Dermatologist Review of Peter Thomas Roth

Peter Thomas Roth (PTR) Clinical Skin Care was co-founded by Peter Thomas Roth and June Jacobs in New York City. Peter and June have been friends for many years and prior to co-founding PTR June had experience starting a skin care line for another company. The two were talking one day in the early 1990’s and the topic of joining forces to start a skin care line came up and evolved into reality. The result was the successful launch of Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care in 1993. The reference to ‘clinical’ in the title apparently relates to both the intent of the line to have a clinical focus as well as June’s prior work with dermatologists. Today, Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care shares its Park Avenue Corporate Offices with the June Jacobs Spa Collection. The two also share research, development and manufacturing resources at a facility in New Jersey.

Peter Thomas Roth became interested in skin care products for the same reasons many people do – because of personal skin and skin care issues. Mr. Roth resides in New York. His parents moved to the United States from Hungary and his family reportedly owned and operated a couple spa hotels there a century ago. Mr. Roth reportedly found some inspiration for his line from that distant tie but other key influences behind the genesis of PTR include Mr. Roth’s intense interest in his own personal skin care issues, his longtime relationship with product formulator June Jacobs and his logical desire to provide quality products to suit the needs of as many skin care clients as possible.

Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care offers a wide range of products for most skin types and many skin concerns. PTR is perhaps best known for its sunscreens, eye care products and cleansers/exfoliants. The sunscreen offering is particularly broad in the sense that it includes chemical-only blocks, mineral-only blocks and combination chemical/mineral sunscreen products. Most of the sunscreen line has a respectable SPF 30 rating and the formulations are highly rated by users. The Instant Mineral sunscreens are mineral powders that provide instant SPF. These powders have been available by others for a number of years and PTR’s products have been well received. Many people find powder sunscreens to be ideal and PTR offers three variations – original, problem skin and Un-Wrinkle. I tested PTR’s Un-Wrinkle SPF 30 powder. The product is a light rusty brown powder than goes on nicely. It takes a time or two to figure out how to dispense just the right amount of powder from the small canister onto the brush by a flick of the wrist. While I enjoyed this product I found PTR powder sunscreen containers difficult to close without catching and potentially damaging the brush. The Ultra-Light Oil Free SPF 30 sunscreen does in fact feel elegant and light. Although light, it tended to leave a slight shine and seemed to be a bit irritating to the eyes. The Max All Day Moisture Defense Cream with SPF 30 comes in a small pump container. It consists primarily of chemical sunscreens with a touch of titanium dioxide. I found this product to be a bit heavier than the rest of the line consistent with its all day moisturizing properties. The Un-Wrinkle SPF 20 product is very pleasant. Generally speaking SPF 20 products seem to represent a ‘sweet spot’ between cosmetic elegance and protection. The lower SPF specification allows for more elegant and pleasing product formulation.

Peter Thomas Roth is well known for its cleansers and exfoliants. A long time favorite of the line is the Buffing Beads which cleanse and manually exfoliate. PTR has added 1% salicylic acid to the Blemish Buffing Beads for added exfoliative power. My favorite PTR cleanser, however, is the Gentle Foaming Cleanser. This light unscented foam is dispensed in two or three pumps from its solid-feeling container. The product comes out as condensed foam that lathers well, rinses clean and is non-drying.

PTR has a large variety of moisturizers and eye creams. I found the Ultra-Lite 24/7 Anti-Aging Cellular Repair Cream to have nice texture and light initial fragrance. The product contains a blend of ‘wrinkle relaxing’ peptides that ‘promote firmer, tighter skin’. I also tried the new Eye Overhaul Duo. I enjoyed the two creams in this product, one for day with SPF 30 and the other for night. I found, however, that it was difficult to keep the jar with two neighboring creams intact and unmixed. This speaks to the bigger conundrum of product marketers regarding packaging products in jars that customers really like but that can on occasion be less neat than other packages.

Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care has a diverse product offering with very consistent labeling. The package types, however, vary widely and add to the sense that this is a rather substantive offering. The company has received excellent press and a famous ex-president and husband of the current Secretary of State is reported to use PTR products. The brand has also been mentioned in various TV series.

Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care is a well established line with a loyal following. The brand appeals to both men and women and seems to have more male adherents than most other higher end skin lines. The product offering is, for the most part, entirely competent and pleasant and the wide variety of sunscreen products is particularly commendable. Product containers could perhaps be improved some in certain cases but overall the Peter Thomas Roth Clinical Skin Care lineup is a great addition to the skin care world.