REVIEW: Guerlain Abeille Royale Youth Serum

What an absolutely luxurious delight this serum has been! Often times we dismiss luxury brands as not having effective skincare, that you may just be paying for the "name" more than anything. 

This particular serum helps to dispel that notion! Yes, it costs $160 for an ounce. Yes, the gorgeous glass bottle is far larger and heavier than one would ever think an ounce of product would require. But for someone serious about anti-aging, with a little extra cash burning a hole in their pocket, this serum is a must have!

The gorgeous glass bottle has a hexagonal shape through the top of the gold lid. A golden dropper with a little embossed bee is built right into the lid, which is a thing of beauty in and of itself. The bottle is quite heavy, so keep it somewhere safe. A little knock could send it crashing to the floor! (I would cry)

The main active ingredient, Royal Jelly, is very close to the top of the ingredient list. There are also other goodies, like Hyaluronic Acid, Centella Asiatica, and various peptides. The promise from Guerlain is that tiny micro-tears in the skin cause wrinkles, and Royal Jelly helps to speed up the repair process.

What I do know is that after using this serum twice a day for just a few days my skin was positively glowing! After about 10 days there was a new firmness along my jaw line and my eyes felt brighter (I tapped this serum right up to the orbital bone). 

What most surprised me about this product is the lack of silicone. There is a Dimethicone blend in there, but it's most of the way near the bottom of the ingredient list! Often when anti-aging products claim such fast results (cough *Olay* cough) they are using loads of silicones in the creams (combined with non-scientific, in-house, perception studies...not independent clinical trials).

After about a month of using this amazing serum I have to say...I am definitely in love (wouldn't it be a shame if an expensive treatment sucked?!?). My skin glows! Hydration levels are definitely up (even though I have started occasional Retin-A...more on that another time), my moisturizer works better, and my eye area is luminized!

A little goes a long way with this product! If you are in the Toronto area, get yours from Murale at Shops at Don Mills...the girls there will hook you up with loads of great samples to make the purchase even moreso worth your while! 

If you are buying it online, click on the Sephora.com logo below

Review: Guerlain Orchidée Impériale Eye & Lip Treatment

Let me preempt this review by letting you know that I did NOT win the lottery. No, I did not purchase this $198 eye cream. I was lucky enough to receive 2 generous mini tube samples of the eye cream from a lovely employee at one of my favorite Shoppes Drug Marts. By all calculations, the samples were worth an astounding $50+ (holy cow!).

According to the good folks over at Guerlain, the Orchid has amazing regenerative and long-lasting capabilities, so they decided to spend a good decade researching this phenomenon. They narrowed 30,000 species of Orchids down to THREE rare species of Orchid that most exemplified this longevity best. 

Guerlain has dedicated an astounding amount of time and money into this venture, even building a dedicated "farm" in China where they grow these very rare Orchids. Additionally, they have a re-habitation program where they re-introduce some of these rare Orchids back into the wild where they are a rare and endangered species. 

So what does this all mean for your skin? Because of the Orchid's long life span, this cream is meant to bring youth back to your skin. While I don't understand the science of it all (the use of Orchid extract is pretty much exclusive to Guerlain), I do know this: this eye cream is amazing!!!

I have been using this cream for about 3 weeks now, every morning and night. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly light it was. It is thick in appearance and texture, but your skin will drink it up entirely in MINUTES! I reapplied a thin second coat almost every time, as I am a fan of thick and almost-greasy eye creams! :) 

My eye area looks taut and bright. My fine lines are non-existent! And best of all, my concealer does not crease, pile, rub off, or move in any way-shape-or-form! I didn't even have to use my beloved Smashbox Targeted Fine Line & Pore primer!


What am I going to do?!? How will I afford to buy this amazing eye cream?!? LOL! I shall find a way...this stuff is amazing! In the meantime I will see if I can find another sample of it to tide me over until I save up enough pennies to afford this baby. ;)