Shiseido NEW Benefiance Moisturiser
Shiseido has launched a new range of three moisturisers – Benefiance. It’s been a long time since I have used any Shiseido skincare, and I have yet to try this, but one of the brand’s foundations – the Synchro Skin Glow Luminizing Fluid Foundation is worth every penny of the £35 and more.
I have never had as many comments about my ‘glowing skin’ as when I was wearing this. So, if the foundation is that good, I am keen to see what the skincare does.
There is a lot of science behind this launch. Over the past few years Shiseido has worked closely with the Massachussetts General Hospital – part of Harvard Medical School – to understand the interactions between our brain and our skin, to enable them to take skincare to the next level.
The brain and the skin are in constant communication (much like the brain with all of our body parts), so any pressure on the epidermis will trigger a domino effect of molecular signals that set sophisticated, vital cutaneous processes in motion.
Apparently, research has shown, stressed or ageing skin loses its ability to interact with the brain. Its original 800,000 sensory receptors tail off, their alertness declines and the nerve fibres responsible for transmitting signals start to slow down.
Skin is not as receptive as it used to be, reacting less and less to stimuli, and becoming more vulnerable to internal and external stresses. As a result, skin has increasing difficulty assimilating the active ingredients in skincare products, which explains why the effectiveness of our regular creams seems to decrease over time.
Shiseido introduces Benefiance – a line is designed with cutting edge anti-ageing active ingredients, whose effectiveness is underpinned by second-generation ReNeura Technology+TM. This technology which optimises the detection and transmission of signals through the skin was first seen in the Essential Energy product.
Shiseido state that with its formula that protects the integrity of the skin’s basal layer – also known as the dermoepidermal junction – Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Cream visually blurs wrinkles and plumps up the skin in just two weeks.
It does this thanks to all sorts of super ingredients. KOMBA-Bounce Complex is made up of three sought-after Japanese seaweeds – green, brown and red – whose memory foam texture and inherent bounciness help plump up wrinkles from the inside.
This complex significantly increases production of Laminin-511 – the protein responsible for the integrity of the skin’s basal layer – and this improves the environment for epidermal stem cells . When they’re cosseted in this way, these cells produce more, and higher-quality, keratinocytes – which protect the skin from damaging stressors and release hyaluronic acid to maintain its plumpness. It’s as if the ageing process was slowed down.
This all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?! And there’s more! Shiseido has combined three top-notch plant-based active ingredients – mukurossi, turmeric and chlorella – to limit the destruction of dermal elastic fibres induced by UV stress. When the basal layer is altered by enzymes such as those stimulated by UV rays, various factors are able to get through and cause damage to the elastic fibres.
Wrinkles set in, and skin loses its elasticity. Extract from the Japanese fruit muku- rossi combines with turmeric to counter this process. Chlorella extract also contributes to protecting against factors that lead to wrinkles.
The cream itself isn’t a gloopy thick anti-ageing product – it’s a lightweight, supple consistency. The enriched version is more velety without being any heavier. It has a green ,floral fragrance with a delicate sweet orange note which gives it relaxing properties.
There are three launches of Benefiance
Wrinkle Smoothing Cream is intended for normal or combination skin and can be used for day or night. It also comes in a creamier formulation, Enriched Wrinkle Smoothing Cream, developed for dry skin.
The Day Cream version formulated for urban women contains not only SPF 25 sunscreen to protect from UV rays, but also an invisible shield that forms a barrier against pollen and prevents it from sticking to the skin.
Te creams come in lovely packaging, which always draws me to a product. This glass sphere comes in 16 different versions, designed after the principles of Japanese Wabi-sabi, which holds that emotions are born of imperfection.
Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Cream, Enriched Wrinkle Smoothing Cream, and Day Cream, are all £75 each, available exclusively from John Lewis from February, and then nationwide in various stockists from March – visit shiseido.co.uk for more info.
