Beauty Products Bring on the Bling with Pure Gold as an Elemental Active Ingredient

As a result of innovations in nanotechnology and nanoscience research at the turn of the 21st century, the high-end cosmetics industry has increased development of a range of beauty products that incorporate nanoparticularate, or colloidal, gold into formulas for the face and body that claim to have powerful therapeutic benefits due to certain attributes of gold in this form such as its biocompatibility, which make gold a good carrier of other active ingredients that can thus be absorbed better on a cellular level, its oxidating and conduction capacities, which are said to promote circulation and thus have an anti-aging effect as increased circulation promotes new cell growth, as well as its anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Gold flake is also used in certain cosmetics and beauty products as a color additive and for supposed therapeutic benefits and its lasting shimmering effect. The unique chemical and electrical attributes of gold are used in upscale products by cosmetics companies who claim to harness its regenerative capacities, such as LaPrairie, who sells their Cellular Radiance Concentrate Pure Gold serum for $580.00 an ounce, in Chantecaille’s Nano Gold Energising Cream, priced at $420.00 for 1.7 ounces, and in Guerlain’s L’Or Radiance Concentrate with Pure Gold, a make-up primer that is infused with 24-carat-gold “complexion perfecting flakes.”

Luxury salons and spas offer specialty facials that include masks of gold in these two forms, like the 24-Carat Gold facial system produced by Japanese cosmetics company UMO, which claims it “utilizes a proprietary new technology of Gamma PGA, Ions, and Ultrasonic Nano Mist combined with pure 24 Karat Gold to deliver glowing, radiant skin,” with the benefits of lifting and firming the skin, minimizing appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, treating sun damage and age spots, and combating free radicals that age the skin. UMO’s Ultrasonic Nano Mist Spray was designed to deliver the 24-carat gold solution along with the Gamma PGA formula in an ionically charged form that stimulates the surface of the skin through the electrical current of the negative ions that gives the product’s active ingredients a boost and helps them to penetrate more deeply. The SongSing Nanotechnology firm in Taiwan produces a variety of nano form materials, including gold, for use in a range of commercial and industrial applications and contributes to research and development of such products for diverse enhancements and greater effectiveness. Not without controversy, there are some in the medical community who debate the scientific basis for claims about gold’s use in skincare products in its different forms. Some our favorite recent products with bling and a certain alchemy of the skin are: Terry Or de Rose Precieux – I stumbled across this Crown Jewel of lip balms at the Space NK store at the Coast Village Road Country Mart in Montecito, California, a fun spot for browsing skillfully curated beauty products. Honestly, how can one resist a lip balm that is “spun with pink gold” for shine and infused with “rose phyto-molecules and 24-carat pink gold, known for their regenerative and youth-boosting properties?”

Yves Saint-Laurent Golden Gloss. I have remained loyal to the Nars Super Orgasm pink lip gloss for years because it has real flecks of glitter in it, like pixie dust left behind on my daughters’ cheeks after I kiss them goodbye at school in the morning. But it’s time to up the bling ante, and I couldn’t resist switching to Yves Saint-Laurent’s Golden Gloss line of 18 shades with real 24-karat gold flecks. I went with Golden Cherry Blossom for daytime, and Golden Irreverence for evening.

Rodial Bee Venom 24-karat Super Essence. Yes, of course, I have to have this… It can’t hurt to go with the product that has bee venom and gold, on the assumption the recipe was discovered in an ancient Cleopatra papyrus… This anti-aging serum incorporates two of nature’s most intriguing properties to create, “A unique combination of super-strength bee venom, nano peptides and plant stem cell technology which work together to correct skin tone, plump and smooth skin, as well as relax facial contractions. This luxurious serum has the additional ingredient of pure gold to give an instant radiance to the skin.

Fountain of youth or not, the latest proliferation of luxury cosmetics embellished with gold is yet another iteration of our fascination with this eternally shiny substance.

Adapted from Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia, by Shannon Kenny Venable

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