Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Complex II

This is a love affair that germinated about two years ago when Harper's Bazaar gave a small bottle away with I think the September or maybe October issue. I bought 2. 

They languished in my stash, or it might have been my knicker drawer, awaiting useage, and they remained there until about 3 months ago when I finally decided to try them. I had had a couple of serums to use up, and I do have a strange aversion to high end mass market type brands, I find them too fragranced, and too mainstream weirdly, we all have our foibles and mine is a deep suspicion of run of the mill brands, I don't know why, I can't explain it but from my skincare I want difference and nicheness and to my mind ANR was a bit meh.

So I applied with fairly low expectations, a bit of "bugger I have no serum, what can I use? Oh yes there is that ANR II, I may as well use it up.

What I noticed immediately was no smell, or more accurately no discernible smell, a sort of freshness maybe but nothing significant to my nose. Next nice colour, who doesn't love a bit of soft apricot first thing in the morning, oh I knew enough about ANR to know that it was okay for am application. But what impressed me the most initially was the texture, light, fluid, cooling, refreshing, with just a little bit of substance to show that it is on the skin, I didn't find it tacky, but neither did it sink into the skin without a trace. I found myself looking forward to applying this each morning, oh and maybe in the evening as well.

And what do you know after using up the little sample bottle which lasted me around 5 weeks of daily am use and some pm uses, my skin began to seem a bit brighter, a bit more even toned - now bear in mind I regularly use Sunday Riley Luna Oil which I have found to be excellent in even-toned promotion, but is pm use, or at least that is how I prefer to use. On finishing the first bottle I quickly moved onto the second bottle, and my skin continued to enjoy this product, feeling soft, looking a bit brighter and feeling calm and hydrated prior to makeup application - I missed it hugely when I finished both bottles.

So much so that I have gone on to purchase the 50mls size.

Now at around £70 for 50mls this is a considered purchase, but I am using it once sometimes twice a day, it sits happily under any moisturiser I put over the top, maintaining its cooling, hydrating properties and on hot sweaty days is sufficiently moisturising to negate the need for anything else. So actually, not a considered purchase at all but for me a necessity.