It is Friday, big yay, *happy dance*. I wish you a wonderful start to the weekend! Today I was at home trying to get over the cra(m)ppy side of being a woman, sorry, too much information. Just know that if you have noticed me missing at social media or on the blog front, I had good excuses.
Today I have exciting news for you. If you are one of those people who were as disappointed as me to hear that one of your holy grail foundation formulations, Parure Gold, was discontinued, you will be delighted to know it is back! Guerlain revamped the formula and redesigned the packaging. After testing it over a month now, here comes my thoughts about the new version...
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| Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation |
I believe that some of the best products in Guerlain line-up are the base products. I tried and loved their Parure de Lumiere and now discontinued Parure Extreme as well as the old formulation of Parure Gold Foundation. The only problem with these seemed to be the shade range which was pretty limited back then. The first Parure Gold was released in 2009 and it is the rejuvenating base of Guerlain line-up. The older bottles are black and have the same oval design as other bases such as Parure de Lumiere. The older formula had SPF 15 and PA ++ which denotes that it is degree 2 out of 3 protection against UVA rays.
Old vs. New
The package of new Parure Gold is now sleeker and looks more modern. It is almost rectangular with a round edge on the front side which is great since the cap always have to be placed right. Since it is slimmer, I like the way I can hold it in my hand much better and it saves some space for us foundation junkies. One thing which is missing in the new packaging though is a transparent strip to see how much foundation is left in the bottle (the the photo below).
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| Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation Old vs. New Packaging |
New Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation is given to be improved in two points, the new "gold" pigments for a glow which makes the skin appear youthful and fresh. There are also new collagen and elastin boosters such as Hexapeptide and Myrrh- Extract to improve its rejuvenating effect.
On top of these claims, I can see two more improvements. One is the undertone of the foundation in their "beige" group (00 Beige, 01 Beige Pale, 02 Beige Clair, 03 Beige Naturel, 04 Beige Moyen and 05 Beige Fonce) and now less peach/pink and more natural. The sun protection degree of Parure Gold is also improved. It is now SPF 30 and has three degrees of UVA protection, given as PA +++. This is provided by Titanium Dioxide (nano). I believe with this move and the new shades (in total 12), Guerlain is going to gain back its best seller category in foundations not only in Asia but also elsewhere.
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| Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation Shade #02 Swatch, Old vs. New |
The Shades
Here is a comparison of two of the shades I received and other foundation shades I have been using frequently. If you are around Chanel Vitalumiere 20 (which is something like MAC NC20 with more natural undertones) then you will probably like Guerlain Parure Gold #02 which is very close. My perfect match Tom Ford #03 Fawn in terms of lightness is a little lighter than Guerlain #02 but right now considering how tanned I am, I am doing just fine with #02. Once I start getting paler, I will mix it more and more with #00 which is warmer and slightly lighter than Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua #10 which I sometimes use alone during winter but most of the time I mix #20 and #10 from Chanel. You can see that Diornude Air #20 is more peachy which I don"t like on the swatches but it works just fine on my face. If you have cooler undertones, there are three Rosé-Beige shades, 11 Rose Pale, #12 Rose Clair and #13 Rose Naturel. There are also 2 Gold-Beige (Dore) and an Amber-Beige Shade to select from.
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| Swatch #00, #02, Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation vs. other foundations |
The name "gold" comes from the skin like youthful glow it claims to give and I agree to this. It is not matte, nor it is glow. I would describe it as "natural skin finish", close to the finish of Tom Ford Traceless Perfecting Foundation (reviewed here) but it has more coverage than Tom Ford. I would classify this as medium coverage. It applies very smoothly, doesn't accentuate my dry patches but it is also not very hydrating which means it will work on normal to combination skin as well. If you are very dry, I recommend you applying a good moisturizer underneath.
You can see me below without any makeup and with only foundation. The photo with foundation doesn't look flat because Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation is a light master which knows how to reflect. It also stays put on me all day, much longer than any other foundations I am testing at the moment (close to my longest lasting foundation Diorskin Nude Air).
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| Before/After FOTD: Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation #02 |
Here are two FOTDs to give you the idea of the finish and how wonderfully it sits on the face. On the first photo I am only wearing foundation (no powder, no make-up, no concealer, well... nothing really). It evens out my skin tone and gives me a healthy glow. It doesn't look like a mask in any way thanks to its natural finish. Big love!
You can seen the make-up look with it here and here using Charlotte Tilbury and Urban Decay products). Other than that almost any other FOTD I have posted recently features Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation.
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| FOTD with only Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation (no concealer, no make-up) |
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| FOTD: Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation & Charlotte Tilbury + Urban Decay Make-Up |
Power of make-up huh? On a good day I can even see myself rocking the foundation alone. What about a one last shot?
EDIT: I also add a photo with the ingredients, hope it is helpful.
EDIT: I also add a photo with the ingredients, hope it is helpful.
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| Ingredients list: Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation |
Final thoughts: More rejuvenation ingredients, better light reflecting properties, more sun protection, sleeker package and more shades. Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation returns better than ever. All thumbs up.
Availability: Guerlain Parure Gold Fluid Foundation should be released any time in Germany. I am hearing that the compact foundation is released at some countries in Asia which I will review soon. There is also a base with golden particles in the collection which I am super excited to try once it hits the counters here.
Do you own any Guerlain Foundations? Which one is your favorite?
Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided free of charge for my consideration.
I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.