A stable skin care composition for improving the appearance of aging skin is disclosed. The stable skin care composition that includes an effective amount of artichoke leaf extract and carob fruit extract that, in combination, can provide a synergistic increase in the up-regulation of key epidermal-associated genes related to skin aging, and thereby provide an improvement in the appearance of aging skin. The stable skin care composition excludes complexing agents and includes sunscreen agents to help photostablize the composition.