Introduced for the holidays, Guerlain's Midnight Star Skin Primer ($73) has star power. I have to admit up front that it's ridiculously expensive for 10 applications. That said, I love it! This new primer from luxury line Guerlain has a lot going for it, beyond its "pretty face."Guerlain calls it the perfect royal ally for evenings out. Midnight Star helps to dispel signs of fatigue and stress built up during the day. Use one mini-capsule after a long day to revive your complexion and refresh your look - a skin-care primer for the busy holiday season when you want to look your best.
The 10 capsules are housed in the darling bee-decorated plastic magic wand shown above. This is a primer most of us will use in the early evening before we go to a special event. From that perspective, you may not need more than 10 capsules for the holiday season. If you live a life like mine, you'll have a few capsules left over for the New Year. If you're always on the go, save the capsules for the days when you feel dead-tired, and your skin needs an instant radiance boost. Heaven forbid you party too hard and don't get enough sleep, but if that's the case, you will love the effects of Midnight Star.
The primer is a pearly gel. Apply it to bare skin before your moisturizer. It's a serum/primer, not a hydrator. It feels great on the skin - very smooth and light in weight. Midnight Star adds no color to the skin, just a pearlized glow that will look like you, only better - alive, awake, fresh, and ready to greet the world.
The serum is an antioxidant complex with extracts of natural substances that raise the level of oxygen in the skin. It also has an active ingredient, pronoctine, to shield the skin from toxins that include pollution, cigarette smoke, and the like. Guerlain says the treatment has detoxifying effects, just in case your skin is seriously partied out. So much the better!
Midnight Star has a pleasant scent; it's not nearly as fragranced as Guerlain's skin care (fortunately). I don't mind the scent at all, and it fades after 10-15 minutes. I can't use Guerlain's regular skin-care products. The fragrance of Orchidee Imperiale, for example, is just too strong for me. That really disappoints me because I appreciate the luxury of Guerlain.
I've seen Midnight Star listed as a great gift on department store Web sites. I'm a bit conflicted about the idea of recommending it for purchase as a gift. On the one hand, it's a beautiful item, but on the other, it may deliver a message: "Your skin needs help!" I think Midnight Star is better purchased for your own use.
You can find it at Neiman Marcus, where I purchased mine, Saks, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, and all Guerlain counters. It's part of Les Ors Holiday 2010 Collection.
Have you tried it? What do you think?
Photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus and Holistic Skin Care