November 14, 2023

BONUS | The Secrets of La Mer with Rocio Rivera PhD

1 hour 1 minute

It’s our final episode for Season 5!

I met Dr Rocio Rivera on a La Mer brand trip to Singapore in July and have been trying to get her on the show ever since.

I have had a relationship with La Mer for many years now both as consumer and a working relationship, and even I have found it to be a brand with a lot of mystery surrounding it- I’ve known the products work, I’ve seen first hand what they do for the skin, but it wasn’t until I listened to Dr Rivera speak in Singapore that I really understood the depth of research that goes into each product and just how special the story of the brand is, which is why I wanted her to relay all of that to my audience.

La Mer was founded in around 1965 after Max Huber spent something like 12 years creating an elixir to heal serious burns he’d suffered in a lab explosion. That elixir is the La Mer miracle broth, which is found in every single La Mer product, and something I learned on the trip is that each new batch of Miracle Broth contains a drop from the previous batch so there really is this rich history woven through each product.

What I love about Dr Rivera’s story is how she talks about beauty and what drew her to this particular area of science. She talks about how a pharmacist might only see a patient when they’re in need, likening it to a firefighter- no one is calling the fire department to say “Hi, I’m safe and there’s no fire. How do I keep it this way?” But when you work with the skin there’s this touchpoint, this human element- it’s all about how the science makes you feel.

In this conversation, Rocio shares why her role at La Mer really is full circle, why the iconic Creme de La Mer must be applied at a specific temperature, and whether there’s any truth to the rumour that every jar of Creme is individually hand poured.