“I’m sorry. “There are no more appointments available until next week,” apologizes a saleswoman at Japanese beauty giant Shiseido’s flagship store in Ginza, Tokyo’s Golden Mile. The coveted appointments are for Inner Beauty Charge, a futuristic egg-shaped one Cabin where clients enter to enjoy a meditation session using sound, aroma and light stimuli. This holistic treatment, which lasts 30 minutes and costs 4,400 yen (approximately 28 euros), promises a time to “switch off and recharge”, although in reality it is the perfect prelude to the other services offered in the boutique: makeup courses, sources to refill personalized anti-aging serums or screens to virtually try on the shades of foundations, eye shadows and mascaras.
It’s a hot, sunny day outside on the street. Many Tokyoites walk around the city with umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. A few meters away in Shiseido there are two more temples dedicated to well-being. One of them, an 11-story tower designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, is intended for catering. There is a deli, a restaurant, a tea room… The Japanese group built this small skyscraper where the first pharmacy was previously operated by Arinobu Fukuhara, the man who founded Shiseido in 1872. It is a reference to the company’s origins. In 1902, Fukuhara expanded his business to include soda and ice cream dispensers, where he sold toothpaste and tonics. Next to Bofill’s reddish stucco tower sits a four-story building almost entirely dedicated to Clé de Peau Beauté, Shiseido’s luxury skincare and makeup brand. The best-selling product here is La Crème, which is considered one of the most expensive anti-aging night creams in the world. Its 50-milliliter presentation costs 921 euros and competes with La Mer, owned by Estée Lauder, and La Prairie, of Swiss origin.
La Crème is a leader in the premium treatment sector in Japan and is very popular in China and other Asian markets. Now it’s claiming its share of the pie in the European market, where beauty habits vary widely. “Europeans value fragrances and makeup, while Asians prefer skin care. “European customers also tend to prefer single moisturizers, while Asians prefer multi-step regimens with lotions and creams,” explains Mizuki Hashimoto, brand director at Clé de Peau.
Facade of the Shiseido flagship store in Ginza, considered the golden mile of the capital of Japan. Matthew Jordan Smith
La Crème is a luxury even for the wealthy Japanese, whose average salary is around 3,112 euros per month. The brand offers an even more expensive version, La Crème Synactif, which costs 1,285 euros and is part of an exclusive line that is applied in a cabin with machines and under the supervision of professionals knowledgeable about the lymphatic system. These are exorbitant numbers, but a bargain compared to the prices of the limited editions. Last year, Clé de Peau celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its flagship cream with a €17,000 version. The bottle was set with diamonds and came with a matching lipstick in a 24-karat gold-plated case.
The beauty business is driving fortunes in Japan, one of the most important global markets for cosmetic products, behind only the USA and China. The size of the sector in this country is expected to grow from 29 billion euros in 2023 to almost 38 billion euros in 2028. According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, there are more than 3,000 brands on the market, including global giants such as Kao and Kosé. Shiseido is the flagship of this industry with 39,000 employees, 1,200 researchers and 12 factories worldwide.
If Clé de Peau Beauté is the jewel in the crown of this giant, La Crème is the most precious and radiant jewel in this crown. The laboratories where this cream is developed and perfected are located in the industrial city of Yokohama, 40 kilometers from the shops in Ginza. The Shiseido Global Innovation Center is located in a 16-story tower in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 district. More than 56,000 square meters are dedicated to research and more than 500 scientists work there. The company has five other such centers in the USA, China, Singapore and France.
The beauty giant’s laboratories are located in the city of Yokohama, 40 kilometers from Tokyo.Matthew Jordan Smith
On the 13th floor is the laboratory where skin luminosity is examined. That’s La Crème’s main claim: it promises a more radiant complexion. The brand claims that the high concentration of its brightening ingredients improves the “skin’s intelligence” to repair itself and protect itself from damage caused by stressors. They also claim that with continued use you will achieve “greater elasticity and youth.”
According to Shiseido scientific spokesperson Nathalie Broussard, the main reason La Crème is so expensive is its ingredients. All Clé de Peau products are made with an exclusive complex developed by the company that they call “Skin Empowering Illuminator,” which, as they explain, “activates the skin’s intuitive ability to defend, repair and regenerate itself The components of this formula are local, rare and luxurious ingredients, such as Japanese pearl mussel extract or Angelica acutiloba extract, a plant native to northern Japan. According to Broussard, La Crème has the highest concentration of skin-strengthening brighteners.
“When you buy an expensive product, you expect results, and our products deliver very good results,” says the scientific spokesman, who lists other expensive and exotic components that drive up the price of La Crème. One of them is Ceraferment, a yeast extract from Akita Prefecture, a Japanese city known for the good skin of its residents. According to the brand, it stimulates capillaries and promotes collagen formation. Another ingredient is Florentine Iris Extract, which, according to studies by Clé de Peau, increases the volume, firmness and resistance of the skin. Broussard points out that it takes three years to grow and harvest the root of this plant and another three years to dry and extract its most refined essence. “La Crème has 60 other ingredients. “Achieving the perfect blend and texture is complex and requires more than 100 steps,” he concludes.
La Crème, the anti-aging cream from Clé de Peau Beauté. Matthew Jordan Smith
Many Clé de Peau and Shiseido products also contain 4MSK, an ingredient that improves uneven skin tone by fading dark spots. Dr. Kiyoshi Sato, corporate scientist and pioneer in skin luminosity research, is one of the fathers of this powerful whitening agent. “La Crème is our product with the highest concentration of this active ingredient,” he assures. “But all the ingredients we use are important. If they are effective, their price is not an issue.”
Dermatologist Sara Carrasco, member of the Spanish Aesthetic and Therapeutic Dermatology Group of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, cites another reason that explains the prices managed in the luxury cosmetics business: ambition. “It’s like a pair of glasses. You can buy some of them at the pharmacy or at Dior. Both work, but the aspirations generated by each are very different. The same thing happens in the beauty sector. The more expensive creams work, although they don’t necessarily contain more active ingredients,” says Carrasco. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a scam. “They simply have scarce and expensive active ingredients that increase their production costs, precious, demanding principles, although not always more effective or efficient,” the doctor continues, pointing out that there are already very good anti-aging products for less money on the market there are as 200 euros.
But the beauty of the skin does not only depend on cosmetics or their price. “These products are a supplement, but quality skin is achieved through a good lifestyle: a good diet, good cortisol levels, good sun protection… All of this is much more important than any cream,” concludes the doctor. Carrasco.
Shiseido’s “boutique” hosts makeup classes and features fountains for refilling serums and screens where you can virtually try out the brand’s various shades of foundations, eye shadows and mascaras.Matthew Jordan Smith
La Crème has been on the market for four decades. During this time, eight reformulations were made. Any improvement requires years of work. “It takes three to five years from understanding market needs to establishing research lines. And another one to three years to source the materials and ingredients, followed by another two years to develop the formula. Depending on the product, the development process can be quite lengthy,” explains Mizuki Hashimoto, director of Clé de Peau. Time is money. But the luxury business is in no hurry. And his customers’ pockets are bottomless.