The French designer brand Dior has chosen Lanzarote for a cactus cultivation project that will be used for high-range men’s facial skincare products.
Dior’s new Sauvage Mencare range will contain more than 90% natural ingredients, among them the opuntia cactus of Lanzarote, and the company has invested in a gardening project on the island as part of its “journey towards the future, rooted in ancestral expertise.”
A publicity shoot for the range features local cactus expert Isidro Pérez, who is working with Dior on the project and calls the prickly pear cactus “the plant of life.”
“It’s a very generous plant”, says Pérez, “It can survive with very little care and even then it has a remarkable ability to retain moisture.” in the publicity video, he describes how he harvests the very best “rackets” (cactus lobes) during a full moon, when the sap is evenly distributed throughout the plant.
Although not native to Lanzarote, the opuntia or prickly pear cactus can be found all over the island, often growing wild in areas such as the hills around Femés or the barrancos (ravines) in the north of the island.
It was originally cultivated for its prickly pear fruit, known as tuna or higo chumbo locally, but became one of the most valuable crops on the island when the cochineal trade started. The larva of the cochineal beetle lives on the lobes of the cactus, and Lanzarote was once one of the main sources of this deepred food colouring.
The cactus has also been used in fragrances, bringing bright, “green” tropical notes to perfumes. But it’s almost certainly the opuntia oil that can be extracted from the cactus that Dior are interested in.
Sometimes called “natural botox” for its tightening and firming properties, this rich oil is appropriate for all skin types and activates enzymes that bring a luminosity to the complexion , as well as reducing dark spots and wrinkles.
And it’s precisely these properties that attracted Dior to make it a key selling point of the Sauvage range, which includes cleanser, serum and toner, all “powered by cactus”.
The fact that Lanzarote provides the absolutely perfect location for a publicity shoot is an added bonus, although whether Johnny Depp- the face of Dior’s Sauvage fragrance– will arrive on the island is another question.
