pranapana's Full Review: La Mer : Creme de 250ml/8.5oz
About Me
I'm almost 30 and I inherently have dry-ish skin, exacerbated by being in air conditioning pretty much 90% of my life.
That said, I have very good skin, genetically, but have managed to sensitize it by using expensive products that have done nothing but irritate my skin.
I thought La Mer would be good to try - surely something so freaking expensive would be miraculous right? Not to mention all the hype their PR people pump out.
The Hype
There are a multitude of articles about this 'miracle' cream both in print and on the internet. How it was invented by a scientist to heal burn patients after WW2, it's chock full of some mysterious deep sea ingredients and fused together in some zero gravity environment.
Honestly I don't know how much of this is true and how much of it is actually effective (answer to both probably none).
Getting the Product
My first jar of La Mer I got free from American Express. I was pretty excited to get to try it, I don't think I would ever have shelled out that much $$ for a product I'd never tried before.
I used this product for about a month before I accidentally dropped the jar while travelling and the lid partially broke (just one side). It still shut properly and I thought it was air tight enough as it was.
I was wrong. The cream separated into something akin to oily liquid and the byproducts of liposuction.
As I was in New York at the time I bought another jar from a very effeminate sales man at the large shopping department near the National Art Gallery.
They have sample bottles by the way - my very asian mother grabbed it while the sales man had turned away and smeared a HUGE lot on my hand telling me to rub it in, gleefully whispering that it was at least US$50 worth (it was).
Does anyone else's mother do that kind of thing? Ergh.
Using the product
As explained by the lovely girly sales man (he really was lovely and not snooty - which I don't know is maybe because of the influx of wealthy asian tourists in the area or what - maybe my mother and I just look expensive?), you take a little level scoop with the white plastic scoop that comes with every jar, put it on your finger tips and rub with both sets of finger tips - it's supposed to warm and 'activate' the ingredients, then press (not rub) onto your clean dry skin.
This was a pain for me. Every single time I did this I would wince, because I have dry washer-woman hands (as lovingly told by an EX-boyfriend) and inevitably I would think that the very expensive cream was all absorbed by my finger tips instead of by my face. Damn my chinese peasant hands!
La Mer is a thick white cream with a distinctive perfumey fragrance.
Results
I had pretty good results the first month or so. My skin seemed to 'glow' more and I think it was softer.
I didn't find it overly oily or thick like some have, since I only used the prescribed amount - can definitely see how using too much would make one's face oily though.
However, after a couple of months the cream seemed to only irritate my skin. I started getting red blotches on my cheeks and pimples everywhere. Using the cream only seem to make the problem worse.
My mother who is in her early 60s had the same results - coarsening of the skin and general blotchiness so she stopped using it as well.
Later I found out a cousin had used it with similar results too.
I suspect maybe La Mer is not suited for chinese skins? In any case it didn't work for me at all and now I have half a huge jar I don't know what to do with.
Incidentally, the NY Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Sales Guy said that the separation of the Cream that happened with my first jar did happen from time to time, and you shouldn't use it after the separation happens.
Seems to me that would be a bummer if it were a jar one actually paid for (there's no money back or replacement guarantee).
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