Guerlain skincare receives helping hand from classically-trained talent

January 9, 2023

The orchid's impressive regenerative properties serve as the essence of Guerlain's Orchidée Impériale skincare line. Image credit: Guerlain

By Marybeth Connaughton

French beauty brand Guerlain has once again invited renowned German-Korean pianist Gina Alice to promote its anti-aging skincare collection Orchidée Impériale.

The brand has released a new generation of the collection's Micro-Lift Concentrate. In a series of accompanying campaign videos, the classical musician performs facial massages meant to complement — even enhance — the product’s performance.

The bloom of youth
Gina Alice's ability to move her fingers deftly across the piano keys has won her glowing reviews in the world of classical music. Here, she demonstrates that moving one's fingers just as deftly across the face can leave skin similarly glowing--as well as toned and sculpted.

Last summer, in a short promotional video titled “The Art of Touch,” she visited a Guerlain beauty expert to receive the brand's exclusive Imperial Face Sculpt. She credited the massage treatment with leaving her skin more taut and refreshed.

In a video from the current campaign titled “The Imperial Face Sculpt,” she receives the same treatment, this time with the benefit of the new generation of Micro-Lift Concentrate. A massage technician who remains largely out of frame proceeds to rub her thumbs firmly between Gina Alice's eyes, knead her cheeks, and lightly palm her forehead.

This latest version of Micro-Lift concentrate is the result of a microencapsulation process that Guerlain has developed over the last 15 years. Thousands of beads, both micro-fillers and micro-sculptors, work to firm and lift the wearer’s skin.

Pianist Gina Alice gives viewers a mini skincare lesson.

Finally, in “Tutorial with Gina Alice,” the star tries her own hand at a few of the techniques.

Taking the time to emulsify a serving of the serum, she begins by patting it onto her face. She rolls her knuckles under her cheekbones and forms V-shapes with her fingers while dragging them along her chin.

Viewers seem happy to have sat in on the lesson.

“Love Guerlain," one user comments on the content, posted to social media.

"Thanks for showing how to apply.”

Introduced in 2006, the Orchidée Impériale collection draws from the essence of the orchid flower, in manners both symbolic and literal.

Orchids are known for their ability to adapt, regenerate and thrive in nearly any environment, and some species can live for more than 100 years. Guerlain uses these properties of durability and repair to aid the skin in its own battle against time and the elements.

Of the more than 30,000 species of orchid on earth, the brand uses four, two of which — the "gastrodia elata," a perennial herb of the orchid variety, as well as "dendrobium fimbriatum," a derivative is native to China, the Himalayas and Indochina new to Guerlain's formula — form a powerful synergy.

A natural alliance
Nature provides the vital ingredients in Guerlain's skincare collections, and the house returns the favor with several initiatives dedicated to preservation, sustainability and research.

The brand's Orchidarium, a research effort containing three locations across two countries, is dedicated to better understanding the flower and how to protect it.

Scientists at the Orchidarium's Experimental Garden, and Research Laboratory, both in Geneva, study the flower's phytochemical properties and function, so as to determine the ideal conditions in which it can thrive (see story).

At the 400-hectare Tianzi Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China, the landscape is preserved and restored so that its endangered species can be reintroduced there.

Guerlain's Abeille Royale skincare collection uses royal jelly obtained from black bees native to Ouessant Island, a UNESCO biosphere reserve off the coast of western France. Since 2011, the brand has partnered with the Brittany Black Bee Conservatory to ensure its products are sourced sustainably, thereby protecting the bees and their habitat (see story).

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