Clarins is one of the brand that frequently reformulate their products at least once a year or maybe once every 2 years? However, their star product; Clarins Double Serum was last reformulated 5 years ago. Now, for someone who are constantly in the lab R&D-ing breaking scientific technology, that is very long. This brings us back to July 2017, where Clarins launched the 8th Generation of Double Serum. I was one of the privileged media to be invited for an interview session with Marie-Hélène Lair, Clarins Scientific Communication Director a day before the big launch event.

Why Clarins took 5 years to launch a reformulated Double Serum

According to Marie-Hélène, Clarins wouldn’t want to just launch a product for the sake of launching. Because Double Serum is one of the star product within the brand itself, they wanted to get everything right, test it out before launching and then only claim it to be the new version replacing the existing product. Another reason was because the 8th generation of Double Serum comes with a special “bottle in a bottle” packaging that took them so long to get everything right.

Double Serum has always known to be a product that has dual phase in a bottle and the bottle simultaneously will pump out two of the product at the same time with a different ratio. The new Double Serum now has the most powerful anti-ageing plant extracts that are either soluble in water or in oil. 2/3 of the formula contain water-based ingredients, while 1/3 of the formula is oil based. This particular ratio is to coincide with our skin’s hydrolipidic film. That is why Double Serum is easily absorbed in.

So what makes this 8th generation Double Serum new?

You will be sorry that you ask LOL because this new Double Serum are now enriched with a whopping 20+1 plant extracts. That’s right kids. TWENTY ONE! That is because Clarins finally found the main ingredient; Tumeric and others that are able to decode the language of youth that acts on signs of ageing. Now, I don’t know about you but that sounds a little too dramatic for me 😛 . But that is not all. Wait till you hear the other scientific discovery by Clarins. It will blow your socks off.

Double Serum claimed to decode your skin’s expression and listening. When I heard this I was like huh? It is said to better stimulate the skin’s 5 vital functions such as regeneration, oxygenation, nutrition, hydration and protection. Clarins explained that our skin’s cell actually have their own language. That, I do believe. And I also believe these cells communicate with each other. Double Serum targets the skin’s communication in order to boost the 5 vital functions of the skin.

“Bottle in a bottle” packaging

Let’s talk about one of the most high tech “bottle in a bottle” packaging for the 8th generation Double Serum. Clarins listened to its loyal users on how some people think a pump of Double Serum is too much on their skin. So, Clarins invited this BRILLIANT bottle packaging that has two different dosage pump. You may use any of the dose depending on your need and preference. If you think you need more at night time, use the bigger dose. I personally use the bigger dose as it is really not that much and I’m only using Double Serum at night.

The rich yellow serum you are looking at is the color from Tumeric. The skin’s cellular listening system, also known as lipid microdomains which aim cells to “hear” messages from their environment is made possible due to the new Tumeric Extract. Clarins discovered that this ingredient is high performance and it has high concentration of Turmerone. What it does is to target the cell’s lipid microdomains and preserve its listening ability, enhance its good cellular communication and the optimize the skin’s 5 vital functions’s proper functioning.

Here comes the good news. Previously many of you complained that Double Serum is too rich and too oily for the skin. Not all but certain users probably with oilier skin. That is because of the mineral oil in the formula. You don’t have to worry now because Clarins took away mineral oil from the formulation therefore this 8th generation of Double Serum is more light and less oilier than before. It was also my first impression upon testing the product out on the back of my hand during the interview session. It was lighter in consistency and much more less oilier. The scent remains the same. Phew! That was a relief as I do love the Double Serum scent. I would be crying if they change that. I asked Marie-Hélène about the scent and how it is possible for Clarins to preserve the most loved scent despite having Tumeric in the formula. She said Clarins work with a perfumer on the scent and so they are able to retain that peachy scent. She also added that most women love Double Serum scent and they do know it. And true enough, Clarins do listen to their loyal users.

At the interview session I wanted to see how oily is the new Double Serum so I did a small paper test. As you can see from the below diagram, it is definitely not oily and the oil layer doesn’t disburse away from its original place.

Is the 8th generation Double Serum a truly most powerful anti-ageing serum ever? The word “powerful” according to Marie-Hélène is within Clarins internally, not throughout the entire beauty industry. I like the 7th generation Double Serum and has gone through probably two bottles of it #notsponsored. I thought if my skin is able to take the previous Double Serum, I would definitely love this new Double Serum even more now that mineral oil was taken out from the formula. I was wrong.

A truly most powerful anti-ageing serum ever? My thoughts

You see, for some reason I had massive breakouts ever since I started using Double Serum. It took me a week to realized I wasn’t having hormonal breakout and something is wrong with my skincare routine. I’m bummed because before this my skin was at its best state. Now I have breakouts all over my face. It was easy for me to pin-point the fault because Double Serum was the one new skincare product I incorporated into my beauty regimen. Then I ran into another skin issue. Congested skin. I could literally feel tiny bumps all over my jawline. I was feeling so bummed out everytime I wash my face because I could feel the roughness from the tiny bumps. I stopped using Double Serum and the breakout subsided. But I wasn’t ready to give up. I restarted back with Double Serum and had even more breakout. Then I finally gave up. It has been a few days since I stopped and breakout stopped as well. I was ready to book myself a facial and get the beautician to squeeze the crap out of my face. Just a few days ago the sun was bright and I took my vanity mirror out to take a closer look at those annoying tiny bumps. What seems to be congested skin (white heads) has turned to tiny black heads. I managed to get rid of the gunk with my pimple popper tool. I can still feel a few more tiny bumps but since it hasn’t turn to black heads, there’s nothing I could do. Yes a facial appointment is definitely due.

I am just going to conclude that my skin is allergic to one of the ingredient. There are 20+1 ingredients in the Double Serum so don’t ask me which one as I wouldn’t know lol.

Disclaimer: Product was given to me at the media preview event. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.