Dior Prestige Guide & Reviews
When it comes to luxury, Christian Dior is one of the biggest brands that comes to mind. From creating iconic luxury pieces like the Lady Dior bag to perfumes that are known the world over, Dior is a brand with luxury status - and rightly so. That luxuriousness makes itself known when it comes to Dior cosmetics too - here’s what gives Dior Prestige The Luxury Difference.
Creating the Rose de Granville
Credit: DiorSkincare/Instagram
The Dior Prestige line boasts an ingredient that no other skincare ingredient brand even has - Rose de Granville. I know what you’re thinking - what makes this different from any other rose extract out there? Well, here’s exactly what makes this rose-derived skincare ingredient rise above the rest.
It all starts in 1999 when Christian Dior himself noticed a unique kind of wild rose growing at his home in Normandy, France. It was from this very rose variety that the Rose de Granville would be developed.
It wasn’t until the next year, 2000, that Dior’s skincare scientists became clued into ‘inflammaging’ - aka, the idea that constant skin inflammation was one of the major accelerants of skin ageing. Looking for an ingredient that could reduce inflammation (and thus, reduce the signs of ageing), scientists turned to the wild rose that Dior noticed in his garden.
It took years of development, but the combined efforts of Dior’s leading scientists and expert horticulturalists resulted in the Rose de Granville - officially created in 2005 it’s a unique variety of rose that only appears in the Dior Prestige line.
Dior Prestige Le Concentré Yeux | $258
An eye cream formulated to deliver the exact micronutrients to fortify and renew the undereye area.
The link between Rose de Granville as a powerful ingredient against inflammaging only grew in 2010, studies performed by Dior scientists confirmed that extracts from different parts of the plant were effective on inflammaging in the skin.
Rose de Granville is packed with molecules and micro-nutrients that normally aren’t found all in a single type of rose - subsequent studies confirm that “more than 120 molecular identifications” are present in the Rose de Granville, confirming it’s natural potency against inflammaging. Since Dior utilises all parts of the plant - flower, bud, leaf, and stem - each of these were examined.
While we mainly see rose water (extracted from petals) and rosehips (the fruit of the rose plant) used in skincare, only using these two parts leaves out a whole lot of goodness. At Dior, scientists have created skincare that uses all parts of the Rose de Granville - making the skincare overall more potent than it normally would be.
“Combining extracts from all the different parts of a plant (in this case, the flower and rosehip), each of which have very different but complementary bioactivity, can thus make for an advanced skin care treatment,” according to Jocelyne Franchi, Scientific Coordinator for Dior Science.
Dior Prestige Le Nectar Serum | $520
A rich serum that delivers all of the beautifying benefits of Rose de Granville to skin for a luxuriant glow.
In addition to all of the skin nourishing ingredients identified from different parts of the plant, in 2020 one more discovery was made about the Rose de Granville. Its sap was identified to have unique, revitalising benefits for skin - so no doubt we’ll also see this ingredient added to the Dior Prestige line.
There are currently 4,000 Rose de Granville bushes from which around 15 tonnes of roses and plant materials are harvested from every year to create Dior’s exceptional Prestige skincare line. To ensure skincare ingredient integrity, the roses are raised using organic methods; eschewing traditional pesticides, ladybugs are used to keep pest populations down and ensure the roses are healthy and free from pollutants.
Patented Ingredient Extraction
Credit: DiorSkincare/Instagram
And that’s not all - Dior also developed unique extraction methods to preserve the bioactive integrity of their rose extracts, ensuring that every drop added to skincare was as potent as it should be. These extraction methods are now patented for their ability to extract 22 skin-nourishing micronutrients, including Omegas 3, 6, and 9, Vitamins B3 and B5, plus calcium, iron, and zinc - and that’s not even all of them!
Can you say the same for any other brands? I don’t think so.
The first method is called cryo-extraction; or in other words, using very low temperatures to coax out skin-beneficial, water-based molecules out of the rose parts. Lower temperatures ensure that no ingredients are damaged by the heat!
Lightweight, yet long-lasting moisture all packed up in a silky smooth cream texture, fortified with Rose de Granville Extracts.
Another method, which focuses on extracting oil-based molecules from the plant is called dynamic enfleurage. I know, it’s a mouthful! This method entails immersing bits of the rose in oil and zapping it with ultrasound and microwaves, drawing out all the goodness into a form that can be used in skincare products.
Dior’s dedication to not only finding a potent, unique skincare ingredient but going so far as to create one shows the brand’s dedication to beauty - now that you know what makes Dior’s luxury difference, will you be shopping Prestige anytime soon?
Need some help putting together the best skincare routine for your skin type? Try our skin quiz!
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