This cream was invented in 1930 and it's magical. I'll tell you why after the jump!
The claim (from the Elizabeth Arden website) is:
"Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour® Cream is the legendary, award-winning skin protectant that does more than soothe sun-burned skin, rehydrate chapped lips, and heal rough elbows and calluses. It’s also the secret that makeup artists all over the world use for keeping legs, lips and eyelids shiny; eyebrows in place; and cuticles perfectly manicured. "
I originally bought this cream for my mother whose mature skin is usually dull and dry. Her skin is so dry that it's reddened and it flakes off near her nose, her lips and her eyebrow. In two days, after applying the 8 Hour Cream before bed, the redness was gone, she feels that her skin is softer.
Since then she used this cream when her skin got really bad till the problem passed, before returning to her normal skin care routine.
As far as I am concerned, I have been using this product in two different ways.
The first one is on my lips. When it's really cold outside, my lips get chapped easily, and sometimes they bleeds. In this case, Carmex is not enough. Before bed I apply a thin layer of 8 Hour Cream and the next morning my lips are healed and soft. I don't use it often as a lip balm because repeated use seems to make my lips too soft: two/three days before going to bed are the max for me.
The second kind of use I have for this cream is as a night cream when I have bags under my eyes that are not "cured" with my normal skin care routine. I apply a real small amount of 8 Hour Cream around my orbital bones and in the morning the bags under my eyes are visibly reduced.
I never used it in the other ways Elizabeth Arden suggests: if you have split ends, this cream should help. It also works as a highligher on your cheekbones and gloss over your lipstick (this is how the beauty guru I mentioned before used this product).
I swear, this cream is nothing short of miraculous, but it's not without drawbacks.
First, the scent: it's strong, and reminds of me of some kind of herbal remedies or medicines. It's also persistent. In my opinion it's not intolerable, but I admit it may take some time to get used to it. My mother can't stand this scent, but bears it because of the cream properties. I also know people who cannot use it because the scent make them nauseous.
Second, consistency. The Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream is very oily and sticky on the skin. This kind of consistency may indicate that this product is not appropriate for people with oily skin. This is why I do not apply it on large areas of my face: I am afraid it may make my skin break out.
Obviously, this oily consistency makes possible for the cream to sink slowly into the skin and it is also why it lasts for 8 hours!
Last: the ingredients : Petrolatum 56.8%, Lanolin, Mineral Oil, Fragrance, Salicylic Acid, Castor Oil, Corn Oil, Tocopherol Acetate, BHT, Iron Oxides.
Petrolatum and lanolin are ingredients that research are not clear if they are positive or negative. So I try to use this cream sparingly to avoid absorbing too many potentially harming ingredients.
At this link at Makeupalley you may find other reviews. You'll notice that people either adore or despise this product. There is no middle ground.
Here in Italy, the price for a 50ml tube of 8 Hour Cream is about 25€, which is not bad, considering that it lasts forever, since I use such a small amount so rarely.
Even if there are clear drawbacks, especially the ingredients one, I think I'll keep on using the Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream, since it delivers what it promises and more!
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