Andy Bevacqua, chief scientist for La Mer's Max Huber Research labs, is the man responsible for unlocking the great scientists' notes for recreating the top-secret formula. Huber, who created the Creme almost a half a century ago as a remedy for his severely burned skin, left the formula to his children when he died, but none of them were able to precisely replicate the process.

Bevacqua, a scientist for Estée Lauder, which purchased the brand back in 1995, set to work deciphering the code. It took him years, but he finally mastered the tricky process, which involves combining sea kelp, vitamins and minerals, citrus oil, eucalyptus, wheat germ, alfalfa, and sunflower in a biofermentation process.

Simple enough, right? Not so much: Huber also would blast his so-called Miracle Broth with sound waves, a branch of science called sonochemistry, in which certain wavelengths of sound can actually affect or even cause chemical reactions. This integral step was the magic key that made everything click together to create the Miracle Broth.

Photographed by Jer Crowle/Courtesy of La Mer