Clark's Botanicals

Clark's Botanicals isn't your typical beauty brand story-it's basically a medical miracle wrapped in jasmine-scented packaging. Francesco Clark was 24 years old with a promising career at Harper's Bazaar when his entire world was turned upside-down. On June 1, 2002, Francesco dove headfirst into a swimming pool and crashed into the bottom. He became paralyzed from the neck down. But here's where it gets interesting: his injury left him unable to sweat, which sounds like a blessing until you realize it meant his skin couldn't regulate itself properly.

So Francesco and his father-a doctor trained in homeopathy-started experimenting. After five years and 78 formulations, a star was born: Jasmine Catalyst ComplexTM, the fortifying proprietary base from which all Clark's Botanicals products are made, turned back the clock on Francesco's prematurely aging skin. That's not marketing fluff; that's literally how this brand came to exist.

The hero product? Their signature Smoothing Marine Cream-this award-winning, best-selling moisturizer brightens and smooths while targeting signs of aging and stressed skin, leaving your complexion radiant and refreshed. It's got a cult following that includes Michelle Obama and Madonna, which tells you something about its effectiveness. The unique formula uses 5% sugar-derived glycolic acid (AHA) to penetrate the skin, stimulating its own hyaluronic acid production. Perfect for normal to oily, congested skin, this cream exfoliates, clears pores, clarifies complexion, and hydrates.

What makes Clark's different is their obsession with that jasmine base. Jasmine's potent and reliable anti-bacterial, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties protect, regulate and calm the skin, allowing for more aggressive ingredients to bring about their changes without irritation. It's like having a bouncer for your face-letting the good stuff in while keeping irritation out.

And they're not just throwing around "clean beauty" buzzwords. They are efficacious but will never include toxins like formaldehyde, parabens, or sulfates. And we never test on animals or use any animal byproducts. Plus, Clark's Botanicals is a committed donor to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and more recently to Northwell Health and Montefiore Medical Center.

The brand's gotten serious recognition too-Winner: Women's Wear Daily's Top 100 Skincare Products of all Time! Our first product is the ultimate moisturizer and an iconic award-winner - Allure's Best of Beauty and Women's Wear Daily's Best Moisturizer of All Time. When you're dealing with skin that literally can't function normally and you create products that work, you've probably figured something out that the rest of us need to know about.