Just before Christmas I came home to a delivery from Estee Lauder; inside was the not-even-on-the-shelves-yet Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask. Wrapped in gold, opening the eye mask was every bit as exciting as Charlie finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket – I’d been thinking about trying an eye mask for ages, and I was already aware of the Advanced Night Repair collection (primarily, Estee Lauder’s most popular anti ageing serum) so I had high hopes for the brand’s new product. Especially as the eye area is of concern to me; not so much fine lines (they add character, no?) but rather, skin tone and dark shadows, and under-eye bags.
As it says on the ‘tin’, the Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask is intended to be used overnight, and weekly. At £10 per pair, this could be a costly addition to your skincare regime, however, it has to be said that there was enough excess product for me to enjoy another five generous applications (minus the pads) – so you could do the eye mask once a month, then use the excess serum each week for the remaining weeks, costing just £10 per month.
Anyway, my thoughts? It was slightly messy to use because the pads aren’t pre-soaked in the formula; you break the seal that separates the two and push the formula through, drenching the pads. Then you open the packet to get the pads, which, by now, are slippery, wet and need to be fished out of the excess serum. Once you’ve got hold of them though, you just pop one under each eye and leave them on for ten minutes. This felt amazing – cooling and calming – and when I removed the mask I did see instantly that my eyes looked brighter, and the skin looked less heavy. I’m not entirely sure why it’s intended for night time use (other than this being the time when our eyes feel most tired) as the results really were visible straight away and so it makes as much sense to me to use it as a morning product too.
Using the excess formula on its own has been worthwhile (I pat it on before bed), but the pads do indeed make this more of an intensive treatment – I think the moisture surge that is released from the mask helps the eyes to soak up the product and really soothe the delicate skin. Estee Lauder’s press release claims that the eye mask delivers twenty times more Advanced Night Repair’s proven soothing, hydrating and repair ingredients to the delicate eye area, and that the pads are made up of three separate layers which have been developed using a high-powered water binding process – I presume these are the reasons why the mask makes so much more of a instant difference in comparison to only the formula. To this end, I probably wouldn’t purchase a formula only version (the only product I can see online is the Advanced Night Repair Eye Serum) but I’d definitely pay a tenner for this eye mask.
I have no hesitations in recommending Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask to you. It’s an affordable, simple, at-home skincare product that actually works when eyes need a helping hand – perfect as a night time treatment following the festive party season, a boost ahead of a special occasion or big event, or during a long haul flight. 4/5
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Recovery Eye Mask is available from January 2017.
1 pack £10 / 4 pack £36 / 8 pack £65
