As part of an Elizabeth Arden Duty Free gift set I received, there was a small tube of their Visible Difference Refining Moisture Cream Complex. This was probably the item in the set that I was most excited by and tempted to use as moisturiser isn't something I would spend a lot of money on. I normally use a £3.99 Nivea light moisturiser and am very happy with it, but always love the chance to try something a bit more indulgent for a bit of pampering.

As it was part of a set, my cream came in a small white tube, rather than the glass tub shown above, but if you bought it separately you would have the choice of this cream in either a 30ml, 75ml or 100ml glass tub like the picture. My tube is plain white with very minimal writing or information on it, merely the name of the product on the front and instructions in four languages on the back telling you to smooth it onto cleansed skin morning or night. The tube is around 3 inches in height and stands on a white screw top lid. Now, when I say it's a small tube this isn't a complaint, as it was part of a set and I was just pleased to receive it at all. HOWEVER! Research for this review has shocked me into silence...not an easy thing to do!

Looking online to see how much you can expect to pay for a normal sized tub of this cream I discovered the following: the cream is available in the sizes I already stated above. At the moment they're all on special offer on cheapsmells.com. The prices are 30ml=£12.45 (normally £25.00), 75ml=£19.00 (normally £45.00) and the 100ml=£21.50 (normally £65.00). The RRP's of the different sizes were enough to stun me, but when I looked at my tube and discovered that it is actually 30ml, the same size as the smallest tub, and if I'd bought it myself it would normally retail at £25 I was flabbergasted! I'm all for paying a bit extra for excellent products that deliver great results, but can any moisturiser really be worth that much money?

Using the moisture cream complex is easy enough, you simply unscrew the lid (I would always prefer a flip top lid on things like this, but that isn't really a complaint for this product as it's a small sample version, and the packaging for the full-sized cream is very different), squeeze a small amount onto your finger tip and then massage it into your face. I use it morning and night after cleansing and toning and a little really does go a long way. I only need to use a pea sized amount to cover my face adequately.

The smell of this cream was totally unexpected. Instead of the usual vaguely citrussy vaguely floral vaguely fresh face creams I'm used to, this has a different smell altogether. It's almost a sherbert kind of smell and actually reminds me of those refresher chew sweets...not the small, round, chalky ones, but the long chewy ones you used to be able to get. It's by no means an unpleasant smell, but it is quite strange rubbing something that smells like that all over your face! It also lingers quite a while as well, so on a morning I do feel I smell a but like a sweet shop!

The cream itself is quite a thick one, much thicker than I'm used to in a moisturiser. It's more reminiscent of quite high factor sun cream than the lighter creams I'm used to but it spreads easily across your skin and feels quite light when you're using it. When I saw how thick it is I was expecting it to be quite difficult to absorb and thought it would take some effort to rub it in properly. This isn't the case, however, and it does absorb very easily into my skin with very little effort.

After I've used this cream by skin is definitely left feeling moisturised and smoother. I can't say I've noticed much of an actual visible difference with regards to my pores/blemishes etc, but my skin does feel softer. With my normal moisturiser, one of the things I like about it is that it leaves my skin feeling sort of "dewy" and glowing. This one, on the other hand, has the opposite effect and seems to mattify my skin, sort of the same effect as when I use a loose powder. I don't dislike this look but personally, I always think that the dewy look makes me look a bit healthier!

So, all in all I'm finding it quite difficult to rate this Refining Moisture Cream Complex. Yes, I like it as a moisturiser but I don't like it enough to a) replace my usual Nivea with it or b) buy it even at special offer prices, let alone full RRP. I think it does soften and moisturise my skin but I don't think it does it any better than the cheaper moisturisers and personally, I don't like the mattifying aspect of it. It does feel quite a luxurious product to use and I would imagine that if you were using the full-sized glass tub it would feel even more so but then I also struggle to find any "refining" qualities to it either. As a moisturiser I would probably give it 4 stars but for the price I would give it 1 so if I split the difference and round it up, then I suppose it gets 3 stars from me, but I definitely wouldn't buy it again myself.