Erno Laszlo: 7 of the Best Products From the Legacy Brand

If you’re unfamiliar with the Hungarian doctor, he was an advocate of the double cleanse—a practice that Audrey Hepburn used with the Erno Laszlo brand’s Active Phelityl Oil and Active Phelityl Soap—long before TikTok and YouTube showed us all why a two-step cleanse was important to our routines. In 1927, Laszlo opened his first institute in Budapest, complete with a lab where he formulated personalized treatments, including the custom Phormula 3-1 made to heal the acne of Princess Stephanie of Hungary.

Over a decade later, Laszlo moved to New York and opened his first stateside institute on Fifth Avenue in 1939, with screen sirens like Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo among his first clients. The members-only institute had up to a monthlong wait. Laszlo’s impact on beauty hasn’t let up, and Patricia Schuffenhauer, chief product officer of Erno Laszlo, tells us all about the nearly 100-year-old brand.

Schuffenhauer tells Byrdie, “Dr. Erno Laszlo had a mission to support and encourage people in pursuing their life ambitions by providing science-based solutions that restored their skin to its optimum health. His pioneering approach to enabling self-care and confidence through customized skin rituals is trusted by icons of the past and present.” Schuffenhauer says that Laszlo’s approach wasn’t just about treating the skin; he also focused on overall wellness, a practice we have been discussing and adopting more now than ever.

“Dr. Laszlo famously coined the phrase ‘psycho-cosmetology’ as the art and science he employed to treat his clients,” she tells us. “At a time when dermatological science focused on the treatment of disease, his focus was on ‘understanding and addressing the connection between emotional well-being, the physiology of skin health, and the link to feeling [beautiful]. We continue to believe and promote the balance of mental health and a strong skincare ritual as the cornerstone of healthy, younger-looking skin.”

Schuffenhauer shares that the Erno Laszlo brand’s mission remains the same, as the beauty industry continues to see rapid change. “Throughout our time in the skincare wellness space, we have empowered women to reveal their best skin,” she tells Byrdie. “Since the beginning, Erno Laszlo has been devoted to delivering products with scientific efficacy behind them. The ingredients and technology used within our formulas all have a stated function within the formula or on a client’s face. As the beauty industry evolves, we try to be flexible and adapt: We stay on the forefront of raw materials and science, while also educating and becoming more transparent as our consumers become more knowledgeable and hungry for information about their skincare products.”

If you’re curious about whether you can try some of the products Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis once used, the answer is yes (we’ll share those with you below). There is even a product Dr. Laszlo created for Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s to heal a scar on her stomach after she had her appendix removed. It’s called the Phormula 3, and it will make its debut in fall 2021 as Phormula 3-10. Keep reading to learn more about this legacy brand’s signature products.