Everyone is looking for youth in jar these days – including me. I have tried many anti-aging and anti-wrinkle eye creams from the least expensive to the most and have found one thing they all have in common: None of them really rid you of crow’s feet or wrinkles. Some plump the skin and some hydrate to give the skin a firmer appearance. But if you want to get rid of crow’s feet and the wrinkling when you smile, take the money you would have spent on the cream and get a Botox injection. Voila, no more smile lines and crow’s feet. For a few months anyway. There are some creams out now that try to mimic the paralyzing affect of Botox on the underlying muscles which cause expression lines and some work to a degree (Avotone being the most potent of all I tried). Most are pricey and harsh. I realized I spent more on one “paralyzing” cream in three months than I would have had I just gone and had a Botox injection!

Still, I prefer to try topical creams and treatments since I don’t have deep wrinkles or crow’s feet. At 40, I am concerned about aging and want to stay as youthful looking as I can for as long as I can.

Having said that, I have spent thousands of dollars on the quest for the perfect eye cream. Lancôme makes a wonderful hydrating cream, Progres, which I swear by. Still, it is an older formula and the new ones have all sorts of ingredients that are supposed to work wonders so I figured I would try some new eye creams and see for myself if its hype or if these newer formulas really do blow away the ones from a few years ago.

I started my journey with another Lancôme product, Renergie Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream. I figured since I did love Progres, Lancôme probably knew what it was doing when it made Renergie.

Well, like Progres, Renergie is rich, expensive, and highly concentrated. But after one jar, I went back to trying new products. Here’s why.

The Official Word
This is from www.lancome.com: RÉNERGIE EYE
Anti-Wrinkle and Firming Eye Crème
This ultra-fine creme works to correct the signs of aging around the delicate eye area.
Formulated with powerful hydrating agents to visibly reduce the appearance of fine lines, plus plant extracts to restore firmness. The Result: With continued use, this fortifying creme leaves eyes looking younger.

The Packaging

Always nicely boxed, Renergie is a very small white glass pot of cream/light orange colored cream. The top is a typical screw on and off one. You get just .5 oz of this cream but it is very concentrated.

My Experience

Renergie has a very light scent, nothing offensive yet nothing heavenly. The instructions tell us to use a small amount around the eye area each night and day for a more youthful appearance. I found this cream to be lighter in texture than Progres, but then, Progres is the heaviest eye cream I have ever used (or seen). Renergie is creamy and thick though, as far as eye creams go, and isn’t waxy like some. It does glide on well and absorbs nicely. I had no problem with watering eyes like some eye creams cause.

The website touts “natural ingredients” as their line of defend against wrinkles and aging. However, nowhere on the internet can I find those ingredients and, when I looked on the box, the list read like a chemical lab's inventory list. I didn’t see much of anything “natural”, just a lot of very long words that meant nothing to me.

Still, whatever works, you know? If it takes a slew of 16 letter ingredients to keep my eye area smooth and youthful, that’s fine with me.

I used Renergie nightly for about six weeks. I also used it during the day about five times a week, but not every morning. I couldn’t stay completely away from my Progress for a whole six weeks without a little dab here and there.

While the skin around my eyes was hydrated and soft, the laugh lines and fine lines under my eyes remained exactly as they had been. I saw no change whatsoever in that area. And I would know since I have a 10X mirror that I use to scrutinize my face for scary signs of aging (I do NOT recommend that anyone get a magnifying mirror that shows you your fine lines 10 times their size. Even a 10 year old will get paranoid after looking into a mirror like that!).

The Pros

Renergie is a fairly thick cream with nothing that caused me to have any sort of bad reaction. It left the skin around my eyes hydrated and soft. A little goes a long way although, for the results I got, I think it is just too expensive.

The Cons

I didn’t see any wrinkle reducing at all. Whatever the special natural ingredients are, they didn’t magically take away my fine lines or make me look more youthful. When I smile, those “happy lines” at the corners of my eyes were the same as before using Renergie. I also didn’t notice any extra firmness around the eye area. I don’t have bags or fluid retention under my eyes but, as we age, everything seems to be less firm, even skin around the eyes. I was hoping Renergie would give me some visible signs of firmness around the eye area. It didn’t come through for me. The price is just too high to get ordinary eye cream results. Less expensive creams do the same hydrating and smoothing as Renergie.

Buying Info

You can buy Renergie at www.lancome.com. It is also available at several cosmetics and skin care websites. I have noticed the price dropping on several websites, which could mean that I am not the only one who refuses to pay $52 for a half of an ounce of cream that doesn’t give me promised results.

Lancôme products are also sold in major departments stores and can often be combined with a special gift with purchase of other incentives. I suggest you ask the Lancôme salesperson at a department store to give you a sample of Renergie to try at home for a week or do. You will know by then if you are willing to spend the money on this cream or whether to keep looking.

Conclusion

Lancôme is known for their pricey products and decent to very good quality. Some of their products are simply the best while others are rather ordinary. I would classify Renergie as a bit above ordinary as it is rich and concentrated and certainly didn’t cause any harm to the area around my eyes. Still, it calls itself an anti-wrinkle cream and it doesn’t do what it says, at least not for me. For that reason and for the cost involved, I feel it is worthy of just three stars.

Recommended: No