A pharmacist, his wife, and one blue active.

Dr. Richard Eckstein was a pharmacist. He founded the company with his wife, Linde Eckstein. The parent company still carries her name: Linde Eckstein GmbH + Co. KG.

A pharmacist begins with the problem, not the product. You look at what the skin is doing. Then you choose an active that answers it. That order of work has not changed here.

Azulene is the deep-blue active distilled from chamomile. It is the ingredient the house is built on. You can see it in the bottle before you feel it on the skin.

It suits skin that reacts. That single choice shaped the range that followed, and it still names some of the best-known products in it.

The company has never been sold. Three generations of the same family have run it. That is slower than the alternative. It means growth is paid for out of the work rather than borrowed against a trend.

What it buys is a long memory. A formulation is not changed because a season asks for it. The company records a PRIX CIDESCO in 1957, early in its history.

Research, formulation and manufacture all happen at the company's own site in Oberasbach, near Nuremberg. Nothing is farmed out.

Production follows EU Good Manufacturing Practice. The formulations exclude mineral oils, silicone oils and artificial colours.

Morenga Cosmetics (Pty) Ltd is the authorised distributor for South Africa and Namibia. They are based in Sunninghill, Johannesburg.

The range reaches you through trained salons and through Healthy Skin Solutions. It is not on supermarket shelves. Find a stockist.