Meet The Small-But-Mighty Plant That Powers Yves Rocher’s New Skincare Line

The plants grown in the tunnel-shaped greenhouse look too delicate to handle—the bright green leaves seem to curl inward under the weight of the tiny dewdrops that cling to them. But when I pinch one between my fingers, it’s dry, waxy and surprisingly hardy. “The leaves look wet, but those little translucent bumps are actually microvesicles filled with active molecules,” says Ophélie Bazin, the herbarium innovation manager at French skincare brand Yves Rocher, encouraging our group of beauty editors to get up close and personal with the ice plants she and her team have been cultivating for the past three months. In a week or so, they’ll be harvested to be used in the brand’s new Lift Pro-Collagène line. 

The deceptively sturdy ice plant (also known as Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) is full of surprises, I learn. Native to the deserts of South Africa, it thrives in harsh conditions thanks to the aforementioned microvesicles—glossy pouches that cover its surface, acting as both water reservoirs and built-in saltwater filters. And while most plant species average two sets of chromosomes, the ice plant can have up to 128. “It comes from regions with extreme sun exposure, which causes DNA damage, mutations and cell death,” says Bazin. “It evolved to survive. Think of it as a soccer match, where each player has 128 substitutes—you may not win, but you’re guaranteed to have enough players to finish the game.” 

The greenhouse tunnels where the ice plants are grown and harvested to be used in skincare products. (Photo: Andréanne Dion)

Intrigued by the ice plant’s adaptability and resilience, scientists at Yves Rocher discovered that its extract had powerful benefits for skin, including plumping up fine lines and wrinkles and boosting the skin’s production of hyaluronic acid and collagen. The newly launched Lift Pro-Collagène line is the result of 12 years of research, and the ice plant is the hero ingredient of the collection of creams and serums.

While the plant may be unmatched in its ability to survive extreme conditions, nothing is left to chance when it comes to getting the most potent skincare formulations possible. From the sowing density and watering mechanisms to the harvest and patented cryoextraction process developed specifically for the ice plant, every aspect of the journey from seed to skin has been optimized via carefully collected data. And it’s not just the skincare benefits or growing conditions of the plant that matter—the impact of its culture on the environment, including pollinators, water usage and soil health, is top of mind. “We continue to ask questions. If you were to come back in five years, we’d probably have found new and better ways to do things,” notes Bazin. 

Getting the harvest right requires a surprisingly human touch. “The most interesting molecules are created just as the plant is about to flower,” she explains. “If we harvest too early, we miss out on the molecules we need. If we harvest too late, they have been used by the plant to grow a flower.” The team monitors the greenhouses for visual cues that the plant’s molecules are at their peak potency. Then comes the taste test: Ice plants are edible and become significantly more acidic around the time they flower, a sure sign that the harvest, which is done by hand, is just around the corner. 

The Yves Rocher Botanical Garden in La Gacilly was founded in 1977. Over the years, it has housed more than 5,000 plants and it acts as an open-air lab for researchers. (Photo: Courtesy of La Gacilly)

Like many of the brand’s ingredients—including the cornflowers used in its bestselling makeup remover—the ice plant is grown in La Gacilly, the small Breton village in northwest France where Yves Rocher was born and started his eponymous brand in the attic of his family home in 1959 (initially making mail-order creams for varicose veins and hemorrhoids). The village is intrinsically tied to Rocher’s enduring vision and legacy: there’s an immersive museum recounting the brand’s history, a sprawling botanical garden opened to the public that acts as an open-air lab, 24 hectares of organic agroecological flower farming, processing facilities and La Grée des Landes, a luxurious eco-hotel dreamed up by Rocher himself and brought to life by his son in 2009.

Kneeling in the dirt under the tarp of the pop-up greenhouse where the ice plants grow, surrounded by the continuous buzz of insects and the hum of song birds, I was struck by nature’s power—something Rocher learned to bottle up long before it was a trend.

Meet The Yves Rocher Lift Pro-Collagène Collection

In this new line that’s been 12 years in the making, ice plant extract, hyaluronic acid and collagen work to smooth and plump skin. Formulated with a concentration of four-percent ice plant extract, the Lift Pro-Collagène Anti-Wrinkle Lifting Serum ($60) is the star of the lineup. Clinical studies showed that the appearance of wrinkles were reduced by 32 percent after four weeks of daily use.