We might as well say it straight away: sextas or silver (women with grey hair) do not count for nothing! Indeed, today, almost 22% of the French population is aged 65 and over. We can increasingly hear about the beauty of age. The idea is no longer to be anti or against (or definitely against!), but with or for – and to have a positive state of mind. Rather than concealing signs of aging, let’s celebrate them!

Most major cosmetics brands, from Chanel to Nivea, including Vichy and Lancôme, have adopted this ‘supportive’ concept.
As an example, the new Nivea Vital ad campaign (a range that meets the specific needs of ‘mature’ skins) stages sparkling French actor Anny Duperey with Dalida’s tune ‘Laissez-moi danser!’ The TV commercial that is currently on French TV channels and will be until the end of the year and in 2018, closes with the following slogan: ‘sing, dance, be radiant’. Far from hiding her own wrinkles, the actress actually exhibits them and it feels good! She accepts her own age without giving up on her femininity. The brand, which had been the first to shoot a silver in 1995, insists: ‘This is not a TV commercial, but a societal project supported by Anny Duperey and Lisa Azuelos, who staged it.’
According to Nivea, which surveyed their women consumers aged 55-65 about their relationship with aging, half the respondents still think they are too little represented in cosmetics ads, and when they are, the result does not reflect reality. These answers encourage everyone to think about our perception of this population (65 and over): in 2050, they will represent more than a quarter of the French population. ‘We want to contribute to changing our perspective on sixty-year-olds and older people, by going from anti-aging to co-aging, a state of mind which consists in accepting your age and signs of aging,’ says Morgane Jouot, Nivea’s Marketing Director. As for products, the Vital range comprises a redensifying day cream for mature skins and a nourishing day cream for dry mature skins, and the Vital Soja line includes an Anti-Age Day Cream SPF15 for mature skins, a protective day Cream SPF30 for mature skins, and a night cream for mature skins (all skincare products are available for €13.50 for 50ml).

A longevity serum…

At Chanel, ‘tomorrow’s anti-aging tends to universality.’
By launching its Blue Serum (30 ml, €95), the luxury brand aims to create not an anti-aging serum or fighting cream, but a longevity serum for all skins and ages. It is by studying the habits of 801 centenarians across the world, in what the luxury brand calls ‘blue areas’ (hence the name of the serum) or longevity territories (Costa Rica, Sardinia, Greece, or Japan) that they were able to set up a genetic cartography to understand what a healthy skin means over time. CHANEL Research could identify four biological mechanisms essential to skin longevity (cell energy, cell metabolism, adaptation to cell stress, and intercellular communication) and formulate a new, best-adapted ‘beauty regime for the skin’ based on green coffee from Costa Rica, olive from Sardinia, and pistacia from Greece. According to the brand, longevity is an act of life that goes against the anti-aging fight. Blue Serum is compatible with any skincare product and activates the skin’s youth to help it age well.

Enjoy your age…

‘Love your age, love your sensibility’: that is the title of Lancôme’s press release for the launch of Advanced Génifique Sensitive (50 ml, €83), an anti-aging cream for bad skin days and temporary sensitivity peaks.
Since skin sensitivity creates an inflammatory condition which accelerates skin aging, the flagship brand of the L’Oréal Group responded with two formulas in one product: an ampoule, 99% of which is made of pure antioxidants, and which is placed inside the serum to be activated at the last minute in order to preserve the formula’s freshness until the first use.

As for Vichy, they capitalize on happy aging. After the Slow Âge range (latest launches, the cream, 50 ml, €31.20, and the eye contour, 15 ml, €24.10), the brand has devised Néovadiol Rose Platinium (50 ml, €34), which brightens up mature skins with its accurately-dosed pink pigments, so the skin reflects vitality.

As for Australian Bush’s Love System line, it includes a harmonizing anti-aging cream (Replenishing Night Cream, Graceful Aging Treatment with Australian Bush Flower Essences, 30 ml, €37.80), which ‘helps accept your age in beauty’ and recommends loving your age – a wise recommendation!

Energy, a key word…

Tactile emotions for the skin not to ‘doze off’: that is what Shiseido imagined with the Essential Energy range (Moisturizing Cream, Moisturizing Cream Gel, or Day Cream SPF20, 50 ml, €73 each, as from March 2018).
The Japanese company has used neuroscience to restore the energy and reconnect the skin with the brain (time and stress modify the sensitivity threshold and reduce the sense of touch in particular). Other than the formula that preserves the mitochondria vitality (the cells energetic plants), two real unique tactile stimulations help maintain the skin ‘awake’, enhance its receptiveness, and restore its power to detect information. The first concerns the texture enriched with an active powder which, when it comes in contact with the epidermis, spreads its thousands of elastic microspheres stimulating the skin’s sensorial receptors. The second concerns the packaging, endowed with an ‘emotional design’. There are 64 different jars: there is a new surprise every time you buy a cream! Inspired from the voluntarily imperfect Raku pottery used for tea ceremonies in Japan, every jar boasts a skin feel close to that of this extremely light ceramic that is smooth in places, rough elsewhere. Lastly, the aromacological perfume typical of the brand, with its citrus fruit and Nanko-Ume plum notes (typically Japanese) provides the skin with a final burst of energy and eventually stimulates its sensorial system. A real poetic innovation!

Smoothing or moisturizing: why choose?

The latest in the Physiolift anti-aging range, the next Avène Dermatological Laboratories replumping smoothing serum (30 ml, €35.30) is claimed to ‘soothe beauty’.
Presented as a ‘ hypersoin’ (hyper skincare), it was designed to help every woman accept signs of aging and always be self-confident. This hydro-lifting formula is twice more concentrated in moisturizing actives (12% all in all) and has the power of simultaneously soothing the skin and creating a dynamic, comfortable lift effect. Sensitive skins are obviously put forward in the new anti-aging generation! Again, the texture contains smart micro-mother-of-pearls whose colour adjusts according to the complexion (more or less pinkish, more or less coppery). But it is mostly thanks to its expertise in hyaluronic acid that this serum stands out.

Lastly, the new Dermapositive brand has created ‘positive anti-aging cosmetics’ and developed seven ‘olfacto-emotional’ Ecocert-certified serums based on cleverly selected essential oils to reconnect with one’s deepest needs (Éclat de Joie to stimulate good mood, Pleine Confiance to boost self-esteem, Sérénité de l’Instant to soothe tensions, Plaisir des Sens to awaken sensuality, Harmonie Féminine to enhance the hormonal balance, etc., 30 ml, €59 for each serum).

Gentler and less offensive, this new cosmetic vision aims to reconcile women with their age. That will take some doing!!!

Ariane Le Febvre