An Unexpected Greek Beauty Secret Revealed, Courtesy of Korres

An Unexpected Greek Beauty Secret Revealed, Courtesy of Korres

Staring in late spring in the Northern Hemisphere, beachgoers from around the world start to pop up on the islands of Europe. From Ibiza to Santorini, new fashion, beauty, and music styles arise from the islands every year, and in 2015, there is a beauty brand that is providing the It crowd with something to carry back home. According to an old Greek tradition, when kids came back from the beach after a day in the sun, their mothers or grandmothers would spread cold, thick Greek yogurt, right from the fridge, on the children’s backs to soothe the effects of sunburn. Now, after years of research, local brand Korres has created a formula for a sun-care line using Greece’s most famous local export: yogurt.

Korres is a family brand that was founded nearly 20 years ago by a charming couple, George and Lena Korres. They both started using natural elements from Greece’s rich environment to develop pharmaceutical products; that later grew into a beauty line. Everything is organic and cool, and on the packaging you can read the exact origin of all the ingredients. I was invited to travel to Athens and Santorini for Korres’ Brazilian launch with a group of influencers, and it was there I slowly discovered the lifestyle behind the products and all the reasons beauty was born in Greece. At the factory in Athens, we created our own personal scents using local ingredients, which taught me more about the organic lifestyle from inside out. Each collection is focused on a specific natural ingredient, such as the Santorini grapes collection or—Korres’ best-seller—the wild roses collection. In the U.S. you can find Korres products at Sephora; in the U.K., at Harvey Nichols.