Legend has it that Moroccan women have discovered the secret to everlasting youth and beauty. For generations, they have been passing down the untold secret that can be found in the pistil of the Saffron flower. The pistil holds medicinal properties and carries an exceptional power to help in skin renewal. While it is a precious spice, the Saffron pistil is more rare still—the flower or crocus only flourishes on a single morning each year and must be picked at this precise moment so its powers of renewal are captured perfectly.
It is this botanical ingredient that YSL Beauty has harnessed in its most concentrated form for the Or Rouge range born five years ago. The skincare collection utilises the unique compound known as crocin—a key sugar sourced from the pistil, which can modulate inflamm’aging that causes skin ageing. Upon further research, the Or Rouge skincare gets reformulated this year combining a new compound with a new distillation process known as Or Rouge Saffron distillate. Thus, the second generation of Or Rouge is now more concentrated, more potent and more effective in giving skin double the protection by defending it against signs of ageing such as wrinkles, pigmentation, loss of texture and elasticity, and reactivating the skin’s internal antioxidant power.
In the YSL Beauty Or Rouge collection, you will find makeup remover, cleanser, lotion, serum, cream (in fine and rich textures), eye cream, facial oil, mask and UV protection. Here, we caught up with Aurelie Adam, YSL Beauty APAC Retail & Education Director to know more about the Or Rouge collection and what makes it exceptional.
The Moroccan saffron is the main focus here. What is it about the pistils that can transform the skin?
Or Rouge is our luxurious and premium skincare. The technology behind it is absolutely amazing and also the ingredients we’re using are very rare and precious. The saffron has exceptional properties for the skin, where you can experience a renewal from within. Saffron is more precious than gold or caviar! In Morocco, they call saffron the red gold and that is exactly the meaning of Or Rouge—’Or’ means gold and ‘Rouge’ means red.
I read that it takes some 150 saffron flowers to produce 1 gram of the saffron ingredient used in this Or Rouge range – is this true?
Yes, that is 100% true. To make 1 gram of saffron ingredient, it does take 150 saffron flowers. Why? It’s because this flower only contains three pistils in each of them and the harvest is only done once a year usually in September or October depending on the climate. And it can only be harvested by hand before dawn when the sun still hasn’t come up because the sun can actually destroy the properties inside the pistils.
That’s interesting! Tell us more about the harvesting.
Each year, the locals spend 15 days staying close to the field and wait for the right moment to harvest. When the crocus opens, it will turn white more or less, this is an indication that the crocus is ready and it’s time to collect the pistils of the saffron. The crocus then changes from deep purple to lighter purple, almost lilac. The harvest requires a lot of people at the same time and they do it at 3 o’clock in the morning. It takes about five hours to pluck the red pistils out of about 2,000 flowers, per person. It’s a lot of work. What we are also proud of is that YSL really wanted to help the local community and that was why we set up Majorelle Gardens, where the women can gain meaningful employment working in the saffron field and make decent income to support their family.
How long did it take to create the Or Rouge skincare?
It took us 10 years of research first to understand how the skin works and to understand the vital function of the skin, then we went further and further. We discovered the technology and also the properties of the crocus. We know that these two very strong and natural sugars are able to work at three levels of the skin. They help give energy to all the cells and to all levels of the skin that are responsible for the structure of the skin.
Hence, when you don’t have enough of those kinds of sugar, you start to have wrinkles, fine lines, etc. Also these sugars are in charge of the communication between the cells, so when the communication breaks down your skin suffers. Ageing happens!
The Or Rouge La Crème seems to be the star product of this range. How does it help the skin?
The Or Rouge is primarily about skin renewal, so it targets the main cells of the skin that are in charge of the 11 signs of ageing. It acts on the surface of the dermis and the collagen production to help make skin firmer, and reduce wrinkles and fine lines on the surface. On the level of the epidermis, it will help re-plump the skin and take care of your dark spots for an even complexion. It will also help remove all the dead cells on the surface of the skin through a natural exfoliation process.
What’s the difference between the last generation of Or Rouge La Crème and this one?
The main difference is there is 20x more concentration of the pistils of saffron in this new cream. In terms of technology, it is now even more refined. So we know exactly what kind of cells we’re targeting for better results. So definitely you will see more efficiency from using this range.
Any tips on the best way to apply the Or Rouge La Crème to see results?
It’s always to go from the inside or centre of the face and move outwards. We have developed a special spatula with a round end that you can use on your pressure points in order to stimulate the blood circulation. And hence, to enhance and highlight better result on the skin.
YSL Beauty Or Rouge is now available in store at Pavilion KL and 1 Utama Shopping Centre. For more information about the Or Rouge skincare, see here.
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