MAKEUP | Guerlain L'Or Radiance Concentrate Makeup Base Review

I will admit that ever since I saw "Austin Powers in Goldmember", I secretly say "I love gooold!" whenever I use any products containing actual gold. When it comes to luxury, there are select brands that stand out because of their packaging, ingredients and in this case, use of actual 24 karat gold flakes! The Guerlain L'Or Radiance Concentrate* (30mL/$81.00 CDN) has been around for awhile and though I am relatively new to Guerlain this is one of their most well-known makeup primers. Earlier this year, Guerlain revamped and repackaged both the L'Or and Parure Gold Foundation (review coming!) and though I have not used the previous versions of either of these products, hopefully I can shed some light on what they are like now!

I never knew that makeup primers could come in so many consistencies and colours. What we are most used to are primers containing high concentrations of silicone because we want our skin to be poreless and matte. I feel like these types of primers are more targeted at oily/combination skin types so what about those with dry skin types? It wasn't until last year that I realized there were primers that focused more on hydration, giving skin a natural glow AND held foundation in place. L'Or is just that and though I will happily use L'Or at anytime during the year, I'm headed to a New Year's Eve party this week and wanted my skin to look positively radiant!

Housed in hefty glass packaging, 24 karat gold flakes are suspended in a hydrating gel to give skin a subtle glow from within while forming an invisible mesh across the skin to smooth out fine lines. This primer is SILICONE-FREE so you will not feel that heaviness associated with conventional makeup primers. While colloidal gold has been said to be beneficial for the skin, I am not entirely convinced so I see the gold flakes as more makeup than skincare. 

A tiny bit goes a very long way and the amount I have on my hand is actually a touch more than I need for my whole face! Instead of feeling like silicone, the instant I start massaging L'Or onto my skin, I feel like I have broken a bubble of water that I am dispersing all over my skin. It's hard to believe this is a primer that will hold foundation to my face! The gold flakes melt away and I am left with a very subtle glow to my skin. There is also a very slight tightening feeling as the primer dries, but there is virtually zero residue left on my skin. 

Here I am barefaced just wearing L'Or. You can see how the ringlight is picking up a bit of the shimmer from L'Or, but believe me when I say that it does not make you look like a walking lightbulb!

I am wearing foundation on the left hand side and you can see how the glow has been neutralized. You can really see that line down the middle of my forehead where the shimmer ends.

I may look like the holidays have run me over, but eventually I put it all together later and it all looks like this!

Final verdict: I initially tested this primer out during a Christmas dinner and yes, my foundation still looked like it did when I first applied it hours before and though the foundation I was using accentuated some dry areas around my nose, I patted on a little bit of L'or and it instantly made those dry patches disappear. This is quite the treat of a primer, but if you have a drier skin type and really could do without that heavy silicone-feel, this 30mL bottle will last you for at least half the year! I also like knowing that I have actual gold on my skin because "I love goooold!"

The L'Or Radiance Concentrate is available at Guerlain counters and Sephora online.