| Product: |
Boots No 7 Age Rewind Foundation |
| Date: |
07/09/07 (655 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: easy to apply - good coverage without caking - looks natural
Disadvantages: a little pricey
A good foundation has to be an ageing gal's best friend - not foundation garments, corsets etc. (although, heaven knows, I am beginning to feel the need for some firmer shaping underwear) but facial skin foundation. Sallow colour, coarse texture, wrinkles, lines and saggy bits can mostly be covered up but my face is always there exposed to the elements and to scrutiny. It needs all the help it can get which is why I had previously developed an inclination to dabble in alternative brands and blends in an attempt to find the one which was most effective in disguising my advancing facial decline !
However my experience with a Lancome product (reviewed elsewhere) having been dire, I returned to an old favourite, "Boots No 7 Radiant Glow" and for a while things were good in my world --- until it ran out. I turned to Boots.com to purchase a fresh supply of the same, being unwilling to experiment and risk further disappointment or disfigurement, and then catastrophe struck! I couldn't find it anywhere, not in the relevant section and not using the search facility. Had it been discontinued? Boots have a habit of doing this without warning. I have never forgiven them for discontinuing their eye liner pen. It was, after all, the only product I have ever found that enabled me to make a decent fist of adding some lines which were actually welcome on my face!
I was near to panic! Self possession is all on such traumatic occasions and I sat back to analyse my negative reaction whilst I took deep breaths into a paper bag. Feeling calmer I reasoned that it is must be my advancing years that send me into a frenzy of insecurity when my familiar and well loved products are unavailable. When I was younger I was blase about such incidents and keen to move on and experiment. Now, in my fifties, I had started to become clingy! Just as this thought came to mind, it hit me like a bolt from the blue! There on the screen was a product I had not noticed previously, "Boots No 7 Age Rewind Foundation". Such a silly name and a stupid claim! Images of Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep on their "Death Becomes Her" quest for eternal youth, with their heads spinning around nearly 360 degrees, flooded into my mind.
Such mental digression is another thing that can come with age and I made a positive effort to concentrate. On reflection maybe "Age Rewind" was slightly more imaginative and acceptable than the jaded anti-wrinkle descriptions which so irritate me. The bottle on the screen looked familiar enough not to unnerve me, being very similar to the oval shape of my former favourite. At £13.50 per 30mls, it was not cheap and cheerful but only £1 more than my normal choice. And then the clincher - a click revealed it came in the same six shades as my preferred choice, suede, tan, almond, buff , ivory and (my own choice) blonde! Maybe my computer was trying to tell me something. Maybe all my symptoms meant it was time to 'rewind my age'. Fine as long as I didn't go too far and end up with adolescent spots! Feeling a little more daring and adventurous than I had in a while, I ordered it!
During the waiting days before the delivery I did a little more Boots web browsing in between review writing. I already knew of Boots' claim that "no animal testing of any kind is undertaken or commissioned by Boots Group PLC or its subsidiary businesses" Satisfactory so far! However they also "recognise that until satisfactory replacements are available, some animal tests will be carried out by others, to meet regulatory requirements and protect public health…these safety tests sometimes involve ingredients used in products manufactured and sold by (their) subsidiary businesses". Not so good but still better than many other cosmetic giants! But I now discovered that they do not have an FCOD ! Sounded disastrous but what on earth is that? It turned out that this means a 'Fixed Cut Off Date' which indicates a firm's products or ingredients haven't been tested on animals after a specific date. The longer ago the cut- off date, the more ethical the product. Oh well, nobody's perfect! Is age making me less principled or is it just easier to turn my more hard of hearing ear?
Flicking to the product description on Boots website, I studied the terms used more closely. Just look at the claims here! I quote! "Face the world with your most youthful appearance, without any extreme measures. This incredibly clever foundation restores the skins appearance, making it look five years younger in a moment. Fine lines and imperfections are visibly reduced, and the skins natural radiance is enhanced. We've also built in concentrated levels of No 7's own anti-ageing complex, which works away on improving the longer term appearance of your skin whilst you get on with your day." I can't wait for it to arrive! Does age make you more gullible?
The nice gent who breezily delivered my parcel smiled, enquired how I was and wished me a good day. Was it my imagination or was he using the slightly patronising tone some folks use when addressing the elderly?
I reprimand myself for such paranoia as I unpack the various ordered potions and my impulse buy emerges naked from its protective bubble wrap. Boots No 7 products like this usually come in smart black boxes but whether they have done away with these in the interest of less packaging or they remove the boxes for postal deliveries to lighten carriage charges, I cannot tell. Either way I am content that there is less to recycle. The plastic see through bottle has the rounded arrow recycling label so that is enough! At under 4½ inches tall, the container seems smaller than I had expected but it contains the same amount as my 'dead' radiant product. They do say that, as you age, things get smaller! I turn to the back to have a look at the clear, stuck on label which presumably contains the ingredients and instructions for application. I just can't read them even in the strongest light. The print is too minute for my senior eyes! I have to return to the website to find the instructions!
I do as I am told and, having removed the black top, find the black pump beneath. I am rather irked that this is seemingly welded on and it will be difficult to remove it in order to remove those last drops. This might be very important to me in a few years when I am trying to survive on a pension! However upon further investigation I notice a plunger affair at the bottom. I am not technically minded but it would appear that this contraption will move up as the liquid empties thus aiding the complete evacuation of the contents! I still cannot vouch that this is the case as it's early days but it looks hopeful!
After giving the bottle a good shake, as instructed on the web, I am delighted that a fair sized blob is delivered at the first pump - a very good sign, especially for the elderly whose pumping action strength may be diminishing rapidly! It's quite a thick creamy consistency and does not run at all. It is also unscented as it should be being hypoallergenic. My skin being already cleansed and moisturised, I apply little dots where I "need it most". With my uneven skin tones, age spots (which I prefer to call freckles) and black ringed eyes I need a lot of little dots but a couple of pump deliveries proves adequate as it is obvious this goes a long way. Using my fingertips (sponges get so mucky but can also be used), I proceed to blend it in working downwards and outwards from the centre of my face as suggested. (I always follow such instructions at first but soon adopt more slap dash habits!) It glides on easily, evenly and smoothly.
I sit back and consider. My skin feels good, soft and not at all caked. I turn my head from side to side as I survey all the known areas of my facial imperfections in the mirror and I am pleased. They are quite well disguised. I know they are all still there and can identify them if I squint but all of them, even my dark panda eye circles, are far less noticeable! Am I in Cloud Cuckoo Land or does my skin look younger? I am not sure. It is certainly quite a natural look! Maybe I am just taken in by all the hype! I continue my tedious makeup regime and face the day feeling a little brighter than usual. Now comes the acid test.
You will think I am being inventive in what follows but every word is true. A friend, who is not normally given to effusive compliments, called in for coffee and immediately complimented me on how well I was looking. Just as I was deciding it was her way of telling me I was wearing too much blusher, she followed up by remarking that my skin looked good!
Later that day I ventured out into the sunshine secure in the knowledge that my new foundation contained SPF 15 "to protect against skin-ageing UV rays". En route to the local shops, a tall, elderly gent smilingly approached me and asked me how old I was. With what I hope sounded like disdain, I quipped that I was, "too old" and went to go on my way. But then he lurched towards me in a very familiar fashion and asked if I thought he would fit over my knee for a good spanking! Now of course this gent was drunk and I was horrified by such sexual harassment in the street or should have been. But, as I swept away with all the dignity I could muster, I could not help a smug little smile spreading over my new face! It's years since I have been so inappropriately addressed in the street by a total stranger. In fact I can't remember the last time - but then these days my memory sometimes fails me!
Whilst researching for this review, I returned to the Boots website and could not believe my eyes when I discovered my old "Radiant Glow" foundation without even searching for it. Why on earth had I not been able to find it previously? Whether this was down to the first signs of senile confusion, my subconscious telling me that it was time to combat my signs of ageing, a failure on Boots website or divine intervention, I really don't care! I have reasons to be thankful.
I have been using the product for just over a week now and, so far, there has been no sign of the eczema or other skin eruptions which often plague me nor, incidentally, of the unwelcome, make-up stained collars on light garments but it cleans off easily with the aid of my usual Simple Cleansing Lotion. It might not live up to all its extravagant claims. I am not sure my skin looks younger but, when I am wearing it, it certainly looks and feels better than it has done in a long while! Although no more men have accosted me in the street or anywhere else come to that, this is now my first choice foundation and, if Boots don't discontinue it, I think it's the one I will take with me when entering my second childhood!
Summary: As good as it gets for me!
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