Estee Lauder PERFECTIONIST Correcting Serum for Lines and Wrinkles - Even Better Than IDEALIST?
Written: Jan 30 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Makes skin feel velvety smooth, noticeable improvement in lines and wrinkles, retinol free
Cons: Price!
The Bottom Line: Effectively and rather quickly diminishes lines and wrinkles, tightens and firms, and leaves skin amazingly smooth and soft. But it's expensive at $52 for one ounce.
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| amyk49's Full Review: Estee Lauder Perfectionist |
Estee Lauder has introduced a new product, Perfectionist Correcting Serum for Lines and Wrinkles, which I'm sure they are hoping will be as successful as their remarkable, close-to-a-miracle product, Idealist Skin Refinisher. How does it measure up? Read on...
I was visiting their website a while back to order another bottle of Idealist Skin Refinisher, which has become my must-have skin care product, and noticed their new product, Estee Lauder Perfectionist. Since this has been designed specifically to correct lines and wrinkles, which unfortunately has become an issue for me, I decided to get this instead and see what I thought.
~ What Estee Lauder Says about Perfectionist
From the Estee Lauder website: "Thinking about lasers, peels or shots? Consider this gentle, retinol-free alternative. Fast, effective and continuous, it stimulates natural repair systems to dramatically improve skin's look:
- DAY 1: Instantly see up to a 29% reduction in fine, dry lines. Skin is luminous.
- WEEK 1: Deep lines look lifted away as our BioSync Complex amplifies natural collagen production.
- MONTH 1: Skin reclaims its youthful look--see up to a 50% reduction in the look of deep lines and wrinkles."
The package insert tells us that the formula in Estee Lauder Perfectionist begins working immediately to activate the protein Integrin. "This powerful communicator - already present in your skin - initiates an accelerated and continuous domino effect that stimulates and synchronizes skin's natural repair systems to dramatically improve skin's appearance."
~Packaging and Directions for Use
Estee Lauder Perfectionist comes packaged in a box along with a multi-lingual insert containing information and directions for use. The bottle is a beautiful lavender color, made of heavy-duty plastic, with a pump top. The pump top is covered with a clear plastic top that is secure enough for the bottle to travel without leaking. For those of you who have tried Estee Lauder Idealist, it's the same kind of bottle, just a slightly different shape with a lavender color.
The directions for use say to smooth on skin AM and PM before your moisturizer, paying particular attention to deepest wrinkles.
~ My Experience with Estee Lauder Perfectionist
As I mentioned, I had been using Idealist for a couple of months with amazing results, so I was anxious to see how this formula compared. Estee Lauder Perfectionist dispenses perfectly from the pump top. It is an almost white color, with a creamy texture and very light citrusy scent that is quite pleasant.
It smoothes on skin easily, and spreads well before being absorbed. I noticed the immediate "feel" of Perfectionist is different from Idealist, as I find it much more moisturizing. It takes a few minutes to become fully absorbed into my skin. After it becomes absorbed there is no greasy feeling at all. It leaves my skin wonderfully smooth and soft, and very moisturized I noticed that it takes longer to seep into my skin and become absorbed than Idealist does.
The first time I used it I'm afraid I didn't notice my lines and wrinkles being "visibly softened and blurred," as the insert suggested. My skin did feel extremely soft, smooth, and velvety after the first application. I followed with my usual moisturizer, Oil of Olay Total Effects, which I almost didn't need because my skin felt so lovely and moisturized already. (Unlike with Idealist, where I do feel the need to follow with a moisturizer.)
After one week of use, twice a day, I thought I could notice a difference in my lines and wrinkles. They did look "blurred" and softened! The very fine lines around and under my eyes were less noticeable, and I swear my deeper wrinkles and lines were lifted somewhat. I thought perhaps my skin also felt tighter, with more resilience. My skin felt wonderfully smooth to the touch, similar (but not exactly) to the way Idealist makes my skin feel. A truly dramatic smoothness.
After a full month of use, usually twice a day but probably skipping every now and then, I can see a visible lessening of my lines and wrinkles. They're not gone, but definitely improved. My skin is absolutely tighter and smoother. It seems the effects are most noticeable for several hours after application. If I skip a morning or evening application, the lines and wrinkles seem to become just a little more noticeable again, but that amazing skin softness and smoothness does not go away even if I skip a day.
Things that Perfectionist did NOT do for my skin - I noticed no improvement in the size or appearance of skin pores. I noticed very little, if any, improvement in evening out my skin tone. But after all, it never claimed to do that.
~ Ingredients and Other Notes
Ingredients, from the package:
Water purified, Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone, Polysilicone-11, ilica, Butylene Glycol, Yeast Extract, Dimethicone Copolyol, Morus Nigra (Mulberry) Root Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract, Siegesbeckia Orientalis extract, Narcissus Tazetta Bulb Extract Salvia Sclarea Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Fruit Extract, Sacchromyces Lysate Extract, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract, Aminopropyl Ascorbyl Phosphate, Polysorbate 40 - Silybum Marianum (Lady's Thistle) Extract, Sodium Beta-Sitosteryl Sulfate, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3, Tocopheryl Acetate, Glycerin, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Cholesterol, Linoleic Acid, Squalane, Pantethine, Sodium Hyaluronate, HDI/Trimethylol Hexyl-lactone Crosspolymer, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Fragrance, Disodium EDTA, Postassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Mica, Titanium Dixoide
Estee Lauder Perfectionist is suitable for all skin types. It is non-acnegenic, dermatologist and ophthalmologist tested.
~ Final Thoughts
Estee Lauder Perfectionist definitely firmed and tightened my skin, and reduced the appearance of my lines and wrinkles in one month. Even some of my deeper wrinkles were noticeably improved. It gave my skin a beautiful, smooth, velvety feel. I'm fairly impressed.
The only problem is that I do have uneven skin tone with some redness on my cheeks, and large pores. Perfectionist didn't help in these areas, and Idealist did. I guess I really need to use both, but there's no way I can afford to do that! At $52 for a one ounce bottle of Perfectionist, and $45 for a one ounce bottle of Idealist, I'm barely able to afford just one. And one ounce will last me a little over a month.
Both Estee Lauder Perfectionist and Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher are awesome products. If you want to focus on reducing wrinkles and lines, firming and tightening skin, give Perfectionist a try, particularly if you've had bad or unfavorable reactions to retinol, because it is retinol-free. If you need to reduce pores and even out skin tone, then you might want to try Idealist instead.
I have to say that I don't feel inclined to gush quite so enthusiastically about Estee Lauder Perfectionist as I did about Idealist. And it is for this reason that I'm giving Perfectionist 4 stars instead of 5, but it's a very close call. I believe I'll be going back to Idealist to correct my uneven skin tone and minimize my pores. But I have definitely seen an improvement in skin firmness, a lessening of wrinkles and lines, and extremely smooth and soft skin from using Perfectionist for a month now.
For more information or to order, visit www.esteelauder.com.
Recommended:
Yes
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