Mum Review: Elemis Pro Intense Lift Super System

Elemis recently released a 30 day system designed to lift and firm the skin.  It contains thirty serum ampoules, half to be used in the morning and half in the evening, a firming night cream, an eye cream, and four Jowl and Chin Masks which physically lift the chin and jowl areas by looping over the ears, to be used weekly.  Designed for mature skin, I handed my sample directly over to my Mum, who's in her early sixties and is concerned about wrinkles.  I also gave her a few other Elemis sample sizes I had knocking around so she could try the system in tandem with other Elemis products.  Her thoughts follow.

Firstly I must say that I was extremely diligent about following the directions and carrying out the regime ... didn't miss out on doing what I was supposed to all.

Having got a cleanser and various moisturisers from you too I used that in conjunction with the Pro Intense ... day time only as a night cream was included.  So used only Elemis for the full 30 days.

My skin felt good .. Not too oily and not dry .. Tho the serum felt rather oily going on.  I think I liked the eye cream .. unusual for me cause I get puffy eyes very easily when trying different eye creams.  I did feel that my skin was more taut but also felt that it wasn't less lined (my Olay I feel leaves my skin less lined than the Elemis did.)  Having stopped now and really looking for differences, I don't feel that it that much good for me .. Not enough good to spent £155 every month ... When my Olay cost £40 and lasts a lot longer and does almost the same for me.

Being as expensive as it is ... The face masks should have not broken (the loops broke) .. The serum should have been easier to access and I should not have run out of night cream 2 days before the end of the serum (perhaps I just used too much).

Would like to see the before and after photos as it is quite hard to tell just looking into a mirror.  Certainly just looking into the mirror ... magnified and all .. It did not make enough of a difference  that I could see to make me buy it !

And here are the before and after photos.  In the first photo, my Mum isn't wearing makeup, but she is in the second - I think I see an improvement around the jawline, less puffiness around the eyes, and I think the lines under her eyes are a little less deep.  At £155 a pop, though, I'd expect something a little life changing!

If you're keen to try Pro Intense Lift Super Serum yourself, you'll find it at official Elemis stockist Time to Spa, where it costs £155 for a month's supply.

Disclosure: PR sample

This post originated at www.londonbeautyreview.com. If you're reading it elsewhere, it's been stolen, violating my copyright.

Mum Reviews: Filorga Liss & Go

Disclosure: PR sample

Laboratoires Filorga started life as a science driven, high technology lab developing glycolic peels and and injectables such as dermal fillers.  In 2007, they branched out into similarly high tech skincare - as their website puts it, "the first French dermo-cosmetic range directly issued from aesthetic medicine".  If you like your skincare full of natural and organic ingredients, this range isn't for you - it's chock full of ingredients with long, chemical names, and is more concerned with function than any eco credentials.

At a recent introduction to the brand, I was introduced to the product pictured above, Liss and Go.  It's essentially a portable cotton bud, with the stem filled with a lifting serum designed to smooth out the undereye area.  I was told that it was ideal for occasions when you need to look and feel your best - an important meeting, first date, etc.  At £32 for 5 single use sticks, though, I'd probably need a very important occasion to justify the price.


Anyway - being that I've yet to hit my 30th birthday, I decided that my eyes, tired as they are, weren't the best test for this product.  So I asked my Mum to try them out and let me take close up photos of her undereye area.  Surprisingly, she agreed.


To use the sticks, you simply snap the white plastic tip and allow the serum to slide down into the cotton bud. Once all the liquid has been absorbed, you gently run the bud over the undereye area, paying particular attention to any crows feet, until the bud is empty.  There's plenty in each bud to adequately smooth over both under eye areas.


And the results?  Let's look at some before and after photos.

Before

After

If you look closely, there's definitely a difference in the depth of some of the lines around the undereye area.  The crows feet at the corner of the eye definitely look plumped up, with the expression lines immediately under the eye looking less deep.  Overall, the effect is a smoother looking eye area - in context with the whole face, it makes a definite difference, but not an obviously noticeable one.  As well as the effect on the depth of the wrinkles, the serum also imparts a slight brightening effect.


The question remains - is this product really worth a whopping £6.40 per application?  Yes and no.  If I had a very special event coming up, which was likely to involve lots of being photographed (such as a wedding, my own or otherwise), then I might well be tempted.  For every day use, though, this product is just too expensive to be affordable to most women, however impressive the results.


If you'd like to try Filorga's Liss and Go, you can find it at House of Fraser's Apothecary, both instore and online, where it will cost you £32 for 5 sticks.

What do you think?  Is the effect worth the cost?

Mum Review: Using Boots Smooth Skin IPL for the Face

Disclosure: This unit was supplied as a PR sample, which I handed over to my Mum.


One of the many sad facts of growing older, so I'm told, is the growth of annoying hairs upon one's face.  We've all seen old ladies with slightly furry chins, and while my Mum is definitely nowhere near old lady age, she's very concious that as she ages, more errant hairs grow.

My Mum remembers her own mother asking often if her chin hairs were visible, often whilst hunched over a mirror, plucking them out.  Luckily, nowadays we have more high tech ways of dealing with unwanted hair than just the good old tweezers - so when I received a Smooth Skin unit to test out, I thought my Mum (and her chin) would be a good test subject.

Suffice to say, she was beyond excited at the thought of blasting those hairs to oblivion.  She's now run through the full ten sessions recommended for a permanent result, and is a full on convert to the Smooth Skin.  She said that she found the unit very easy to use - and for those of you wondering about the pain factor on delicate facial skin, she reported that the only thing she felt was a light burst of heat.  She's been using it not only on her chin, but also on her upper lip.

The best thing about the effects, according to my Mum, is not just that the number of hairs has been dwindling - the hairs that are still growing are easier to pluck.  She's found that she doesn't have to pluck every day as she did before - the hairs haven't disappeared entirely, and the few that are still growing are doing so much more slowly.

In fact, my Mum has decided that if I ever take the unit back to test it myself, she'll be buying herself one to keep those hairs at bay for good.  Which, in my view, is the highest recommendation it can get - at around £300, the unit represents a pretty big investment.

If you're interested in the Smooth Skin, you'll find plenty of documentation at the Boots.com website.  You can also read more about the Smooth Skin and other IPL devices here on the LBR.  This is a serious piece of kit with a correspondingly serious price tag: make sure you do your research, and ensure that the unit is suitable for your skin, before you buy.