Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream

I am quite a low maintenance sort of girl, I don't really tend to wear make up but one beauty product I cant do without (aside from my perfume) is my Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream.

Up until a couple of years ago, I had never even heard of this product. I went on holiday with my best friend and got sunburnt lips while I was there, she introduced me to Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream and I have used it ever since and was quite shocked that I had never heard of it before.

This cream was first around about 70 years ago and was originally intended to be used on miner skin irritations, for chapped or peeling skin as well as sunburn, scratches and miner burns. Since then, women all over the world have found countless uses for it, which I will explain about later.

Packaging
The cream comes in a white box which to be honest looks quite boring. The box has the Elizabeth Arden logo on the front in red with Elizabeth Arden written above it. All the usual information is on the box such as the size of tube inside, description of the product as well as the usual ingredients and customer comments and care address and phone number.
The tube of cream itself is again white with a white and silver lid. It has Elizabeth Arden written at the top of the tube and Eight Hour Cream written at the bottom. On the back are written the directions for use.

Price
This is the only down fall to this product - the price! In Boots, a tube of 50ml of this cream will cost you £19 which is quite excessive for a cream. Normally I am not the sort of person who will pay a stupid amount of money for something but this product is so great, that I don't mind paying the price.

Smell
This cream has a rather unusual smell to it. Personally I love the smell. The best way to describe it, would be to say that it smells quite medicated but not in a horrible way. I think it smells ever so slightly similar to tea tree oil (but only a little bit!).

Colour and Texture
The cream is actually a light orange / slightly brown colour although once rubbed into the desired area, it actually looks clear. The texture is quite bizarre as it feels quite greasy to start with (I assume this is down the one of the ingredients being Petroleum jelly!). Once the product has been rubbed it, it doesn't feel half as greasy, it just smoothes you skin and makes it feel very soft. The cream itself is quite thick, similar to Vaseline when it gets warm and believe me when I say a little goes a long way so this product lasts for ages!

Uses
I am sure this cream has many more uses that I know about but I will outline and explain about the various uses I personally have for this cream.

Lip Balm
This is my main reason for using this cream. I quite often get dry lips and before finding this cream, would always have Vaseline handy. I love this cream because the bottle is small enough for me to carry around in my bag all day and use whenever I need it. To apply it as lip balm, you literally need the tiniest amount of cream as a little goes a very long way. It soothes my lips almost instantly and I find the smell is always nice too. As well as soothing your dry lips, the cream actually looks like lip gloss too so I always wear this if I am having a night out, rather than wearing lip gloss as the shine from this cream is actually better. I would say the cream easily lasts for a couple of hours due to the fact that the cream is quite thick and stays on your lips really well.

Shaping Eye Brows
If I ever have a couple of strands of my eyebrows that are deciding to stick out, then this cream is great for making your eyebrows look sleek. Just apply a tiny amount and rub it through your eyebrows to get all the strands of hair going the right way.

Soothing A Sore Nose
You know when you have a cold and the constant blowing of your nose means its goes all red and sore? Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream is perfect for this! Admittedly, it can look a tiny bit greasy so if you are going out with it applied to your nose, then I would apply it half hour before you go out so it has time to sink in. It soothes my nose really well and after only one application, you can already feel the difference.

Insect Bites
Whenever I go on holiday, the mosquitoes find me and eat me alive despite using repellent. This cream soothes the bites and even stops them from itching! Apparently this can also be used as a repellent but personally I have never used it for that so I am unable to comment on whether it actually works.

Spots
When I get the occasional spot, I apply this cream to it and leave it well alone. If the spot is red, the cream takes away the redness and soothes the area the spot is in. When left alone, the spot clears up in a matter of days, forget Clearasil, use Elizabeth Arden.

Sunburn
This cream can be used for miner sunburn. I like to use it on my face as quite often I burn on my cheeks and this cream is great for soothing burnt skin. You can obviously use it on the rest of your body for sunburn but I prefer to use a bog standard after sun for that and save this cream for my face seeing as it is quite expensive, I want to make it last! This cream also stops you from peeling - an added bonus!

Blusher
This cream can be applied to your cheekbones (or where you usually apply your blusher) and it gives you skin an amazing healthy glow! I prefer using this cream instead of blusher now as there is no risk of you applying too much and looking orange, just a nice natural glow!

Soothe Dry Skin
This cream can be used to soothe and moisturise any area of dry skin such as elbows and knees. I get dry eczema on my face and this clears it up very quickly (although it is not intended to be used for eczema, this is just my choice)

Preventing Dry Skin
Finally, I used this cream to prevent my skin from becoming dry or chapped. I do a lot of dog walking and in winter, this can really affect my skin and lips, making them very dry and sore. I apply the cream before I take the dogs out, and it forms a barrier between my skin and the elements such as wind, meaning I get back from my walk without the bright red face from wind burn!

Summary
As you can see, this cream is very versatile and can be used for so many different things. The one downside is the price but when you consider that I have had a 30ml tube for nearly a year, and I use it at least once every day on my lips, this cream certainly lasts a long time, making it better value for money. Apparently this cream is Unisex and my boyfriend has used it (even if it was me putting it on him!!) for dry lips and insect bites. For anyone looking for a great all round cream, try this one!