SEPTEMBER 2019 175
DONNA TROPE EDWARD URRUT AALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB
deepened with increasing age, the strongest correlations were found with crow’s
feet [and] under eye”.
According to Hill, the eyes are coming into focus for good reason. “You can be
someone who has kind of muddled through your life with great skin, but there’s no
getting around the eye area. It will tell you if you’re tired,” she warns.
Where the complexion is concerned, you’ve probably
seen a host of these sculpting, lifting and filling products
trickle onto beauty shelves, purporting benefits to rival
brawnier in-clinic treatments, but in characteristic La
Prairie fashion, the gravity-defying benefits of Skin Caviar
Eye Lift are two-fold. “There are two timings of lift,” says
Hill. The first phase is on application, whereby an
“invisible mesh” begins to form around the eye –
tightening and contracting – to give an immediate eye-
opening boost. “There’s a film-forming ingredient that we
include in the formula ... it’s a mechanical momentary
effect that you see as soon as you apply it,” she explains.
While the initial upshot is as surprising as it is
satisfying, those benefits will wash off, while the
cumulative anti-ageing advantages persist. “It takes
longer to rebuild collagen and the cellular matrix,”
explains Hill. This remodelling on a cellular level, she says, comes with its
challenges: specifically, how to infuse active ingredients – including the brand’s
signature component – Caviar Premier – into a safe-for-eyes formula.
The answer lies in its packaging. Uniquely, the active ingredients are separated in
twin chambers – one housing La Prairie’s iconic gold caviar beads and the other with
a silk gel-cream emulsion spiked with plant extracts and peptides – which mingle
once dispensed to maintain their kick. “We wanted the other active ingredients to
work on the specific eye concern, because Caviar Premier is not specific for dark
circles and puffiness for the eye area. So we’ve added these ingredients that work
together for a 360 degree approach,” explains Hill. “When we develop new products
we always want to combine very strong active ingredients. And occasionally, those
active ingredients work better when they’re separated.”
Of course, there’s a protocol for how you should apply the eye serum, too. While
the brand adheres to the golden ‘tap-don’t-stretch’ rule, to attain the complete lifting
benefits, they also prescribe a gentle, upward massage technique that embraces the
brow bone – a zone not immune to the pitfalls of gravity. “The brows are very
important to frame the eyes and with age, they do sag,” says Hill. “We wanted to
create a product to treat thefulleye area.”
Continuing the brand’s full-circle approach, La Prairie commissioned a trio of
female contemporary photographers to bring Eye Lift to life. The exhibition, coined
Eyes in Focus, debuted at Swiss contemporary art fair Art Basel (just a short drive
from La Prairie’s Zurich headquarters) and depicted works from Swiss artists
Daniela Droz, Namsa Leuba and Senta Simond.
“Luxuryand art, they have always been interweaved,”
says La Prairie CEO Patrick Rasquinet, delighted he’s able
to combine his two passions. “It’s about the gaze, so the
link to photography was obvious.”
While its rich history is interlocked with art – French-
American artist Niki de Saint Phalle’s
use of vivid colour throughout her work
influenced the brand’s original cobalt
blue jar – skincare remains its core
focus, and more so than ever, the eye
category. “We want to be the expert in
ageing, so we have to start from the
eyes,” says La Prairie global chief
marketing officer Greg Prodromides. “It
is an extremely engaging category, and
it’s the most expressive part of our body.
At the end of the day, when you look at
somebody, what do you see?”
“ W hen we
develop new
products
we always
want to
combine
ver y strong
active
ingredients” La Prairie Skin Caviar Eye Lift, $655.
EYE KNOW
If you thought the eyes had one job, think
again. Here, some eye-opening facts.
1.The eye area has 22 moving muscles and
they’re among the fastest moving in our body.
2.We blink on average 10,000 times per day.
3.The skin around the eye area is about 40 per
cent thinner than elsewhere, which is why it has
a tendency to show dark circles.
4.For 84 per cent of women the first signs of
ageing show up as wrinkles around their eyes,
according to a 2006 study.
5.There are fewer oil glands surrounding the
eye, which is why maintaining hydration is key.
6.Fine lines and wrinkles can start to
form as early as our 20s.
7.Photo-ageing accounts for as much
as 80 per cent of ageing. To protect the
eye area, apply sunscreen and invest in
polarised sunglasses.
