The history of Eudermine, Shiseido’s skin lotion, reflects the company’s approach to makeup and lifestyle. First sold in 1893 and on the market ever since, Eudermine marked Shiseido’s move from pharmaceuticals into cosmetics production. Both its name—derived from the Greek words eu, for good, and derma for skin—and its Western-style formula were distinctive, as was its first container, an elaborate glass bottle tied with a red ribbon and bearing a flowery label in Western letters. In 1997 French designer Serge Lutens conceived its most up-to-date, and radical, incarnation—a sleek geometric flaçon labeled in a stylized Greek-inspired typeface.

1897