Reinventing one of their skincare jewels, Guerlain introduced their newly improved Advanced Youth Watery Oil. With a texture as rich as an oil, and as powerful as a serum, the new Advanced Youth Watery Oil is more efficient, more powerful and now formulated with 95% naturally-derived ingredients. Concentrated with their signature Dynamic BlackBee Repair technology, it reveals visibly plumped-up, smoother and more radiant skin.
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In conjunction with the launch of the new Advanced Youth Watery Oil, we speak to Frédéric Bonté, Guerlain’s Director of Research to find out more on the science behind their updated formula and how they harness the power of bees to create this age-defying elixir.
What type of skin is the Abeille Royale collection best suited for?
FB: The Abeille Royale line is formulated for all skin types.
What makes the pure Ouessant honey and royal jelly so enriching and powerful in the Abeille Royale formulations?
FB: Guerlain selects its honeys by ensuring their origin, the ecosystems in which they are produced (Ouessant Island and its endemic black bee for example) and their strong naturalness. We carry out numerous analyses of their composition and test them on many models of cell culture, genomics, proteomics … that we have developed. For more than ten years we have collaborated with the best specialists in skin repair. In recent years we have focused on the influence of the nervous system and its neurotransmitters for good skin repair. We are now dedicated to counterbalance the neuroinflam’ageing and its devastating effects on skin.
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What’s the best age to start integrating anti-ageing products into your routine? And which Guerlain Abeille Royale product would you recommend you should implement first?
FB: The best age to start integrating anti-aging products is around 30, because it has been demonstrated that around 30 years old, the natural synthesis of collagen starts to decrease, damages start to accumulate, and natural defences start to be less effective. The success of the Abeille Royale range is since the range is built to meet, whatever their age, the specific expectations of women through, if wanted, duos or trios of products. Our different formulas are based on a tightened and optimized choice of ingredients, more naturalness, softness, sensorial properties, and efficiency.
For example, in case of a tired skin (or for the youngest), a basic product the fabulous Abeille Royale Lotion with liposomes of royal jelly can be used to give back energy to the skin, the Abeille Royale Youth Watery Oil which favours the repair and brings an exceptional hydration to the skin. For more aged or photoexposed skin, the Abeille Royale Double R Renew & Repair Serum with our double technology gives excellent results and an exceptional satisfaction. I do not forget to mention for those with a “dehydrated” skin our day cream and/or night cream. For those who have a tired or frayed eye area, they can use in prevention or to repair their first fine lines, our eye contour serum.
With the eyes typically showing the first sign of ageing, can you tell us a bit more about the BlackBee Eye Repair Technology that’s found in the Eye R Repair Serum—and what makes it so different to your typical anti-ageing eye serum or cream?
FB: It has been shown that, usually, skin expresses the highest density of nerve fibbers/endings around the eyes. Strongly innervated, the eyelids are particularly prone to neuro-aging which disrupts repair. Our Black bee technology is ideal to repair the different neuro-aging phenomena. To counter look narrowing factors, Black Bee Repair Technology TM, is here over-concentrated in Corsican honey and has been enriched with a penetration booster and a tightening polymer dedicated to eye serum.
For this new Eye R Repair serum formula, we use, with our Black bee technology, a natural polymer for a visible lifting effect. This polymer is produced by fermenting tapioca starch (from cassava root) and gives to the formula film more flexibility and elasticity. We have coupled jojoba hydrolysed esters with a derivative from sorbitol obtained from corn starch. This molecule is said to be hydrotropic, able to increase and improve the diffusion of hydrophilic active ingredients in the thin epidermis of this area. The formula also contains natural glycols, and the texture is ultra-penetrating. It provides both freshness and a lifting effect. We can affirm that this new Abeille Royale eye serum gives an instant boost and a more open-looking look.
What has been your greatest Guerlain research discovery?
FB: For many years, Guerlain has been working to discover the skin’s repair mechanisms to delay and repair the signs of aging according to the specificities of the areas of the face. Guerlain also explores bee products, honeys, and royal jelly to select and assemble the most suitable ones and thus obtain the most sensorial and effective care products. Guerlain selects its honeys by ensuring their origin, the ecosystems in which they are produced and their strong naturalness. We carry out numerous analyses of their composition and test them on many models of cell culture, genomics, proteomics … that we have developed. For more than ten years we have collaborated with the best specialists in skin repair. In recent years we have focused on the influence of the nervous system and its neurotransmitters for good skin repair. We are now dedicated to counterbalance the neuroinflam’ ageing and its devastating effects on skin.
With Guerlain aiming for 100% of new products to be developed with at least 90% naturally-derived ingredients by this year—what have been some of the challenges and successes when it comes to formulating with natural ingredients?
FB: The Guerlain laboratories have taken up every challenge to offer a new care product capable of emotions, efficiency, and surprise, this is the case with our advanced Youth Watery Oil texture. The challenge was to select as much as possible of natural derived ingredients (following ISO norm 16128). To arouse these emotions, they imagined a rich, highly diffused and transparent texture thanks to a careful selection of 4 glycols (representing approximately 41% of the formula), while providing 2 contradictory sensory experiences: – Richness of a nutritive oil, without greasy effect; – Lightness of a refreshing water, without sticky effect. Because of its physico-chemical characteristics which do not allow its solubility in a glycol texture, Commiphora oil is preserved as pure in the heart of individual microbeads. Once agitated, these are suspended thanks to a small dose of a small amount of suspensive polymer, ready to deploy their full effectiveness at the application, without compromising on their freshness and skin bio assimilation.
On skin application, microbeads burst and release the intact and nourishing oil, without any greasy effect. From their composition (cellulose powder) and the choice of glycols present in the formula, they neutralize any greasy effect by acting like a sponge and melt immediately in contact with the skin, until their disappearance.
