This is a guest post from the gorgeous Lila Des Gupta of Olfactory Events, who was kind enough to test some skincare for me. Thank you so much for a great review, Lila!
Products Tested: Guerlain Abeille Royale Nourishing Day Cream £102 for 50ml
Guerlain Abeille Royale Nourishing Night Cream £118 for 50ml
Guerlain Abeille Royale Neck & Décolleté Cream (SPF 15) £82 for 50ml
What is it?
Guerlain Abeille Royale Skin Care range that uses Royal Jelly.
I remember the first time I heard about royal jelly: the romantic novelist Barbara Cartland, who was a great proponent, had written a book about its benefits called ‘The Magic of Honey. ’ I’d only just started university, so obviously, I wasn’t paying attention!
Looks
My first reaction at opening these 3 products was one of delight. The packaging of the Guerlain Abeille Royale range radiates glamour – there’s a definite ‘ooooooh’ moment when you take each one out of the box. Singly or together, they look beautiful on a dressing table, and let’s face it, who doesn’t like to have their spirits lifted in the morning with the sight of de luxe pampering products? Each pot comes supplied with a dinky little spoon, just in case you are not the slovenly type that uses fingers.
I would have given the design 10 out of 10 were it not that the print on the jars is too small for me to read without glasses. It may not be an inconvenience for some, but since I’m always losing my glasses (or my equally long-sighted husband is always snaffling away the many pairs we have round the house), I was forced to separate these beauties rather than keep them together on the dressing table, so that I could tell who was who.
A very minor quibble, I know.
Smell
As you would expect from a company with such a pedigree in the perfume world, these products all smell lovely but are not overpowering. They have a mild, fresh smell which is pleasant, but never dominating.
Consistency
This is a very personal thing – I would describe these as middle to rich. I usually use much richer creams than this, but I know a lot of people like rather light, fluid creams. A strong point of all 3 creams I tested is that they are very easily absorbed, and you only need a little. I think the consistency would keep a very broad range of people happy precisely because they are so easily absorbed.
Nourishing Day Cream
On application it has a very definite ‘firming’ sort of feeling – if you are familiar with Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, you will know what that sensation is. It feels as if the skin is being ‘tightened’ a little. At the same time you get a (not unpleasant) very mild tingling feeling that you might experience with some toners. The cream is absorbed straight away and never feels oily or heavy – you only need a little bit, which is great, because a pot will last you some time (there is a ‘use within 9 months’ logo on the bottom of each pot).
This cream is a great base for foundation and I noticed that I needed to use less than normal afterwards. I usually apply foundation with a large brush (Mac 187 Duo Fibre Brush), so it’s easy to achieve lighter coverage using this method, rather than using your fingers.
I have a hunch that the ‘tingling’ feeling is where the magic is going on. I don’t have many wrinkles (probably genetic), so I didn’t notice a change there. What I did notice, rather remarkably, was two-fold. First, I usually get quite a bit of dead skin at the sides of my nose which requires exfoliating every few days – this stopped happening, the old layers of skin just seem to be gone. Secondly, my skin is ‘combination’ skin, but I notice it has been much drier since using the cream, and in a good way. It’s unclear to me if this product comes with an SPF since this is not mentioned.
Nourishing Night Cream
This is also an easily absorbed cream. It seems to moisturise quite deeply without feeling heaving, which is certainly an achievement. What I noticed here is that using this (and the day cream) seems to have somehow ‘balanced’ or ‘equalised’ my skin, if that’s the right word. As I say, I have combination skin, but when I wake up in the morning, my skin is usually quite oily – using the creams seems to have regulated this and lowered the amount of oil produced overnight. A remarkable difference I would say.
Neck Cream & Décolleté Cream
I don’t normally like to put any cream at all on my eyes or neck – I find they are two areas where I don’t feel comfortable applying anything. Of the three creams, I think this one is the slightly richer. It has a very smooth texture to it and almost feels as if it has some smooth micrograins in it. What I liked about it was that it didn’t feel like there was much on my skin at all, so I did actually like putting it on. It has a very slight tingly feeling on application. This cream comes with an SPF of 15.
The Second Guinea Pig
The person who has the most wrinkles in our house is my husband! I wanted to see how the cream would work on person with dry skin, and I’m happy to say that it worked very well on his skin too. As long as I was the one who was applying it, he was prepared to be a guinea pig. The day cream was not too perfumed for a man to wear and it definitely worked to soften and moisturise his skin. He found the cream very easy to wear and said his skin felt much more ‘comfortable’ afterwards.
Overall Impression
Despite initial scepticism, which always comes with being a journalist, I was very pleasantly surprised how good the Abeille Royale line is. I used to think that one skin cream was much the same as another, but there is no doubt that this cream really does work on the cells and appears to somehow get rid of the dead skin on top. It also works on a range of skins – combination as well as dry skin. Overall, I have to admit, my skin does look better.
After six weeks of the trial, I went back to using my old cream while on holiday for a week. I have to admit, I found it too heavy and cloying.
When I finish the Abeille Royale line, I will definitely buy these products again.
Bottom Line: Expensive but absolutely worth having
Cream tested daily for 6 weeks
The Fine Print: PR Samples.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
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