Olay Regenerist Night

...one of the cheapest creams, Olay Regenerist was also the one that gave the best results during the period of this study. Hallelujah - a product I don't actually have to save up for and which I can convince myself has the scientific seal of approval - could it get any better?


Completely and utterly ignoring the fact that the study also suggested that even the best creams "reduced the average depth of wrinkles by less than ...
...still only ever use the Olay beauty fluid for day time (although this may change soon).


I ended up paying £19.50 for a 50 ml pot - a reasonable price as far as anti-aging products go. The pot is a dark lilac colour with a black lid - nothing particularly impressive although that doesn't really matter to me as long as the cream works. Surprisingly, the cream itself is the same lilac colour the pot is and I can't help to think ... more

After having read many, many, many reviews on the benefits of very expensive face creams such as Crème de la Mer I had decided to save up the £90 or so necessary to try one of these miracle products which surely would change my life forever.

Luckily (well, in this case at least…) saving money isn't exactly something I'm good at so I still hadn't managed to get together enough money for this by the time I heard about the Horizon programme where scientists had carried out an independent research experiment into anti-aging products. The result was slightly unexpected as it showed that most of these very expensive creams had very little, or in most cases no effect at all on wrinkles. What they did find however was that one of the cheapest products in the study at £16; Boots no. 7 Protect & Perfect beauty serum could in fact repair damaged skin and even improve fine wrinkles. The result of the report of this study on Horizon was a virtual stampede to any Boots store physical and virtual. At the moment you cannot lay your hands on this serum for love nor money (that's not strictly true in fact as you can log onto ebay and bid for it but prices are currently running close to £100 which sort of defeats the purpose really).

As I'm clearly not going to be able to get my hands on this serum anytime soon I decided to read a bit more about this, and other similar, independent studies to see if I could find alternatives.

Interestingly I found similar research had been undertaken by Consumer Reports, the US version of Which? Scientists monitored any changes in wrinkle depth and skin roughness achieved by 10 of the best selling anti-aging creams on a sample group of women over a period of several weeks. The results of this were similar to the English experiment where price and efficacy were in no way related. In fact, among the least effective were the La Prairie Cellular range, costing up to £229 for a 30ml pot - Imagine having just splashed out on that and then reading about this study. It's got to hurt!

Anyway, the point with this introduction was to say that one of the cheapest creams, Olay Regenerist was also the one that gave the best results during the period of this study. Hallelujah - a product I don't actually have to save up for and which I can convince myself has the scientific seal of approval - could it get any better?

Completely and utterly ignoring the fact that the study also suggested that even the best creams "reduced the average depth of wrinkles by less than 10 per cent, a magnitude of change that was barely visible to the naked eye" (Consumer Reports) I happily trotted down to my local Boots to pick up my new dream cream which clearly would change my life forever.

To start off with I settled for the Regenerist night cream as I still only ever use the Olay beauty fluid for day time (although this may change soon).

I ended up paying £19.50 for a 50 ml pot - a reasonable price as far as anti-aging products go. The pot is a dark lilac colour with a black lid - nothing particularly impressive although that doesn't really matter to me as long as the cream works. Surprisingly, the cream itself is the same lilac colour the pot is and I can't help to think that it's a nod to the target market - ladies with purple-rinsed hair. Surely this cannot be the best colour to use for a brand that wants to give the impression that it caters for a modern albeit mature market? Never mind, just like the attractiveness of the pot doesn't matter; the colour of the cream really doesn't make a difference to my opinion on the product either.

If you need a list of ingredients this can be found on the website http://www.olay.co.uk/regenerist/products_night.jsp. The main 'miracle' part of this cream, according to Olay is palmitoyl pentapeptide. This is a protein molecule that is claimed to achieve "dramatic results without the celebrity price-tag". Apparently this has a good evidence base according to the study - always good to know.

According to the Olay website this product will give the impression of a mini-lift in the morning after having intensely moisturised the skin for up to 8 hours. Well, we'll see! I tried it for the first time the very same night, after having cleansed my face thoroughly. I know there are lots of people who find it unhygienic to use their fingers to scoop up cream but if this bothers you there are spatulas to buy which could be used. The cream is quite thick and rich with a faint, flowery scent. In spite of it's richness it's easily absorbed after just a few seconds of massaging it in. Straight away I could feel that my skin felt very soft and moisturised without that greasy feel to it that you sometimes can get from richer creams. The morning after my skin still felt soft but - and this I'm sure will shock you - there was no difference in depth or amount of wrinkles…

I have used this night cream for about a week now and I still stick with my first impressions. My skin does seem to be softer and not as dry as it sometimes gets and I have not had any form of allergic reaction something which I'm prone to with other creams. I generally tend to like Olay products as they seem to suit my very sensitive skin and the Regenerist night cream is no exception. So far there is no visible difference in wrinkles, and I don't really expect that there will be as, even if I keep hoping, I'm realistic enough to know that no cream can do anything about them really (that botox injection is getting more and more realistic).

I seem to be using quite a bit of cream each time I use it but this cream should still last me about 2 months or so as it's only used once a day.

I will most certainly keep using this product, at least until there's a new product on the market that I have to try, just in case. I would recommend this to just about anybody. As I have very dry skin I've used anti-aging products since I was 21 and it's worked pretty well so far, in spite of the odd wrinkle here and there. I don't really think that you can be too young to start using this product. On the other hand I think that those with very gresy skin would be better off with other night creams, which are not as rich as this one.
 

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