Neutrogena Ageless Intensives® Anti-Wrinkle Deep Wrinkle Night Moisturizer

Author: Nora

I should probably preface this review with the admission that at my age, I don't have very many wrinkles to combat. I mean, I actually do have a few, but since I'm not actively trying to reverse them (yet), I haven't paid much attention to what Neutrogena Ageless Intensives® Anti-Wrinkle Deep Wrinkle Night Moisturizer does in that regard. However, as a freckled, thin-skinned girl with an extensive history of sunburns, I do have a bit of sun damage on my face, and I've started to notice that my skin doesn't quite have the luster it used to. I mention this stuff because this moisturizer is AMAZING, and I feel pretty confident that it has broad appeal. It's marketed as an anti-wrinkle cream, but it works remarkably well as a general skin improvement cream too. I guess I take it for granted that it reduces wrinkles, but who knows? This moisturizer might be the very reason I'm able to sit here all carefree and baby-faced.

I first discovered this wonder lotion at the tender age of 21. Or 22, I'm not sure. I have a June birthday, and the end of college and the beginning of the following summer were a hazy blur of Yellow Tail and bad decisions. Anyway, sometime during those weeks, I woke up hung over on my friend's futon, stumbled to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out, and chanced upon a small, smooth blue tube of moisturizer. My face looked desperate and dull in the mirror: my chin displayed a smattering of acne while the rest of my T-zone boasted a scaly, dry rash. My eyes looked oddly small, like the rest of my face had drooped and puffed its way into the area around my sockets while I slept. I read the label on the moisturizer and shrugged. It was a night moisturizer, but since I planned on napping on and off for the rest of the day, I decided to try it.

My skin has not been the same since.

First of all, there is a noticeable difference as soon as you apply it. The texture of the lotion itself is super silky without being greasy. My fingertips sometimes feel a little slippery after I put it on, but my face never has that "I just put on an oily moisturizer!" look I've gotten with other products. Instead, it looks instantly fresher and a little brighter. When I first started using it I experienced a little bit of tingling and some redness, which I assume is from its concentrated elements (Retinol SA and Hyaluronic acid are the active ingredients). The packaging warns you about this, and it DOES go away after a few uses, so my advice to those of you with sensitive skin is to start out using a VERY small amount.

In fact, one of the great things about this moisturizer is that you only need to use a tiny amount to get really impressive results. The instructions on the back of the tube recommend a pearl-sized dollop: "Smooth a pearl-sized amount evenly over face using upward strokes until fully absorbed" (this works for me during most of the year, but I've found that during the winter months, when my skin gets especially dry, I sometimes need a little more). Even when I use the smaller amount, my skin is noticeably softer and much smoother. The moisturizer evens out the tone and neutralizes breakouts and dryness, which is a pretty impressive feat. Seriously, when I'm using this stuff I never break out, and if I run out of the tube and go a week or two without buying another, my skin stays healthy enough to ensure a short grace period of clarity.

If I'm being totally honest, I can be incredibly lazy about skin care. I don't usually wash my face or wear any foundation or concealer, partly out of laziness and partly because a lot of products only seem to exacerbate my weird adult-onset acne (I never had a breakout until I was 19 or so, and thus spent most of my adolescene secretly pitying my friends and openly ridiculing my sisters. In a way, I'm pretty sure this is the Puberty Fairy's karmaic retribution). I bring this up because Neutrogena's moisturizer sort of acts like an all-in-one face product for me, and the biggest pay off I've seen is how it manages to keep my face soft and moisturized while reducing pimples - it's even lightened some scarring. I've used it as a night moisturizer and, in a pinch I've worn in during the day, which I can't whole heartedly endorse doing because it doesn't have an SPF (but it does keep your skin looking nice all day). It costs $18.99 for 1.4 ounces, which isn't ridiculous, but if you're like me and sort of poor, you'll probably wish it came in a slightly bigger tube. Still, for something you can use every day - and it lasts about 2 months per purchase - it's worth every cent.

Rating: 8/8 tentacles