In April Yves Saint Laurent Beauté will introduce a new premium skincare product across Asia, called Or Rouge, or "Red Gold" in French.

The company calls Or Rouge a "skin renaissance" treatment which protects and enhances skin and addresses all signs of ageing.

What makes the product so premium is its key ingredient -- saffron. The spice's rarity accounts for its high price tag and this particular strain used in Or Rouge is even rarer. According to WWD reports, this saffron comes from high in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a country with historic links to Saint Laurent. The designer's ashes were scattered in the country's Majorelle Gardens when he died.

This strain was chosen because it contains a high concentration of a unique glycan called crocin, no relation to India's favourite painkiller pill.

Researchers at parent company L'Oréal have been touting glycans as the new wonder ingredient to combat ageing since the launch of the YSL Forever Youth Liberator in 2012. The molecule was also the star of their 2013 launch -- the YSL Forever Light Creator. With the Or Rouge, L'Oréal reinforces their commitment to glycobiology.

Here's how it works: Glycans are sugars (polysaccharides) that help cells communicate with each other. Cells in the dermis (the second layer of skin) send messages to epidermal (the outermost layer) cells to produce more collagen, which keeps skin plump and wrinkle free. Over time, the efficacy of glycon receptors decreases and cells no longer receive the command to continue producing collagen.

To fix this problem, the brand's researchers found a glycon receptor that does not decrease with age. To create the Or Rouge GFC complex, they combined the crocin with the receptor and a third glycan called X-Glycan.

The science sounds promising. In a BBC documentary The Truth About Looking Young, Dr Rozina Ali investigates L'Oréal's research and comes back impressed.

 src:vogue.in