That's a CON - Olay regenerist all night recovery cream (Oil of Olay Regenerist Continuous Night Recovery Moisturiser)

Member Name: velissaria

Product:	Oil of Olay Regenerist Continuous Night Recovery Moisturiser
Date:	17/08/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3 = an Amino-Peptide complex

Disadvantages: Spots due to the high content of Vaseline in the UK version.

I have some empty cream pots now sitting around, so they need immediate review to get rid of them!

This cream has left me perplexed because the rest of the reviewers clearly loved it. I am not that keen, and I discovered why:

* Packaging and colour:

Usually, I am not that bothered, but the plastic lilac pot with the back lid failed to impress me. It's dark, tacky and unattractive. Worse: the cream is also lilac with a strong smell I did not like. In the UK, the pot comes inside a carton box, unlike the photo shown above (see www.olay.co.uk) so it's more environmental friendly by avoiding over-packaging. However, in the US, it comes inside what seems like a plastic round semi-transparent container, similar to the pic above which I find a waste (see also www.olay.com).

* The promises:

The company claims that the 'Regenerist Continuous Night Recovery Moisturiser' (named 'all night recovery cream' on the UK version of the lilac pot) will make your skin to look vibrant and healthy when you wake up. Just in 3 weeks of nightly use you will notice "continual, intensive moisturisation throughout the night", your skin will be "visibly firmer and younger-looking" because the cream "regenerates elasticity and resilience", and so your skin will look and feel more healthy and radiant (olay.co.uk).

The US site is more bubbly. There, it is claimed that this 'miraculous' cream "regenerates your skin's appearance at the cellular level", so you "wake up to the look of a mini-lift each morning." (!) This is allegedly possible because this cream doubles your skin's surface cell regeneration rate, compared to untreated skin, by using an "exclusive night time" amino-peptide complex with a time-release effect (what does this mean exactly? Will the amino-acid refuse to work during 'day time' ... ?!). They also claim that it is suitable for everyday use and for normal, dry and combination skin, which is great news, as my skin is combination and sensitive. As a bonus, the US site has 37 raving reviews, giving to the product a 4.9 out of 5 and the "talk to an Olay Consultant now" service (www.olay.com).

* My reality:

As it's my habit, I had a look at the ingredients on both the UK and the US sites. Get ready to be shocked - or you should be => the composition of this cream is different between the UK and the American market!!! I am not going to bore you with many details and you can judge for yourselves by visiting the sites and compare the ingredients. For example, the main active ingredient 'Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3' = the 'magic' Amino-Peptide complex is slightly lower in the UK list. But even more shockingly, the cheap 'petrolatum' = our well-known vaseline which is in reality a cheap petrol derivative, is 12th in the UK list, but much much lower in the US list. And we, my friends, the naive consumers, pay the same amount of money, sometimes MORE, for a lower quality product.

Now I know why the cream felt kind of strange on my skin. When I applied it, I got a velvety feeling on my skin's surface, but it was not getting absorbed properly. It's difficult to explain, but it felt as if a greasy film was left on top of my skin and that my skin was suffocating underneath. When I woke up it was fully absorbed (or left on my pillow?) but after a couple of nights I noticed small random red spots on my face in the morning. I treated them and I used this OLAY cream for about 2 months, till the pot emptied, without making the connection (what a fool). You see, with all the make up we use, the hormonal imbalances and the pollution, I never thought it was the cream... I am absolutely sure now that the high levels of vaseline caused my irritations, and as soon as I finished the pot and stopped using this cream, the spots disappeared.

If you still want to buy it, it currently costs £11.39 on Amazon and £14.04 on Boots online. I bought it from a local market for £8 a few months ago. But I am not touching it with a barge pole, even if you gave me a year's supply for free.

Summary: The UK version of this cream is of inferior quality. OLAY has some serious explanations to give.