Photography Haris Farsarakis
Creative direction Evangelie Smyrniotaki
Hermes and Krokus were close friends. In other words, besties. Hermes an immortal God, Krokus a common mortal like us. Hermes was, like all of the Greek Gods, very athletic and one day while practicing discus throwing he accidentally killed Krokus. Hermes was devastated. How on earth had that happened? Gods never make mistakes. Thus, he decided to turn the lifeless body of his friend into a purple flower and his blood into three red stigmas in the heart of it. Krokus was now immortal, forever living in the land of Gods, Greece.
Who doesn’t love a good story… So, the time has come to share my experience of harvesting the Saffron of Korres, for their Golden Crocus Ageless Saffron Elixir Serum, in Kozani, Northern Greece (or the pure gold of the Greek land as it’s called). By the way did you know that Cleopatra used Saffron in her daily beauty routine? I didn’t… but I have done my research. I actually always investigate ingredients before using products!
So back to last autumn when I was flown to Kozani by Korres to collect the stigmas, the very heart of Krokus, with the locals – according to studies the beneficial properties are endless. Among them is one of the strongest natural antioxidants which neutralizes free radicals, helps control heart rate and blood pressure, is a strong antiseptic and last but not least it has been proven that it helps to preventing cancer. Korres is the first skincare company to use saffron after years and years of research and trials, as saffron is one of the most delicate flowers that needed an extremely delicate approach in order to be used as a beauty elixir. A small parenthesis: prior to my trip to Kozani I’ve had the honor to visit Korres labs to witness the actual production of this precious elixir. Korres is one of the few companies that uphold pharmaceutical standards. Even the water used for their products is checked three times per day from 20 different sample points, an equation that serves the highest safety standards on planet. Needless to say, their beauty labs look liked taken from a futuristic movie set.
Returning to the endless purple fields of Kozani, meeting and greeting some of the sweetest harvesting crue, local families that cultivate Krokus from generation to generation. I’m extremely proud as a Greek when Greek companies support local families in their ventures and Korres is 100% one of them. We even had the pleasure to visit a house in the village to collect the stigma from the flowers meeting the sweetest grandmothers with the most glowing skins if that says something… maybe it was this realization by Korres that gave birth to this miracle elixir? I should have asked but what i know for sure though, a couple of weeks since I’ve been using Korres, everybody seems to have noticed the difference on my skin and is asking me… What’s my secret?
