Review by Superhero Chikoboo
Being a part of Beauty Review as a member is awesome, but being made a superhero is breath taking!! It was a matter of days after learning of my new status that I got the call from Queenie herself, our first Superhero assignment. I could barely contain my excitement.
“Greetings new Superheroes, we hope you are enjoying your shiny new capes. We have your first Superhero assignment for you. We have just got our hands on the new Neutrogena Hydroboost range - it's so new it's not even on the shelves yet. And we want you to form a Superhero Task Force and review all of the products in the range.”
I got this message on the 27th September, and it landed on my doorstep that Monday, the 29th. Inside were the 4 items that make up the new range:
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Night Concentrate
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel with SPF 15
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Eye Roll On
Now I have super dry skin at the best of time, but as the season is slowly but surely changing from Winter into Spring the drying out process is becoming more intense and I have noticed a few more dry patches than usual, so this range to trial couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. As I held the boxes in my hands, the pretty aqua blue tone was perfect it’s my colour of choice lately and knew these were going to be lovely sitting atop my bedside cabinet where I can make sure I stick to a routine of applying night and day as per their individual instructions. My next thought was to find out more about this range so I was well informed and could add to my review, so I headed over to the Neutrogena Website where they feature the new range.
“Our new range of gel-based moisturisers replenish, rebuild, and release moisture for visibly healthy, younger-looking skin” –Neutrogena
Neutrogena Hydroboost Water Gel
“A refreshing, silky gel formula that doubles your skin’s moisture in just 1 hour.”
At first I was a little confused as to what I should do with this gel, I had also been given another with added SPF15 which I assumed was the day version of the night concentrate, so what was this chunky jar for and how was I going to apply it in my daily routine. There was no guidance on the box, or on their website to refer to. As I have really dry skin in areas I decided to pop it on as a substitute to a serum or oil that I usually apply before I put on my day or night cream. This was fine for the first few days but then my combination skin decided that it was far too much moisture for my skin and started to act out with excess oily areas along the T-Zone and a few pimple outbreaks, so I stopped using this as a serum/oil replacement and instead used it on odd days instead of the water gel with SPF15 added as it felt like it needed to be a day cream, which was better.
Design wise, I love this in its aqua blue casing, the whole jar is made to feel chunky as it has a outer layer of clear acrylic around it, the lid being of a pale blue steel look was easy to use, even with excess gel over my hands it was solid enough to twist on and off without dropping it. Overall I do love how they look on my bedside cabinet, very stylish and chic.
Formula, as it states it’s a water gel; the texture is a cross between a gel and a cream, slightly softer and less tacky, sticky then an actual gel but the quick absorption of a gel. Being a pale blue colour it gave a very good example of what we would expect water to look like in a gel state. It has very light fragrance, if any; I never actually detected any as I was using it. This gel never felt tacky, sticky or left any reside on my fingers, it also wasn’t irritating at all.
Application, quick and easy, a dollop on the end of your middle finger warmed up in your palms then spread across your face quickly gets absorbed and left my skin feel soft and plump with moisture I did notice an almost instant relief to the very dry patches so their claim of doubling skin moisture within an hour is very true!
Neutrogena Hydroboost Gel with SPF15
“Provides long lasting hydration with the added benefit of UVA/UVB protection.”
Ah ha! This has SPF added into it; therefore it must be the day cream. So this is how I have been using it and for the sake of the review I have not been using any other product for the duration of this trial, no oils or serum that I normally apply before I put on my day or night cream. I was actually very impressed with this gel and do believe that I might replace my current day cream with this as it has left my skin in such a glowing, hydrated state without any outbreaks and it has kept its hydration all day, as they actually claim without sending my oily T-Zone into overdrive....perfect!!!
Design wise, this comes in a taller, more slender tube like container that has a pump to allow you to simply pump out a few drops and rub on your face in a quick manner, with no fuss or messing with lid, although it does have a clear acrylic lid that stays on when you remember to replace it, it’s currently residing in my white wicker basket I think as I kept forgetting to put it back on, but not having the lid on hasn’t affected the liquid inside, nor has it made the pump gunk up. It matches the others in the range by retaining that gorgeous aqua blue colour with the clear acrylic outer coat.
Formula, slightly thicker than the water gel but it has an amazing blue colour! It easily comes out of the pump and only a couple of drops are all that is needed to get a good coverage all over your face and neck. Unlike some other day creams that have SPF inbuilt, this gel isn’t heavy or sticky. It also doesn’t sweat down your face and leak into your eyes, which I have come across with others.
Application, a quick couple of pumps first thing in the morning after cleansing is all you need. It’s great to know that I have covered myself in a dual purpose product that keeps my skin supple with hydration and also protects with SPF against the harmful sun, even though I only actually get to be in daylight for a few minutes between work and home.
Neutrogena Hydroboost Eye Roll On
“Rejuvenates your eye area by removing puffiness, and continuously releasing moisture”
Unfortunately out of the 4 products sent to review this is the only one that didn’t perform to its claim. I’m not sure if it is entirely the product to blame though as I generally do suffer with puffy eyes but since I started using rosehip oil a few months ago this has all but cleared up, I also have been getting a few early nights so I didn’t have huge puffy, dark bags for this product to rid me of, I actually feel I did it injustice. That being said it hasn’t made them worse and as I stated in another review I removed the oils and serums out of my daily skin care routine so that I could give these products an honest and fair review. I have also noticed that where I normally get dry, flaky almost crusty looking (Mmmm sounds attractive right) patches around my fine lines, you know where them horrid crow’s feet are going to be, has been better with no flaky or crusty dry patches so I assume that it is this roll on that has helped keep this area hydrated.
Design wise, the roll on comes in a tube with a metal type ball at the entrance that acts as the roller to roll on the lotion contained inside the tube. It is a simple design with the same aqua blue colouring as the result of the products of this range. Very easy to use, with a screw on lid which helps prevent spilling or drying out of product.
Formula, the liquid inside the comes out onto the roller ball as a thin film of liquid without any visible colouring or fragrance, for the purpose of the reviewing aspect I squeezed the tube hard to get out past the roller onto my finger to verify that it is a colourless slightly oily textured liquid.
Application, squeezing on the tube to get the liquid moving across the roller ball, you then just swipe it around your closed eye. It has a cooling effect that instantly refreshed my eyes and left a clear trail on my skin which looks like I had just worked a line of water around my eye, it then settled into the skin after a few seconds.
Neutrogena Hydroboost Night Concentrate
“Releases moisture throughout the night so you wake up with soft, hydrated, supple skin.”
As with the day cream in this range it has actually performed as promised, without the application of oils and serums that I usually apply on a daily basis under my moisturisers day or night, I was thrilled to find that after just 2 nights I woke to find nice, soft and supple skin. Normally I only even wear night cream 3-4 times a week as I find it to be too heavy for my dry/combination skin and can lead to areas getting greasy/oily from over hydration that I get breakout, I did with this concentrate also as I used it every night without fail for the first week I had to try as recommended for a fair review even though I know that this can be too much for my skin. On morning number 8 of reviewing it was too much I woke to a very oily T-Zone and pimples along the forehead and chin line that I can only put down to the night concentrate. So I decided then and there to switch back to my every other night application and found that I got the oily areas under control and the pimples retreated. It left the dry patches around my cheeks for dead and they were un-noticeable after just 6 days.
Design wise, similar to the water gel in design, a chunky jar with a screw lid. In that lovely aqua blue colour to match the range and clear acrylic outer, the only thing that makes this different to the water gel is the lid, the lid on this night concentrate is a darker blue, so if you make a mistake and put the wrong lid back on then you’ll get confused if you don’t take the time to read what your putting on your face at the time.
Formula, this light blue watery gel formula is studded with little darker spots of blue which are micro beads containing extra vitamins to really get into that hydration into you as you sleep, with no fragrance that I registered and no residue sticky or tacky feeling, this easily absorbed into skin.
Application, a little amount of this watery gel is all you need to rub into your face at night after cleansing; the little beads of darker blue are not hard and actually just squish into the gel as if they melted for an easy application. Once applied, it sinks almost immediately leaving no sticky after thought which is perfect when you just want to hit the pillow and get some sleep.
Overall thoughts of the Neutrogena Hydroboost Range
I think that it has some good things going for it, it came off as being a little too hydrating for me which is really weird considering I have dry/combination skin which I thought would love this. I feel that the eye roller would personally be a waste of money, but the night concentrate might find itself being re-brought and I am certainly considering the Water Gel with SPF15. Very well done Neutrogena!!
And super thanks to the BR babes and boffins for setting up such an awesome Superhero trial.
Interesting review style. Will be taking notes