Decleor Bloggers’ Workshop

When we think of Decleor, the first thing that comes to mind is the word “aromatherapy” as the brand is well known for their use of essential oils in their products and treatments. It’s no surprise that their facials are very popular, I can attest to that because I called their MidValley outlet to book my appointment for their Signature Aromaplasty Facial yesterday and was told that they don’t have a slot available till early July.

To understand more about Decleor, I attended the Decleor Bloggers’ Workshop organised jointly by the brand and Vanity Trove at the Decleor outlet in Publika. I had a facial at their salon in Starhill almost 4 years’ ago. I can’t remember all the details of the facial but I do remember that I enjoyed it very much thanks to the scents.

Decleor Malaysia’s trainer, Vernice Soo introduced us to the brand by firstly explaining the history of aromatherapy. Although the word “aromatherapy” wasn’t coined till the 20th century, essential oils have been used for thousands of years. The Chinese used incense while the Egyptians used oils to embalm the dead. Essential oils have soothing, healing, calming and relaxing properties. Decleor was founded in 1974 and was then known as Cleor or “Golden Key”. Their signature product then and now is  AROMESSENCE™ which is a serum applied before a daily moisturiser.

In the early part of the 2oth century, a French chemist named René-Maurice Gattefossé was working on the aromatic use of essential oils when he burned his arm badly. As with the case with burns, the first thing we would do is plunge our burned part into water so René-Maurice Gattefossé immersed his arm into the nearest container of liquid which happened to be lavender essential oil. His burn healed quickly without any scarring.

René-Maurice Gattefossé is regarded as the Father of Aromatherapy as he was the author of Aromathérapie: Les Huiles Essentielles Hormones Végétales (printed in 1937) and coined the term “aromatherapy” in 1928. The book was later translated into English and is still in print today.

Essential oils are derived from the heart of flowers, leaves, fruits, bark, seeds and roots of plants. They contain certain active ingredients that are concentrated up to 100 times their natural strength and are collected through highly specialized methods such as steam distillation.

At Decleor, one million jasmine flowers are required to extract 1 litre of essential oil, and 100kg of orange blossom is used to produce just 100g of Neroli essential oil which translates to just 6 bottles. So it’s little wonder that each bottle commands quite a high price. All Decleor products are produced in Paris, France so one can be sure that all the products are of the highest quality and under stringent quality control.

Decléor AROMESSENCE™ products are always made up of 3 to 9 different essential oils. Their beauty serums are 100% natural, pure, active and preservative-free. Decleor recommends just 3 drops of serum to be used per application.

After the introduction to the history of aromatherapy and the brand’s essential oils, we began the hands-on workshop by removing eye makeup with their bi-phase eye makeup remover. The top layer of the eye makeup remover contains camellia essential oil for nourishing and the bottom layer contains cornflower essential water for draining and decongesting. The eye makeup remover is poured on to a wet cotton pad and pressed gently on eyelids for a few seconds.

We used the Essential Cleansing Milk with Neroli Essential Oil for repairing and Sweet Almond Oil for soothing and softening. The Cleansing Milk is then either wiped or rinsed off.

To double-cleanse, we used the 3-in-1 Hydra Radiance Mousse which comes out of the bottle as a cream and turns into foam when mixed with water. While it didn’t look like thick foam on my palm, it has a thick texture once applied on my face. This cleanser has neroli essential oil for repairing, papaya extract for exfoliating and hyaluronic acid to prevent dryness.

The Essential Tonifying Lotion contains no alcohol so there is no stinging and skin feels very moist. Vernice explained that one way to tell whether a toner contains alcohol is when you feel your skin still has a layer of toner seconds after application, the toner is alcohol-free but if skin feels dry immediately after application, the toner contains alcohol. With this toner, we could all feel the excess toner on our skin for a few seconds after application. This toner contained neroli essential oil for repairing and sweet almond plant oil for protection and softening.

Next we tried the Hydra Floral Ultra-Moisturising and Plumping Expert Mask enhanced with hyaluronic acid. It contains 3 powerful plant active ingredients:-

– Extract of Wild Pansy for intense moisturisation.
– Samphire Extract to help combat cutaneous dehydration.
– Hyaluronic Acid of natural origin to instantly “plump up” and visibly smooth fine dehydration lines.

It also contains Sunflower Extract to protect skin from free radicals, moisten, soften and hydrate skin.

This mask has a unique texture as it looks like a cream but transforms into a thin oil under the action of a circular motion massage. The massage helps revive the skin and boost the micro-circulation, leaving the skin stimulated and ready to receive the benefits of this expert mask. The mask was left on for 10 minutes after it’d been transformed into an oil. After wiping off, it left our skin smooth, soft and so hydrated. We were all in love with this mask.

Now for the Decleor star product – the Serum and in this workshop, we all used the AROMESSENCE™ NEROLI. The serums don’t come with a dropper so they are applied directly to the 3 middle fingers of one hand, warmed up a bit before inhaling 3 times and applied to different parts of the face including the under-eye area and temples using point massage (5 seconds each time). This particular serum is a blend of neroli, sandalwood, petitgrain, sage, parsley and juniper berry so you can imagine it smells super-duper marvellous and so very relaxing but more than just satisfying the olfactory senses, it is for restoring skin radiance and softening.

The Hydra Floral 24HR Moisture Activator Light Cream contains the same key ingredients as the Hydra Floral Ultra-Moisturising and Plumping Expert Mask.

The last step was the application of the BB Cream (I wasn’t even aware Decleor had a BB Cream but then again, which brand doesn’t have one?) which comes in only 1 shade, a rosy pink. It has the most delicious scent thanks to its grapefruit extract.

We all received a Vanity Trove box containing Decleor samples and a voucher for a complimentary Decleor Signature Aromaplasty Facial worth RM230. I am looking forward to the facial as it’s bound to be a feast for the olfactory senses. 1 hour and 45 minutes of bliss. Counting down the days to my appointment.

Many thanks to Vanity Trove and Decleor for organising such a fabulous bloggers’ workshop.

Prices of some Decleor products used during the workshop:-

AROMESSENCE™ NEROLI 30ml/RM268

Hydra Floral 24HR Moisture Activator Light Cream 50ml/RM291

Hydra Floral Ultra-Moisturising and Plumping Expert Mask 50ml/RM168

BB Cream 40ml/RM178

Eye makeup remover 150ml/RM130

Essential Cleansing Milk 200ml/RM118

Essential Tonifying Lotion 200ml/RM118