[Review] Guerlain Parure Gold

I finally had a chance to try my first Guerlain foundation when there was a buy get one get one free deal (Guerlain! I know, right?! All the ladies in my family went completely nuts). So, long story short, I end up with this foundation.

Here is product description from Guerlain website.

“Guerlain has slipped a magical blend of Gold Radiance Pigments and Precious Rejuvenating Complex enriched with Oil of Myrrh into this fluid foundation. The pigments light up, smooth and correct the complexion instantly, and the complex revives the youthful radiance and vitality of the skin.
Evanescent and supple, the wonderfully smooth texture glides over the skin, providing perfect light-weight coverage. Fine lines fade away, imperfections seem to disappear.
Discover the full range of six shades designed specifically to rejuvenate the skin and revive the complexion’s healthy glow. Luminous and ultra natural, each shade is warmed with yellow gold and pink gold pigments that smooth away the signs of time and fatigue.”

Parure Gold comes in basic Guerlain foundation bottle. You know how Guerlain have the same packaging for all of their foundations. But most of them come in gold bottle. While the one that actually named “Gold” comes in a black bottle. It’s a shiny glass bottle and a little bit heavier than most foundation bottle I have. Something to be concern about. I keep this in my traincase instead of my vanity because I’m worried I might accidentally hit the bottle and drop it, knowing how clumsy I am. The bottle is equipped with a pump. And on the side of the bottle there’s a little ‘window’ so you can see how much product you have left inside, which I think is a nice touch.


This foundation has a semi-matte finish and it delivers medium to full coverage. The texture of the foundation is thick although it doesn’t feel heavy at all. It actually feels comfortable on me. It blends smoothly despite the thick consistency and covers all my flaws flawlessly. If you want lighter coverage you can just mix it with primer. Guerlain website recommends mixing it with their L’Or - Radiance Concentrate but I personally think any primer will do. The foundation has a flowery scent that is pretty strong. From what I read, all Guerlain foundations (or products?) are scented. It kind of annoys me at first, especially when I'm applying the foundation around my nose but then I got over it. Thankfully even though it's scented I don't experience any allergic reactions to it, considering how sensitive my skin is. If you are not used to scented foundation especially this strong you can maybe try hold your breath when you're applying foundation around your nose? I dunno.

I wear this foundation with no primer and still, it performs a superb staying power. Oil control is also great. For reference, my skin type is oily combination where I tend to get oily on the t-zone and normal for the rest of the face. After around 5 to 6 hours, my natural oil starts to peek through especially on my t-zone area. But the amount of oil is minimum just to give me a dewy look. Sometimes I don’t even blot. I once wore this for around 13 hours, and for that long I just blot once. After 13 hours my make up looks the way it looks after 5 hours. The amount of oils stays minimum until the end of the day and my complexion still looks good.

Here's pictures of me wearing this foundation on different occasion. Click for larger images so you can really see the finish and coverage of the foundation.

As you can see, after 13 hours I think the amount of oil still acceptable and overall the complexion still look good.

So far, this foundation is almost perfect but it fails in one thing which is shade selection. As it mentioned before, this foundation comes with 6 different shades. Mine is number 3 which is Beige Natural. First of all let me say that I have this weird obsession with foundation that it has to be a better version of my skin. Therefore, the first step is to find the perfect match in terms of color. Parure Gold doesn’t come in different undertones. Judging from the shade that I have, beige natural, it supposed to have neutral undertone. That bugs me already. And it annoys me even more that what supposed to be neutral, in reality appears pink. And is pretty strong too. At first I thought it was just me, but when I applied my make up, my sister entered the room and she said, “Your foundation looks red!” Gaahhh!! That pink shade doesn’t get worse during the day, thankfully. It doesn’t oxidize on me. But still I feel very self-conscious when wearing this. Of course I can try to tone it down a little bit by applying my Ben Nye Banana Visage. But for the price, I wish I didn’t have to compromise to get a perfect match.

Because of the thick texture, I prefer dense brushes to 'push' and spread this foundation all over the face. I use my MAC 190 or EDM flat top brush. But because I try to tone down the pink, I apply this using my fingers in order to get lighter coverage so the pink undertone won’t be too noticeable. Note that this foundation has SPF 15 - PA ++ so it'll appear slightly whitish on flash camera. And the red undertone does not help either. So far, I don't rely on this foundation for special occasion especially if I'm about to take a lot of pictures.

To sum up, I think this is a great foundation but although it’s not perfect. Personally, I will continue wearing this foundation but I don’t think I’ll repurchase.

This foundation alone cost IDR 800k. Yes, I got this on BOGOF deal but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very expensive foundation and this is the most expensive foundation that I own. I think the price is absolutely ridiculous. And with that price, I would expect to get a flawless product, including a perfect match for my skin but I don’t.

I know they’re selling the skincare benefits in it. It supposed to rejuvenate the skin and revive the complexion’s healthy glow. But as I said, I don’t care about skincare benefits in my make up, especially my foundation. First of all, I don’t wear this everyday so I don’t expect a proper result And I believe most woman already have their skincare separately without having to add a very expensive foundation to also works as their foundation. Yes, the performance of the foundation, as make up, is near perfect but I believe there are more options out there without having to shell out that much (note that, other Guerlain foundations don't even cost this much).

But of course that’s just my personal opinion. I would recommend this foundation if you:

• Have neutral or cool undertone
• Willing to pay an arm and a leg for a perfect foundation (If the shade matches you, then this could be a perfect foundation for you)
• Believe in skincare benefits in your make up