little white truths

This eye cream was kindly sent to me a while ago, and I've been using it for a few months now so it's high time I reviewed it.

Long story short, I don't like it and I've had to assign it to the overnight spot because I don't feel that it does enough for my eyes to be used in the day/night position. 

While I did try it as my everyday cream, I found that my eyes became uncomfortably dry very quickly - so I ended up putting it on the bedside table because I think it works to seal in other products but it doesn't do much else for me personally. More on that below.

Zelens claims/product details:

• A state-of-the-art, moisturising eye cream with targeted triple action
• Powered by a proprietary complex of high-tech ingredients and soothing botanical extracts
• Helps visibly reduce the appearance of puffiness, dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles 
• Works instantly to soothe and revitalise the eye area
• Eye area looks luminous and more lifted
• Signs of fatigue and ageing around eyes are visibly diminished 
• To use: apply morning and evening around eye area after cleansing, using gentle circular motions
• RRP $125 AUD for 15ml, but do shop around

I've used two other Zelens products in my time and one of them blew my socks off (the 3t Complex Essential Anti-ageing Cream, reviewed here), while the other one - the Transformer Instant Renewal Mask (reviewed here) - did absolutely nothing for me.

I therefore came to use this cream with only mild hope because my high hopes had been dashed when I tried the mask - expecting brilliance after using the 3t cream and being sorely disappointed - so I wasn't expecting too much with this eye cream and indeed I didn't get much. 

Perhaps Zelens just isn't for me. Not a bad thing when you consider the price of its products!

Verdict

This cream hasn't done anything for me and I don't recommend it, but at least I've found some use for it so all is not lost.

Worth noting now is that it's had mixed reviews online. The reviews on MakeupAlley (see here) are polarised, with some people saying that it's a complete waste of money and others singing its praises.

Funnily enough, both Caroline Hirons and Ruth Crilly have raved about this product (see here and here respectively), and although I almost always agree with both of their skincare recommendations, in this case I really don't. Let me explain.

It's a cloudy white, gel-ish product that's super heavy on the silicones so it has that slippery texture that you might associate with a blurring, pore-plugging makeup primer. It has a light, fresh and inoffensive scent that I don't mind, but I would test this first if you prefer your skincare to smell like nothing because the scent does linger on the skin and I can smell it for a while after use.

My biggest issue with this product is that it does absolutely nothing for hydration. Yes I have dry skin so I need something with more punch, but I've seen others with normal skin complain about this aspect so it's obviously not just a problem for those of us who need more nourishment.

I also don't like that it sits on top of the skin, rather than sinking in and delivering moisture where I need it most - which isn't surprising given the silicone-feel and the fact that it does nothing for nourishing my dry eye area - but I really want to drill in the point that this is a 'window dressing' kind of product in my opinion and it doesn't run the hard yards.

Indeed, within 48 hours of using this as my day and night eye cream, my eyes became so uncomfortably dry that I had to send it to the overnight spot for use only as a 'sealer' to whack over a more moisturising eye cream.

I then used it in the overnight spot for a couple of months before trying it again as my day/night cream, once the weather became warmer and my skin became less dry. Same problem. My eyes dried out and looked and felt awful. 

Back it went to the overnight 'sealer' spot. Sure I think it helps seal in my other eye cream, but do I really want to drop $125 on something I could ask of a more affordable product? That'd be a resounding no.

Overall I don't think this is a good eye cream and I don't recommend it. All it really does is blur the look of fine lines a little (so it's a good one to apply before makeup, perhaps over a more moisturising cream if you need the added hydration like I do), but as I said, that's just window dressing and you can find a cheap primer to do that for you so I wouldn't waste your money on this.

Over-priced and under-performing.