Guerlain’s Orchidée Impériale Black n-Fusion Lotion withstands the passage of time
Dr. Frédéric Bonté, Guerlain’s Director of Scientific Communication shares everything about the house’s latest innovation for skin's self-defence.
In conjunction with the launch of Guerlain Orchidée Impériale Black n-Fusion Lotion, we caught up with Dr. Frédéric Bonté as he shared everything we want to learn about the latest skincare breakthrough.
How has the Orchidée Impériale Black line evolved over the years?
The evolution of the Orchidée Imperiale Black line is based on our growing knowledge of the life of orchids in their natural environment and aging mechanisms. Since its creation, this skincare product has benefited from our research into the defense mechanisms of orchids and our research into skin aging. With age, the immune system - the main defense system for our entire organism, including our skin - evolves, with some functions declining while others become more active. Overall, the skin's defense capacity weakens and becomes less effective. In a context of increasing daily environmental aggression, women's implicit desire, in their quest for anti-aging skincare, is to feel enveloped in a "bubble of immunity", to preserve and prolong the beauty of their skin. Guerlain strategy is to have an increasingly complete response to protect and reinforce the mechanisms responsible for the beauty of every woman's skin.
Tell us about the key advancements the Orchidée Impériale Black n-Fusion Lotion brings to the prestigious line.
Our new OI Black innovation: the n-Fusion Lotion, the precursor to immunity. The first immu-stimulating pre-care product that combines the power of Black Orchid and the new Stimulating Complex, in a cutting-edge nano-formulation. This product awakens the skin's monitoring system, providing the energy it needs to function optimally, maximizing its self-defense and regeneration capacities.
By shifting it from a state of wakefulness to a state of awakening, the effectiveness of the rest of the Orchidée Impériale Black routine is maximized.
Thanks to the new Stimulating complex, and to a more global approach targeting all the defense ecosystem, this new skin care product reinforces the fight against ageing of the skin's natural defense mechanisms and also re-energizes key skin cells. The n-fusion lotion is based on a nanoscale micronization technology which, in decreasing droplet size increase the effective surface to delivers actives cosmetic activity
Could you explain how the BlackImmune technology essentially turns back the skin’s clock?
The disruption of this immune system due to aging is called "immuno-senescence". The ageing skin spends more time defending than regenerating itself, the barrier function no longer fulfills its defensive role properly, the complexion becomes dull, pigmentation disorders, loss of luminosity, loss of tonicity , loss of smoothness and wrinkles appear. Overworked, the surveillance system goes into a standby state and becomes less receptive and less responsive. It is therefore essential to implement a strategy to revive it, moving from wakefulness to vigilance
How IMU-peptide and red ginseng reinforce the BlackImmune technology?
The approach is to have a global protection and anti-ageing activity. The New Stimune complex is incorporated with an imu-peptide for a triple action: regulating TLR pathways, increasing the surface microbiota diversity and enhancing inter-epidermal cells adhesion.
The Korean Red Ginseng is well known as “immunostimulant” and “adaptogen”. Its role, due to specific molecules called ginsenosides, is complementary to the imu-peptide in regulating inflammation, acting on hyaluronic synthesis, protecting mitochondria, increasing antioxidant protective enzymes and increasing ATP bioenergy production.
At the beginning of my career, I worked a lot on ginsenosides. I still believe that behind the stories, these molecules are of prime interest for good health and cosmetics efficiency.
How do the nano-formula and its texture enhance the effectiveness of the Orchidée Impériale Black n-Fusion Lotion?
The heart of the formula is a nanoemulsion combined with ectoine (an extremophilic molecule produced by biotechnology) a skin penetration booster. The use in formulation of a high-pressure homogenizer to form a nanoemulsion, has allowed to eeduce the size of the oil droplets in the formula to 120 nm, i.e. a dimension 25 times smaller than that obtained without micronization (≈ 3 μm).
This high pressure homogenizer allows to increase the number of droplets (≈ 10000 times more than classical one). The droplet structure is bioinspired from skin cell membranes (made of phospholipids and sterols), has optimal affinities with the skin thanks to the use of an emulsifier made of hydrogenated lecithin and soy sterols.
In the nanoformulation process, the formula is projected at ultra-high pressure (in excess of 2,000 bars) into a collision chamber, where it strikes a small ceramic ball. The pressure and the power of the impact fragment the emulsion droplets at each pass, until their size reaches the nanometric scale (greater than 100 nm). Manufacturing times are 6 times longer than for a conventional formula to achieve such finesse and fluidity.
Advantages: The small size and the high number of the droplets (100 times smaller than a face epidermal skin cell) contributes to greater interaction of the active ingredients with the skin. The surface area of an ordinary emulsion can be multiplied by 10 when nano-formulated. Certain components of nanoemulsions fuse locally with the lipids of the stratum corneum, enabling the nano-droplets and the active ingredients they contain to diffuse continuously, with greater affinity.
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