Guerlain Parure Pearly White Brightening Fluid Foudation Review & Swatches

Guerlain Parure Pearly White Brightening Fluid Foundation Skin Refiner SPF 15 PA+
(see more info on Guerlain’s Asia exclusive Pearly White collection HERE)

Packaged in luxurious golden glass with a gilded top, Guerlain’s Parure Pearly White Brightening Fluid Foundation Skin Refiner is a matte finish foundation with a little SPF thrown in for good measure. Parure Pearly White is meant to give you the radiance of a clear, smooth, flawless complexion in one step, and surprisingly enough in today’s cosmetics market, it actually delivers.

This light fluid foundation, formulated especially for the Asian market, is meant to maintain a look of matte flawlessness even in hot or humid weather.

Tops for Parure Pearly White and Parure Extreme, side by side.

I’m really loving Guerlain’s foundations lately; they’re light, long-wearing, non-irritating and come beautifully packaged. I purchased both the Pearly White and the Extreme foundations at Duty Free in Korea recently, and I’ll be doing a quick comparison of both for you.

Parure Pearly White contains 100% natural nacre powder taken from the shells of oysters which provides a slight glowy iridescence to help conceal imperfections such as enlarged pores, dark spots, redness, discoloration, and overall complexion dullness. The formula also contains Pearl Lily Complex (taken from the lily of course) which offers advanced protection against pigmentation issues caused by environmental and internal factors.

Guerlain’s Pearly White is really something special. Its ability to provide good coverage while feeling light and weightless; the way that it leaves my skin looking brightened and whitened without the look of a cakey mask; how it keeps me matte for hours on end thanks to the combination of two absorbing powders contained in its formula. And it doesn’t hurt that the packaging is seriously the best that I’ve seen for foundation–it’s gorgeous and the pump makes for easy, clean dispensing.

Swatches of Guerlain Parure Pearly White (left) and Parure Extreme (right)

I own both the Guerlain Parure Pearly White and the Parure Extreme foundations in Shade 01 Beige Pale, which is an Asia-exclusive shade (boooo I know!). I’d tried Parure Extreme in the lightest shade available in the US (see my review HERE) and it just hadn’t worked for me (problems with oxidation) but I’d loved the formula so much I was determined to give it another shot.

So how do they compare? Well Parure Extreme is a very liquidy foundation that’s uber-light and super long-wearing. The Pearly White is a little on the thicker side, consistency-wise, and while it’s good at keeping me matte, it’s not nearly as good as the Parure Extreme.

While the Parure Extreme is probably the easiest foundation in the world to work with thanks to its liquidiness, in terms of appearance, Pearly White wins hands down. The Parure Extreme, even though it’s the same shade as the Pearly White, definitely has a bit more yellow to it and still oxidizes a bit, although it’s not nearly as noticeable as it was with the darker shade. The Pearly White shade stays true all day long and really just give my complexion that certain “look” that I try to achieve with every foundation purchase. Pearly White gets me as close to a glowing, porcelain-skinned look as I’m ever going to get.

Of course I’d fall in love with a foundation that’s not available outside of Asia–that’s just how it is for me. All my favorite products end up being limited edition, discontinued, from brands that disappears from the US, etc. etc.–it’s like the beauty gods hate me!

For now I’m trying to use my little bottle sparingly, but trust me I’ll be looking for a way to get more of this stuff once it’s gone!