For Christmas one of my friends sent me, via good old Amazon, a L’Oreal gift set comprising of three products from their “Midnight ” anti-aging range. I can’t remember ever seeing this range in the chemist or supermarket. I do use a couple of L’Oreal products already, their Colour Riche lipstick in the shade Taffeta is one of my favourites and I like their RevitaLift eye cream. I find myself hoping that this isn’t just ancient stock that has been languishing in a warehouse for a decade, the boxes look slightly battered and dog-eared.

The Midnight range comes in distinctive gold and black boxes brandished with the words Age Perfect Cell Renew. Inside the boxes are expensive looking smoky brown glass bottles and jars, very similar to Estee Lauder’s Night Repair range. This L’Oreal set consists of Regenerative Cream, Midnight Serum and Revitalising Care Cream. Although my friend tells me she ordered it as a set which was supposed to be in a gift box I received three separate products with no gift box although, of course, I don’t mention that.

The first product I try is the night cream. Enriched with Neohesperidine and vitamin E, the cream feels luxurious and glides on. I am very prone to migraines and fragrance is a big trigger for me. This product is very highly perfumed and I do not like the scent at all, it reminds me of Youth Dew, a perfume an aunt wore in the 1970s.  I lie in bed unable to escape the smell. Fortunately, by the third night of using it I no longer notice the whiff quite so much.  

According to L’Oreal’s website, the skin begins to repair itself in the hours around midnight. I am going to wake up to millions of new skin cells I am informed. That sounds like an entire new face which is probably exactly what I need. I read that Midnight serum is formulated with a powerful antioxidant recovery complex. The serum is gorgeous to use, comparable to the aforementioned Estee Lauder Night Repair and it feels somehow… velvety. Unfortunately, it is also quite strongly scented. It is applied via a dropper which is a little fiddly to use. It is currently priced at £15.95 on Amazon UK.

The Age Perfect Renew cream isn’t featured on the L’Oreal website at the time of me writing this so perhaps it has been discontinued. It doesn’t actually appear to be part of the Midnight range although the packaging is the same. Like the other products, it is scented with elderly lady perfume but it feels luxurious to use, thick but not greasy. I was concerned that the fragrance would irritate my skin but that hasn’t been the case at all. After about ten days of using these products my skin feels well hydrated and soft. 

Had this range not been so strongly scented I would probably repurchase but the strong smell is a deal-breaker for me. The products are otherwise pleasant to use and seem to be effective so I will definitely finish all the jars and then have shop around for something else.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha