The Gold Standard

A packaging whore at heart, it is difficult to resist all those that glitter. But that touch of gold on my vanity will always be a reminder to dream and aspire for something better in life. 

The Dolce & Gabbana The Illuminator Shimmer is meant to be a highlighter on colored-skin, but it works well as a light contouring powder for my fair Asian skin as well. It has a great balance between matte and shimmer (very little, thank god), goes on very smoothly and is generally barely noticeable on skin with a thin layer and doesn’t give the overly defined look. It does certainly help with definition of the facial structure.

Guerlain Meteorites Perles Base Éclat Les Ors contains 3 shades of shimmering pearls suspended in the gel. Each pump will yield a different color, depending on the type of pearl that gets crushed and delivered. Some pearls may look too orange, but the color melts away on your skin to give a light, sun-kissed glow, you notice it right away, but shimmer is subtle and not “in your face”.

My favorite part is the texture. It feels like a light moisturizer, rather than the heavy texture of regular primers. Normally, primers have more pore-refining or blurring abilities due to the amount of silicone it contains. However, the effect is purely cosmetic, and silicone ain’t good for your skin. The Lancôme UV Expert GN-Shield Make Up Base SPF50 PA+++ (read review) that I have used previously is also unlike regular primers, but is still heavier than this, with a texture like foundation. The Guerlain primer is great because it is so light and moisturizing.

The shimmer is not obvious when worn under or mixed with BB cream. Worn on it’s own, though, the iridescent  shimmer shows through, and it’s simply beautiful. Not really like sparkling vampires under the sun, but I’m sure I look better. Oh shut up you vain bimbo.

Apart from the shimmer, I love this so much because it reduces dehydration lines after a long day. I am used to wearing BB cream straight after a watery serum. By the end of the day, dehydration lines will appear on my forehead and around my lips, making me look five years older. Adding this primer helped with the skincare problem. Actually, a cheaper option is wearing a gel-moisturizer, and tadah, dehydration problem solved.

OSEQUE Extra Natural Pure Oil is a very new addition to my vanity collection, as a replacement for Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate. It claims to contain eight types of plant-extracted oils hydration for glowing skin. Used on its own, it is pretty decent. It is light and absorbs easily, though not as quickly as Kiehl’s MRC.

Guerlain Success Age Splendid Deep-Action Oil-Serum

“Created using a sensual and supremely resilient flower, Intense Magnolia Concentrate imparts a youthful look to your skin and reawakens your skin’s original beauty. It helps to make up for the slow-down of the skin’s fundamental processes, which occurs at menopause, for deep-down restructuring and an anti-slackening action. Intensely nourished, the skin is fuller and regains bounce and resilience. Facial contours are re-shaped and re-sculpted. Highly concentrated, this product benefits from a silky texture.”

Before anything else, lets talk about expectations. I will not blame a company for using exaggerated claims in marketing. After all, that’s how everyone sells things, don’t they? Promise to do something extraordinary in marketing, the ads fulfills our (the consumers’) desire, and we flock to snap it up in a marketing induced fog. When it didn’t work as we expected it to, who can we blame but ourselves for not cutting through that fog?

Of course, it’s a different case with false claims, where a company may be subject to civil liability/criminal penalty. Most of the time though, advertisers still find ways to trick us in ways that are illegal but unenforceable. We can only learn to recognize their gimmicks and see past the flowery language to identify what we want out of the product when we purchase it.

So, with the Success Age Splendid Deep-Action Oil-Serum, I did not expect it to diminish my lines, give me a youthful glow or contour my facial structure. I did expect it to provide an additional layer of barrier and prevent loss of moisture when my skin was in a terribly dehydrated state.

• The texture is heavy, but easily absorbed even with another layer of watery serum underneath.
• I do prefer its texture as an oil-serum than a facial oil, because I can actually wear this out in the daytime.
• Even with BB cream layered on, it doesn’t run as much as I had anticipated, and the make up didn’t turn patchy.
• The fragrance is not as intense as I had expected from a Guerlain product.

Of course it doesn’t live up to its claims of anti-aging and facial contouring. But come on, do we honestly expect any product to do that?

After trying out all the Guerlain skincare products, I can say I’m not going to purchase any more from the skincare segment. I still have a few more products from them and I will finish, but I can get better elsewhere at a fraction of the price.

The Orchid Royalty

I purchased the Guerlain Orchidée Impériale Mask for my lovely Mom when it was on sale, but she had problem finishing it. Naturally I had to help out. I should stop buying her skincare stuff, even though she’s happy to start using them, I always end up having the finish all the products since she loses interest halfway.

The product claims are pretty tempting: “The skin looks smooth and radiant, as if filled with energy; it is plump and elastic. The complexion is even-toned and velvet-soft.”

The application guideline is very ritualistic and enjoyable:

1. Apply the product in circular movements (the mask came with a brush, but I have misplaced it and now rely on a spatular)
2. Smooth your fingertips from the forehead to the ears. Perform3 smoothing movements from the corners of the lips to the nose, ears and to the jawline.
3. Press down 3 times on the muscle attachment points indicated.
4. Gently smooth the backs of your fingers along the contours of the face. Smooth the entire forehead. 3 times.

The product claims to contain orchid butter and Imperial Orchid Molecular Extract, to deliver anti-aging benefits. I can only say, the mask feels like money. It’s highly emollient and rich, and I can imagine it being fantastic for people with dry skin. There’s a slight brightening effect immediately after application, but I’m pretty sure the effect is cosmetic. My skin responded well to the product over a month of usage, but it didn’t work out for my Mom, as she popped out whiteheads every time she uses it.

It does improve the texture of the skin, diminishing the appearance of my dehydration lines i.e. pre-wrinkles. For my Mom’s wrinkles, it didn’t do anything at all.

Of all the Guerlain products that I have tried, I like this the most. I’d probably repurchase if I have money to throw around, but I don’t, so bye-bye it is.

Guerlain Perfect White Melanin Diet Treatment Intense Whitening

Most of my photos as a teenager appear to be over-exposed—mostly you can only see my eyes and two holes for a nose. Yes, I was that pale! It started getting better after I started exercising and involving myself in outdoor activities. Recently though, I’m thinking maybe I have overdone myself a bit. When I saw Guerlain Perfect White Melanin Diet Treatment Intense Whitening on sale last year, I snapped it up.

Little did I know, this bloody thing has nearly driven me mad! It is close to impossible to find information about the product on the web. This is not even a dinosaur-age product, but information is so elusive its as if some hacker had taken down all related sites in a personal vendetta. Here’s what little I managed to find:

Guerlain Perfect White Melanin Diet Treatment Intense Whitening with pearl lily complex advanced that triggers whitening action and so prevents the appearance of dark spots. Under the effect of melanin treatment, it can reveal a translucent complexion in just 2 weeks.

The treatment consists of two weeks supply of 2.5ml vials. Week 1 and 2 treatments are of different formulations, and are supposed to achieve different purposes.

Week 1: Destock Diet

“To eliminate the deep nested melanin in all the layers of the epidermis.”

The first week ampoules are watery, I use them as serums day and night before my day BB cream and my night moisturizer. It is actually impossible to finish a vial a day, so the one week supply eventually lasted me a good 10 days. I did not notice any visible lightening or brightening, but they work fine as serums.

Week 2: Shock Diet

“To reduce the appearance of new melanin and prevent its migration and accumulation on the surface of the skin.”

The second week ampoules are of a slightly thicker consistency and has the same characteristic fragrance as the first week set. getting the last drop of treatment out is a problem because it is so thick, and I ended up spraying my facial mist into the vial to make it easier to pour out. I don’t like wastage.

My skin did not react very well to this, though, I ended up with tiny pimples and whiteheads along my cheekbones, chin and forehead. When they healed in a week, they healed with discoloration of the skin so it looks like sun spots or freckles. Sigh.

The Verdict

I am not sure if it is because of the AHA exfoliation or the treatment, but yes, I do observe brightening of the skin. It might be due to placebo effect, I’m not sure. Skin coloration is one area where it’s hard to stay objective. This is one of those try and move on products for me.

Guerlain Abeille Royal Day Cream & Serum

Before I became interested in skincare, I spent my money on perfumes. I couldn’t differentiate chypre and musk, or understand the difference between EDT and EDP, but when I got my hands on the beautiful bottle of Champs-Elysées by Guerlain, it was love at first whiff. Now I have cut down the perfume habit, because the I can’t seem to finish a full bottle. But I’m still a proud sucker for Guerlain.

These two items were by first foray into Guerlain skincare, purchased on a terrible day when I couldn’t resist temptation. And really, you cannot blame me, just look at the description:

“Bee products are some of the world’s most effective natural healing substances …a skincare programme with Pure Royal Concentrate that stimulates the key mechanisms in the healing process within the skin* to continuously help to repair wrinkles and loss of tissue firmness (*In vitro test).”

“Repair” and “firmness” are the magic words. Never mind that there is little research evidence supporting this product, and those bee extracts will probably never penetrate the dermis. Because really, who cares when its Guerlain and beautiful luxurious packaging?

Guerlain Abeille Royal Day Cream (30ml)

While this is supposed to be a day cream, I can never use this during the day in the heat and humidity. It is too heavy and cloying even when used sparingly, sometimes developing into a film on the skin when when I give it time to be absorbed.

Use at night though it is fantastic. With the lack of heat, it really does melts on the skin and leaves it feeling comfortable. However, I do not observe any improvements to the fine lines, nor do I expect it to. On the first three days of using the cream I observed minor pimples popping up, but subsequently it is fine.

Repurchase? No. There is already a gaping, bleeding hole in my purse.

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Guerlain Abeille Royal Youth Serum (50ml)

The serum is evidently the less loved of the two products. While I’m almost through with the cream, I’ve still got 75% of the serum to go. The problem is mostly with the fragrance and its lack of hydrating properties. While the scent is similar to that of the cream, the serum somehow smells more synthetic and overpowering, lingering for hours after application. It is also not as hydrating as other serums, and cannot be counted on to provide moisture in the mornings when my routine is simply cleansing > serum > BB cream. I don’t know how I’m going to finish the rest of the bottle.

Repurchase? No. I may give the bottle away.