Olay Regenerist Night Renewal Elixir: The stuff dreams are made of!

Before I get on with the post, someone out there better appreciate the pun in the title or else..I'll cry.

I think this might well be my product of 2011.  Although I get excited about many products, I retain a special level of near hysterical excitement for the best of the best.  You have to pass stringent testing to get me this excited.

Why do I love it so much?  Because it actually does what it says...and well!

Olay state the Regenerist Night Renewal Elixir "accelerates skin's natural surface renewal during sleep..improves hydration to leave skin feeling softer, smoother and firmer looking".

I've used products that promise the same in the past and all they've done is made my skin feel sticky and not much more.

I put the Olay Regenerist Night Renewal Elixir on and went to bed..woke up and did the checks and my skin did feel a lot softer and smoother.  It looked firmer and more plumped up than it normally does.  But this was only day 1 so I told myself not to get too excited.

Consistency wise, it's a clear gel which feels slightly tacky.  I did need to shake it when using it as sometimes it bubbled before the actual product came out.

I thought my success might be a fluke and now, some two weeks later, my skin is still looking fantastic.

I had some hard bumps on my skin that just wouldn't shift but since I've started using this, they've either vanished or formed into proper spots and then buggered off.  I know that this is down to the Elixir because nothing else shifted them.

I'm using less moisturiser as my skin seems hydrated enough as it is.  I also find myself not needing to powder my nose as the hydration levels are at a good enough level so that my skin doesn't produce too much sebum.

As this is a sample, the product on shelves will actually look like the bottle pictured here on the left. 

I put the tiniest blobs on my forehead, cheeks, nose and chin.  I stroke it around my face (avoiding the eyes) and it sinks in quickly and doesn't leave me feeling sticky.  Talking of nose, I didn't realise this until about day 10 but it has really made a difference to my pores.  My nose pores are my lifelong bugbear and this has really helped either shrink or disguise them.

The only thing I'm a bit confused about is what this product actually is.  It's called an elixir which is fair enough but is it a night cream? A serum? A peel?  I'm more inclined to think it's a peel because it has the trademark peel qualities (see through, a bit sticky, suggestion that you whack up the SPF in the morning).  However, I've always been told that peels are meant to tingle and this doesn't tingle at all which is good because facial tingles make me feel uncomfortable.

Now for the warning part..this product contains AHAs which are alpha hydroxy acids.  Don't freak out at the fact that they are acids.  These are used in a lot of cosmetics items.  I had a feeling it contained AHAs as I've used AHA based products before and my skin has felt the same, although I've never had the same results.

When you use products containing AHA, your skin becomes slightly more sensitive to light so it is highly recommended that you wear a moisturiser with SPF in it, both in the morning and for a week after you finish using this.

I got my sample from Supersavvyme, you can click to see if they're still available.

I am definitely picking up the full sized version when I eek the dregs out of this sample.  You might wonder how I got 15 days wear out of this, well, my original sample lasted me 8 days and then I nicked the one my mum had ordered herself too!

I have made a conscious effort every day this week to wake up earlier so I have time to trawl the aisles of Boots in the hope that I will find this product but I haven't seen it on the shelves.  I've ordered it online from Boots so it should be with me shortly.  They're on 3 for 2 at the moment so I've added one for my mum by way of compensation for stealing her sample and I've finally taken the plunge and ordered that Botanics eye makeup remover.

A tale of 12 moisturisers..

I jumped onto the bandwagon of daily body moisturising back in 2005 when I had finished my law degree and was working the summer before doing my LPC..a bandwagon which I quickly disembarked when I realised just how heavy the workload of the LPC was.

But, I hear you say, that was nearly 6 years ago, why are you still packing heat?  Well, I was moisturising during the interim, albeit sporadically.  I also kept buying more and more in the hope that I'd once again have the time to moisturise everyday because, you know, getting the LPC out of the way was the hard part, not what came after it *ahem*. 

I've reviewed the Aveeno ones in detail here but pace yourselves for a speed review of the rest.

Olay Body Quench Mousse:  If you use too much, you will feel sticky and greasy for ages.  I find the best way to use this is to squash it into your skin and then slide your hand down to let it soak in.  This makes your hands sticky and this will transfer onto the canister.  On the plus side, the bottle lasts an age.  It is also very cheap.  It cost me £1 from the Pound Shop and it is a permanent fixture as I have always seen it there.  They have another variant for people who have normal skin.  If you moisturise after shaving/waxing, don't use this as it stings like a motherfudger.  

Would I buy it again? No.  It doesn't give my skin enough moisture and takes ages to dry properly.

Olay Olay..Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

We've had a bout of pretty decent weather recently and I realised that my current moisturiser didn't contain SPF so armed with my purse, me and my brother headed for Tescos.

Funnily enough, he wasn't too into looking at "girly shit" so he busied himself picking up ice creams and then knocking me over with the trolley..

I really wasn't sure what to pick up and as the Tescos was a small one, this was the best it offered:

I've heard a lot about the Olay fluids (as filthy as that sounds) so I decided to give the SPF one a whirl.  I usually find that SPF moisturises tend to make combo skin more oily than it needs to be.

I was pretty impressed that Olay do fluids for all skincare types.  The bottle looks massive here but don't be fooled, it's quite diddly compared to how big the packaging is.

I really like it, the smell reminds me of old school Ulay products (I swear it used to be called Oil of Ulay..I was right! I knew it!) and it doesn't make me greasy at all.  It sinks in nicely and I feel adequately moisturised.

I got it for about £4 from Tescos and my brother bough Feasts, Cornettos and Fabs.