For than 30 years, the Dior Science team have been holed up at Château d’Yquem in Bordeaux, studying the secrets of the vineyards and unravelling them through the brand’s L’Or de Vie skincare range.
Yquem sap, the precious ingredient that stars in L’Or de Vie, is a powerful antioxidant that addresses signs of ageing such as wrinkles and dullness, and leaves skin looking younger — in other words, brighter, firmer and smoother. (Alternatively, you can try face yoga, as demonstrated by Gisele Bundchen here).
Just in at selected counters is La Cure Vintage 2019, described as the “ultimate Dior skincare masterpiece”, which promises to restore your mien to youthfulness in three short months. It comes in a numbered case that contains a trio of bottles, each decorated with gold thread inspired by the Yquem knot and a golden seal. With the highest concentration of Yquem sap among Dior’s skincare products, this velvety soft emulsion melts into skin quickly to offer intense hydration. (Available here.)
Also on the shelves is L’Or de Vie La Crème, which has been reformulated after nine years. It now offers twice the concentration of Yquem sap to combat ageing signs brought about by oxidative stress. (Available here.) Edouard Mauvais-Jarvis, scientific communication director at Dior, has the details.
L’Or de Vie La Cure Vintage 2019 and L’Or de Vie La Crème restore youthfulness by reversing the damage caused by oxidative stress.
“Oxidative stress generally occurs when skin is exposed to UV or blue light. Light energy, when transferred onto skin, releases free radicals such as reactive oxygen species to cause irritation, inflammation and premature ageing.
Oxidative stress can also result from exposure to environmental pollutants, imbalanced diets and excessive physical exercise. As such, we have formulated L’Or de Vie La Crème and La Cure Vintage 2019 to hasten deoxidation and boost cell longevity.”
L’Or de Vie La Cure Vintage 2019, which features the powerful antioxidant Yquem sap, is one up from La Cure Vintage 2018.
“With Yquem sap, L’Or de Vie is the most powerful of Dior skincare collections in terms of antioxidant presence. Yquem sap is derived from vine shoots at Chateau d’Yquem at the beginning of spring when the sap is at peak concentration and the grapevines are bleeding. That’s why it has a vintage; it corresponds to the harvest of a specific year. Every vintage is slightly different from others because it is influenced by the climatic conditions and events that took place before the harvest.
For instance, the 2019 harvest is more efficient in terms of cellular fertility, hence favourable to increasing collagen by more than 80 percent, as well as dermal and epidermal regeneration (54 percent) and epidermis thickness (29 percent). We’ve also improved La Cure Vintage 2019 with natural-origin ingredients of 88 percent and the highest concentration of Yquem sap.”
Yquem sap was obtained only after 17 essential purification and extraction stages.
“The most interesting to me was the maturation phase — it is really at the heart of the understanding of the natural vegetal processes occurring inside the plant. After vine shoots are cut and collected, most of the water returns to the main trunk, hence a lot of polyphenols get left behind in the shoots. The shoots are then assembled in bundles and stored in a warehouse for six months.
During this time, the single polyphenolic molecules in the shoots start joining with one another to form groups of two, three or four, and acquire new biological properties that are highly beneficial for the skin. This maturation process is similar to the process of ageing of wine, where polyphenols and tannins slowly come together to build the texture of wine.”
L’Or de Vie was one of the first skincare lines to offer refillable jars back when it launched in 2007.
“The success of Dior’s sustainability initiatives goes back to a double expertise of nature and plants combined with science — this is what we call floral science. This constant synergy between nature and technology allows us to not only cultivate the best natural vegetal resources in the most environmentally respectful way, but also use technological advances to develop our own extraction methods to obtain the best and most efficient ingredients for the skin.
Floral science also requires in-depth knowledge of the molecular diversity and composition of plants we cultivate in order to maximise the relevance of our extractions. And the efficiency is not theoretical; it’s proven through a battery of tests, both in vivo and in vitro, to guarantee the highest and reproducible performance.”
Yes, women the world over want to look younger.
“I think every woman wants to look younger — or at least on the day she looks in the mirror and sees that her appearance has changed, wants to return to how she looked. It’s very natural and understandable. While it is not for me to say if that’s healthy or not, I can say it’s certainly possible to make her look younger.
The work Dior researchers have done in neuroscience in the past five years has taught us very important things about the perception of her appearance and the drivers that may change the perception of her age.
Far before number, depth or position of wrinkles, it is the quality of skin that determines her facial appearance. Do you know healthy skin can make a woman look five or six years younger? In a way, that makes our job easier; we can develop products to improve skin health quality and protect against the different external factors that can accelerate ageing.”