Lidl - Cien Sensitive Face Cream - The Results

It's been a while.  A long while.  But, while not being the most reliable blogger in the world, I have painstakingly carried on trialling anti-ageing face creams with pathetic desperation.  Next to go under the microscope was Lidl Cien Sensitive Face Cream with "Active Aloe Vera Extract".  It made no claims aside from "Long-Lasting Moisture" and "pH Skin Neutral" but I have a friend who swears by all things aloe vera and therefore had to give it a try.  Also the price was very attractive.  By the time I bought it the price had been reduced to £1.99 and then to 99p!  I stocked up!  It's lightweight, with a natural subtle scent.  I also bought the face mask and the eye gel.  After months of working my way through the stuff I look fine.  No transformation but no dramatic deterioration either.  I've come to realise that this is the best you can hope for. 

To sum up...I have to say that any cream on your skin will do the job of moisturising, some better than others.  I have found that none of the creams I tested had any anti-ageing effect (more's the pity) but I think I suspected that all along.

My neighbour, who in my opinion is really too young to worry about such things, told me of her own trial.  She bought a pot of Guerlain or Chanel or some other pricey anti-ageing product and used it only on one side of her face until the pot was empty.  Can you guess the results?  Can you?  That's right, no difference at all.  None of the defining, lifting, reducing, etc. that's always sort of promised on the blurb.  Even so, she did enjoy using it.  Nice smell, luxurious texture, gorgeous expensive packaging...   Hmmm...  My Lidl Cien stockpile is beginning to lose some of its utility charm. 

Trial No. 4 - dr.organic 100% Organic Pomegranate Anti-Ageing Cream

After the Roc trials I was dying for something more wholesome to put on my face so headed to Holland and Barrett and bought this:

Take a note of the size of the pot in relation to the size of the box.  Here's an internal shot:

See what I'm getting at?  Straight away I was frowning.  Still, at £7.99 it wasn't too extortionate and as there was no night-time version it seemed like a cheap round.  There was no specific mention of any lifting or tightening but it does claim to "Boost collagen stability".  Whatever that is. 

The list of ingredients could be a recipe for a smoothie:
Pomegranate Extract
Co-Q10
Vitamin E
Olive Squalane
Aloe Vera Juice
Evening Primrose Oil
Cocoa Butter
Sweet Almond Oil
Wheat Germ Oil
Glycerine.
And it is paraben-free. 

Apart from the box/jar differential I loved the sound of it.  There's even a picture on the side of the box of a girl who doesn't need it showing you which direction to rub it in.

But... oh dear... let me check.   Yes, it does say "intensely moisturising" on the label, so why does my face feel as tight as a badger's drum?  Is this the "tightening effect" they didn't even refer to?  As immobilising as Botox.  Those pomegranates really are superfruit.

Trial No 3 - Roc Complete Lift - The Results

It's been a while.  Ages in fact and I have no excuse other than Christmas, school holidays and the computer being monopolised by Gorgeous Girl thanks to her laptop breaking down.  I could hardly drag her away from her law exam studies just so I could "check my emails".  She knows that's code for going on eBay.

Anyway, the Roc Complete Lift Double Anti-Sagging Action moisturiser trial was over on Hogmanay.  Here's what it says on the box:

"Results: Your skin is moisturised, velvety soft, and feels firmer.  It looks visibly lifted and the result lasts.*  Your face contour appears as reshaped. (*Cosmetic lifting effect of 7 hours.  Clinical evaluation of 8 weeks on 48 women.)"

I wish it was true!  Oh, how I wish it was true!  Let's take them one at a time:

1  Moisturised?  Yes
2  Velvety soft?   Well, yes, but it was soft to begin with...
3  Feels firmer?  No
4  Looks visibly lifted?  No
5  Results last?  What results?
6  Face contour appears as reshaped?  Not applicable.

One out of six.  Could do better. 

£30 a pot I spent on this!   More money than sense, as my mother would have said.

Trial No.3 - ROC Complete Lift

Now I've really upped the ante.  These two were almost £30 each from Boots.   "Complete Lift" - nothing vague there.  "Double Anti-Sagging Action Technology" and "THPE contracts the cells** for a measurable lift*".  I was shivering with excitement.

The asterisks claim "Cosmetic lifting effect of 7 hours", I like that, and, if you really want to know what THPE stands for, it's Tetrahydrxypropyl Ethylenediamine.  Yes, and it smells like it too.  In fact it's a bit too chemically for my liking, but perhaps that what one should expect from ROC.  They do have a sort of pseudo-chemist-so-it-must-work image. 

Anyway, I try not to be negative as it was expensive and it talks the talk.  I started it on 1 December and have noticed nothing much yet, although I can feel the chemically fumes wafting into my eyes.  It's like sitting in a draught.

I was telling my Wise Friend about these trials and she commented that I shouldn't be putting all that "stuff" on my skin.  I'm beginning to see what she means and I will try to track down something more natural for next trial.  Here's something more natural for now.

Beautiful dahlia in summer

The Results-Trial No.2 - Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Anti Ageing

Well, it's been a while since I've had anything remotely interesting to say.  Such is life.  Nothing much happens sometimes, except the odd horrendous row with Special Boy over eating rice/going to bed/wearing a jumper/whatever.  Someone really famous once said that adolescent boys should be put in a barrel until they are 15.  Then stop up the hole.  I can't remember who it was but I'm with him. 

Anyway, on with the results.  Olay Total Effects may have had 7 powerful anti-ageing benefits in 1 essential product, but there was only one that I was particularly interested in; the subtle firming.  Hang on - is it "subtle" or "powerful"?  Well, unfortunately, it's subtle.  So subtle it can't be noticed.  However, that's the bad news.  There is good news and it may have been due to all that extra massaging I've been doing morning and night, but I don't feel the need for foundation anymore!   There may have been no "subtle firming" but they definitely delivered the "healthy glow" so that's good, isn't it?  Or perhaps massaging any cream in copious amounts twice a day have had the same results.  Possibly, but I'm still quite pleased that something positive has resulted with this cream.

So I haven't had to end the trial early.  The search is still on to find something that really does lift and tighten. What's next?

Red Wine and Kit Kats

That's what I had for my dinner tonight and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  Only me and Special Boy were at home and he was more than happy to be served one of his favourites, toasted cheese with a poached egg on top plus a bowl of tomato soup on the side and all washed down with a cup of tea and a chocolate milkshake.  Bliss for both of us as it meant minimal cooking for me. 

What no one tells you when you embark on motherhood is that you are signing-up to make the dinner for probably the next twenty years.  Every night.  For twenty years. 

Oh! the tyranny of it!  One won't eat red meat, one doesn't like fish that's too fishy, or rice that's gone into clumps, or soup that's been pureed, or sweetcorn, or the pointy ends of sausages, or peas, or brocolli... If I hit upon something that everyone likes I'm so delighted that I make it again and again until they unreasonably go mental at the sight of it.  I can tell you that the joy of cooking, if there was any there in the first place, has well and truly boiled dry and if I could serve food in tablet-form I would. 

I've eaten the same breakfast (porridge) and the same lunch (banana sandwich or toast and marmalade) for donkey's years.  If I ever live alone I will extend this to teatime as well, perhaps not always Kit Kats and red wine, but definitely - most definitely - the occasional tin of condensed milk.  Yummy.

 

Teeth Whitening with Crest Whitestrips

Mentioning teeth whitening has just reminded me.  A student dentist friend of Gorgeous Girl uses these Crest Whitestrips Pro Effects Premium Plus, available from this website:
http://www.discounthealthproducts.co.uk/

Really works.