So far, the most thoroughly satisfying ‘must-buy-something’ purchase from an airport duty free shop is my Guerlain Météorites Miniature Pearls Collection – a twin pack of mini tubs and a travel brush in Guerlain’s signature art nouveau aesthetic. I have to confess that I knew nothing about Guerlain Météorites at the time, except that it’s a face powder in multi-coloured-ball-form, which was enough to have me sold completely. Guerlain is always a brand that makes it a pleasure to own, even if it’s simply to display it on your vanity.You’ll probably think this is one of those posts where I just spam you with a profusion of close up photos of the adorable packaging (see above, and below, and even more below). But I will be endeavouring to make some sort of a valuable contribution to the copious online discourse on this pretty powder.

Dying to know what the verdict was on the beauty blogosphere, I was consumed by the task of reading online reviews for the best of an afternoon. It was intriguing to read what had to be a selection from thousands of raving reviews, the gist of which was along the lines of ‘I couldn’t tell what it did, but everyone said my skin looked amazing’. The thought that this could be one of those price-value placeboes crossed my mind. I mean when a product is over the $50 threshold, you’re very much incentivized  to like it. Which was my experience exactly, at first.

As a powder to set your foundation, Météorites is as good as any I’ve tried (my favourite is, surprisingly, Candy Doll Mineral Face Powder). It mattefies and evens out foundation, leaving a smooth finish (as my boyfriend fondly described it: ‘your skin looks freshly sanded’). Apart from that, I didn’t notice any particular ‘glow’. Guerlain Météorites is a translucent powder, as advertised, and is all but invisible on the skin save for some tiny, tiny specs of glitter. So does this powder really give your skin an inexplicable radiance that others can’t help but notice?

Despite initial skepticism, I have to say I’m learning towards ‘affirmative’ (keeping in mind that my research is based on a very small data set). The day I stepped wearing my Météorites, I did experience a higher than usual rate of conversations being started on the topic of my appearance (not by me!). And yes, a number of people did comment that I looked particularly nice today but they couldn’t put their finger on it. Could this be the enigmatic effect of Guerlain Météorites that I’ve been hearing about? I can’t offer you anything scientific, but I count myself as one of the converted!

Full sized Guerlain Météorites available here, here or here.