The 'creme' of the crop (La Mer Creme de La Mer)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	La Mer Creme de La Mer
Date:	13/08/04 (18829 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vastly improves skin texture, Excellect moisturising capabilities

Disadvantages: OMG... how much???, Awkward to suss out how much to use and the best way to apply, Enlarged pores immediately after use

Popping into Harrods for a loaf of bread the other day (as you do) I decided to have a little look at the cosmetics counters. I was drawn to a certain face cream which was snip at £73 for a 30ml jar, the promises of eternal youth and wonderful skin was enough. I got some. If it's good enough for Madonna it's good enough for me, J-Lo uses it too but it's definitely TOO good for her!

The formulation of Creme de la Mer is a complicated one. Every batch takes three to four months to make and includes a process called 'Sonic Chemistry' which is *ahem* taking sound waves and wiring them into the cream as it's fermenting. It's made from natural ingredients including Sea Kelp, calcium and alfalfa to name but a few. Creme de la Mer was first developed by an ex NASA scientist who had suffered chemical burns and couldn't find anything to help with the condition his skin was in. He turned his brilliant mind to skin care and the La Mer range was born.

The cream comes in very Clinique-like packaging, I don't mean it looks the same but it's very minimal. Creme de la Mer don't need to go for kitsch, cute packaging, they know they're top of the market. A thick white jar with the name flashed around the front and a pretty pink decorative touch - it's a pot that looks nice in the bathroom although with it's plastic twist off lid it looks very £2.99 moisturiser! Shame really because the whole Creme de la Mer experience could have been made so much more special with a slightly more modern pot.

BUT. If you don't like the pot then stash it in a drawer. The cream is what cost £73... is the cream worth it? Erm... not sure. It's an awful lot of money for a moisturiser, my usual Nivea costs around £1.59 and it does the trick. How can another moisturiser justify being over seventy quid more expensive?

The cream itself is very thick, almost Body Butter consistency. It's not as
thick as Nivea but it's a lot thicker than a lot of other moisturisers I've tried. The comprehensive instruction leaflet tells me I need to get a small blob of the cream and rub it in my fingers until it's a more of a lotion consistency. This is imperative otherwise the cream doesn't spread easily on my face because of the thickness of it, once it's liquified slightly the cream will absorb easily into your skin.

Creme de la Mer is a very rich cream and as I rub it into my face it feels deliciously creamy. It's aimed at women (or men!) with normal to dry skin and I suspect it'd be too rich and heavy if you have an oily skin type. The cream feels greasy as I rub it into my face but it absorbs quickly leaving a vague oily sensation on my skin. Not exactly unpleasant but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the house after applying the cream, oil slick face is sooooooo 80's dahling!

It's got a very distinctive smell, a cross between baby lotion and the old Oil of Ulay with a splash of some floral fragrance thrown in. It's a delicate aroma but for ages after I've applied the cream I can get the odd whiff of it, Mark says he can smell it for hours afterwards!

I apply Creme de la Mer at night and use it very, very sparingly. Once I got my act together and learned how to soften the cream I found I didn't need to use too much for each application. The cream smooths on beautifully and actually feels luxurious enough to justify such a hefty price tag, from the first application I could literally feel my usually dry skin drinking in the moisturising capabilities. This sensation doesn't go away either, a new moisturiser always feels like it's doing your skin good when you first start using it but then your skin gets used to it and the magical tingle stops. But Creme de la Mer makes my skin tingle every time and I can feel the goodness in the cream.

After using nig
htly for two weeks I can say it's definitely made a difference. My skin feels smoother than usual and there's none of the usual tightness I experience in the morning. I generally have dry skin but it now feels gorgeously moisturised and supple. I have a small broken vein near my mouth which is pretty apparent because my skin tone is so pale but using Creme de la Mer has faded this somewhat and I can get away with just using foundation and skipping the concealer. The redness I occasionally get along my cheekbones has also been toned down and my skin has a uniform texture and appearance.

The only downside to Creme de la Mer is I've found after application it makes the pores on my nose and forehead (the famous T Zone) appear enlarged and they're still bigger than usual in the morning. A quick dab of astringent sorts this out but the richness of the cream means that unless you're prepared to get into a thorough cleansing regieme your pores will eventually become clogged which will invariably lead to blackeads and blemishes.

So, is it worth the money? Yeah, it probably is. Personally I won't be buying it again as at the end of the day it's a moisturiser and I could buy a complete Clarins skin care set for the price of this one item. If money were no object then I'd be there buying this everytime I needed to but money *is* an issue and I simply can't afford to make such frivolous and unneccesary purchases. It's a wonderful cream and I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it at least once but it's not a cost effective way of looking after my skin. After two weeks of use I've got through around a quarter of the jar which means if I was seriously going to use Creme de la Mer as part of my skin care routine I'd need to buy a jar roughly every six weeks, totting up to a cool £600 on moisturiser over the year.

I didn't really buy it (as if any of you believed that!), I won it last mo
nth but if you've got a spare £73 then head Harrods way or check some of the deals dotted around the internet, if you're in Harrods you can buy a limited edition 500ml jar for £900. Buy me one while you're there...

Summary: