Under Your Skin

Most little girls play with makeup. But from a young age Jami Morse Heidegger, third-generation owner of skincare brand Kiehl’s Since 1851, was more concerned with formulating products that would make her skin glow without it. Her early years were spent alongside her father and grandfather in the company’s old-school New York City apothecary. The bathroom was her personal laboratory where she would tinker and experiment with ingredients. Officially joining Kiehl’s at age 14, Jami went on to create more than 100 formulas, many of which still anchor the brand’s top products. 

Jami and her husband, Austrian World Cup ski champion and slalom specialist Klaus Heidegger, enjoy the outdoors and were forever in search of solutions to combat sun damage and the dry climate of their home in the California desert. For their personal use, Jami specialized in what she terms “boosted” products – topical treatments with higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants. After the couple grew Kiehl’s from a mom-and-pop shop to a globally celebrated skincare brand, they made the bittersweet decision to sell to L’Oréal in 2000. 

With that, Jami Morse Heidegger thought she was done with the beauty business. But after seeing the efficacy of her personal creams and salves (and the inefficacy of other products on the market), she and Klaus launched Retrouvé in 2015. “In the ’80s and ’90s, the technology wasn’t available to stabilize these unique formulations,” says Heidegger. Over the ensuring decades, the couple developed a triple airless protection system that maintains the potency and integrity of the vitamins and antioxidants for longer, with less oxidation. 

Retrouvé’s unisex line is packaged in elegant black glass containers topped with patented airless caps. The first two products – Intensive Replenishing Facial Moisturizer and Revitalizing Eye Concentrate Skin Hydrator – remain its best sellers and together are a dynamic duo for skin hydration. Currently, the line has around a dozen products which may be used on their own or layered together. Retrouvé offers a complimentary concierge service on its website to help clients determine the best regimen for their skin needs.

Heidegger hails from generations of farmers in Austria and many of Retrouvé’s ingredients are sourced from the family’s self-sustaining Californian permaculture farm, Palms of Malibu. The Dermal Defense Hand Cream and Luminous Cleansing Elixir, for example, are crafted with avocado extract from avocados grown on the farm. The newly launched Herbal Gel Mask features a proprietary herbal blend inspired by some of the couple’s favorite moisture-sealing ingredients harvested at the farm.

An effective antidote to the harsh elements of winter, Retrouvé has been endorsed by ski star Mikaela Shiffrin. Heidegger relies on a combination of the Revitalizing Eye Concentrate Skin Hydrator, Hydrating Lip Serum, and Intensive Replenishing Facial Moisturizer to ensure that his skin remains superbly moisturized when he’s in the Alps. And this winter, so shall we.