall-holiday season.

Horowitz maintains that skipping Mother’s Day will allow the company to “concentrate our resources in the most productive time.” He added, “We won’t pigeonhole [the launch] in the Mother’s Day period.”

This is a Clarins brand concept and the fragrances will be merchandised only at the Clarins counter, which in the U.S. encompasses a limited distribution network of 1,000 doors. “It’s an opportunity for us to have more punch at our counter and to tell the Clarins story,” Horowitz said. “First and foremost, it was developed with our customer in mind.”

Horowitz added that the brand’s core group of customers range in age from the early 30s to late 40s. “We want to create an emotional connection between our customer and the brand that we know they love so much,” he said. Pieper-Vogt underscored the point by alluding to “the halo effect the launch will have on the entire brand and the emotional effect on the field force.”

This is not the first women’s fragrances launched by Clarins, but Horowitz sees this project as possessing the most gravitas in terms of “depth of resources to support it and the development reflected in the presentation and bottle.”

Clarins in the past has launched three other fragrances, being with Eau Dynamisante, a 1987 eau fraîche; Elysium in 1993, and Eau Tranquility, a recently launched scent that is billed as a fragrance with treatment qualities.

“We are committed to being a complete beauty company,” Horowitz said, ticking off the brand’s penetration in the other categories of women’s and men’s skin care and color cosmetics. “This is the first step toward rounding out the brand.”

Added Pieper-Vogt: “This concept is more about Clarins than anything we have done.”

Clarins does not break out sales or advertising projections. But industry sources estimate that the pair of new fragrances could do more than $10 million in retail sales for the first 12 months in the U.S. alone, driven by an advertising and promotion campaign of perhaps $3 million to $5 million. Roughly one million samples will be handed out, containing vials of each fragrance per packet. The fragrances, developed by Charabot, offer clear differences. 

Par Amour, created by perfumer Raphael Haury, is a floral-woody eau de parfum. Key notes include Ottoman rose, pink peppercorn, black currant and sandalwood. The formula hangs together with Siamese benzoin.

A 1.7-oz. bottle will retail for $60; a 3.4-oz. version, for $82, and a 3.4-oz. refill, for $67.

Par Amour Toujours, created by Emile Bouge, was designed as a lighter, more youthful scent infused with vitality. It comes as an eau de toilette and is a floral-fruity combination. Rose is mixed with pink grapefruit and raspberry, and pink peppercorns and black currant buds add accents. Toujours will be available in a 1.7-oz. size retailing for $40, and a purse spray, for $30.

Both bottles were designed by Federico Restrepo.