L'Oréal Paris Age Perfect Cell Renewal Midnight Serum

First off, the packaging is gorgeous. A heavy cut-glass bottle with ombre colouring that grades into black. Very cool. Very midnight-moody. It feels high-end and looks lovely, and the glass is recycled and recyclable (kudos to you, L'Oreal). The applicator is a dropper, so it's super hygienic and great for portion control, and it has an excellent seal.

The serum itself really does feel luxurious; thicker and creamier than most (especially the highly liquid The Ordinary serums) but still very fluid and easy to apply. It sinks into the skin well, leaving my skin moisturised but without any shiny, greasy or tacky feel at all. And I love the fragrance; it's a gentle scent, a sort of orange and vanilla mix, so it's warm but not heavy, and just lingers lightly after application. Most importantly, it doesn't irritate my sensitive skin at all.

In terms of performance, I have to say, for maybe the first time ever, I think some of the hype around this serum might be justified. After just a few weeks, I'm sure my skin looks smoother, silkier, more 'cushioned' (if that makes sense) and just overall fresher. I did have the thought that all this might be subjective wishful thinking on my part, but in the past week, I've had three different people commenting on how good my skin looks. I mean, wow. This serum didn't miraculously wipe away my wrinkles or give me a facelift (dagnammit), but with longer-term use, who knows...?

For my ageing, fine (not in a good way!), sensitive, dry skin, this serum is heavenly. I've tried it on its own (on a few very hot days and nights), and while it feels lovely initially, after a while my skin needs more hydration. But it works perfectly for me when used as a primer for my daily spf moisturiser or layered with a heavier moisturiser at night. Depending on your skin type though, the serum could well be enough on its own.

A decent-sized blob squeezed from the pipette does my whole face and neck, so while it's more expensive than many other department store serums, I reckon I'm getting a LOT of effective bang for my buck with this one.

I didn't notice any dramatic improvement in texture, tone or clarity of my skin. It did feel pleasant to put on, but needs to be used with a night cream. It has a pleasant, unobtrusive fragrance, and I liked the appearance of the packaging, plus the fact that the container is recyclable is a positive. Probably won't be adding it to my regular rotation, but could be worth trying out for yourself.

This product come in a cute classy bottle inside a gold and black box that also looks classy. The bottle is glass is a dropper top. The dropper top isn't very good and I find myself wiping the product off the dropper to use it.

The product is like a thick gel that absorbs very quickly and easily, leaving the soft waxy feel that I like in products of this type. It was a pleasant scent.

I have almost finished the bottle which didn't last long, around 10 days, in spite of being 30ml. My skin looks ok and feels nice and soft. So it definitely seems to be more hydrated, maybe a bit brighter. though I'm not sure I'd says it looks younger as per the product claim. I didn't get to use it for 4 weeks to see if wrinkles are reduced but that would be good! So far I've generally found L'Oreal products to be great and I would be interested in using this one longer as it seemed to be on the right track to meeting it's product claims.

The Warehouse has this product for $55 which is more than I would pay for a product of this type so I won't replace it myself, but worth a try if you're happy to pay this much.