Earth Angels

Sitting behind a desk at the Clarins headquarters on lower Park Avenue in New York, Claire Courtin-Clarins, a 26-year-old artist and one of the heirs to a billion- dollar French cosmetics empire, recalls how she was introduced to her friend and collaborator, model turned philanthropist Lauren Bush Lauren, two and a half years ago. "My father fell in love with her," Courtin-Clarins says, remembering how her père, Groupe Clarins chairman Christian Courtin-Clarins, was charmed by Bush Lauren and impressed by how she had co-founded the hunger fighting organization Feed Projects. "He said, 'You really have to meet her. You will see, she is so sweet. You should be friends.' " It turns out father did know best. "She is clever and very effective in what she does," says Christian, who saw in Bush Lauren, 29, an already successful mentor for Claire and her 28-year-old sister, Virginie. "There are two ways they can spend their life: shopping, or taking advantage of their advantage. I think Lauren did the latter. I think that is what Virginie and Claire have been doing."

After the women bonded over their love of Guatemala, which Claire had recently visited, she, Virginie, and Lauren, all stunning, all well educated, began working to marry Clarins's botanically based skincare products, which have been around for almost 60 years, to the mission of the six-year-old Feed: to make the often opaque practice of giving money to a cause more visible by translating dollars spent on Feed gear (including the ubiquitous Feed tote bags) into meals or services provided to children through the United Nations World Food Programme. The Feed model is unique in that it views its givers first and foremost as consumers, albeit ones who are interested in feel-good products made with such brands as Target, Whole Foods, Tory Burch, and Bergdorf Goodman. "Lauren and her team lead with great style, panache, and purpose," says Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute and a special UN adviser. "They're bringing a new generation of young people to the great cause of ending extreme poverty and hunger."

The Clarins+Feed partnership, which began in the summer of 2011, started with the goal of paying for 1 million meals over two years—which was accomplished within just one year by selling Feed-branded cosmetic bags (one of the first pouches, made from Guatamalan fabric, was designed by Claire) filled with such Clarins classics as Beauty Flash Balm, and by holding the Clarins Million Meals Concert for Feed at Alice Tully Hall. The concert featured performances by, among others, John Legend, Natasha Bedingfield, and conductor Alan Gilbert. "One of the things I'm most proud of is that we've been able to keep reinventing the way we're working together," says Bush Lauren, who married David Lauren in 2011 and is a granddaughter of President George H.W. Bush. "When things get stale or overdone, people lose interest."

To make sure that doesn't happen, there will be two new projects this fall that are expected to push the collaboration's meal count over the 2.5 million mark. The first reconceives that beloved department store staple, the "gift with purchase." The concept—that for the cost of a lipstick or less, women get a free bag stocked with generously sized samples—is one that the Clarins brand has always been reluctant to participate in; such promotions usually mean that no matter your age or your skin type, you wind up with the same lotions, creams, and colors. But from September 18 to 29 at Macy's and macys.com, customers who buy two Clarins products will receive what the company is calling a customized Gift with Purpose. "It really reflects, in a few words, the philosophy of the partnership," Virginie says. Gift with Purpose customers will have part of their purchase price go toward 10 school meals through Feed; in return they'll receive a bag filled with six products, one of which, a moisturizer, "you can personalize depending on what age you are, so if you're 20 you don't receive day cream for a 50-year-old." Virginie works on the company's business and marketing side from Paris and, along with Claire and their cousins Jenna and Prisca, she sits on the Clarins board. (Virginie and Claire also have two young half-siblings: Jade, six, and Tom, two.)

And the next month, on October 16, Claire, who is now based in New York, will show her artwork for the first time, at a silent auction called Change Agents at Manhattan's Haven's Kitchen. For the event she is making 25 wood and paper collage portraits of men and women, many of them philanthropists, who have inspired change through their work. Each portrait features a face devoid of features, leaving viewers to rely on the curve of a chin or a hairline to identify the subject. The faces are haunting and instantly recognizable. At the moment she is researching the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, having just finished Rosa Parks, whose heart-shaped face she accentuated with the top rim of Parks's glasses. "She is my new crush," Claire says, meaning it in a way far more earnest and endearing than it sounds. The project has been especially gratifying for the family artist, who also holds a master's in architectural history from the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris. "It's exciting for me," she says, "because, studying art, I had the feeling I would never be part of the company."

Bush Lauren curated the list for the auction, which includes iconic choices such as Mother Teresa and Gandhi as well as contemporary picks like Angelina Jolie and the Cambodian sex slave turned rescuer Somaly Mam. "What Claire and I really connect on is coming up with creative ways that make a difference. World hunger is massive, overwhelming. It's discouraging," Bush Lauren says. "I hope that what we've been able to do at Feed and together with Clarins is something that is uplifting."

On Bush Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection gown ($8,000). On Courtin-Clarins, Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet (price on request); Hunter boots ($140).

On Bush Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection Gown($4,598); De Beers earrings (shown throughout; price on request);

The Clarins "Gift with Purpose" FEED 10 pouch, which will provide 10 school meals, is available September 18–29 at Macy's and macys.com.

Claire Courtin-Clarins's mixed-media portraits of, from left, Rosa Parks, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa.