"Imagine what could’ve happened if I actually slept? Two words: Cate Blanchett." Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images
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I've always been curious about night creams.
The idea of something working while you sleep seems both highly efficient – your skin is in replenishing mode and you don't have to do a thing! And somehow magical, in a fairy dust sort of way. But the tetchy feminist in me has remained curious too – about its validity.
In my more cynical moments I've wondered if, because women's mornings are already so jam-packed, some ad person somewhere hatched a plot to get them to start on their skin the night before.
So, anyway – long story short, I tried four of them. And because both mornings and nights are kind of a nightmare around my place, (three of the four members of my family are sleep-challenged. I'm one of them) I found myself slathering them on, and then hanging about for another three hours.
Like, I know, the ingredients need my skin to be at rest in order to be activated but in this season of my life, with the toddler and the baby and the husband and the travel, well ... rest isn't really a word I use – unless I'm speaking sarcastically. I lie down where and when I can.
So sometimes, I put these fairy dust creams on at 11pm. Sometimes 1pm. Sometimes 10am. But, all of them – all of them – left my skin feeling soft as my five-month-old's cheeks, and almost as pillowy, too. Imagine what could've happened if I actually slept? Two words: Cate Blanchett.
1. Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex It sounds like the sequel to a particularly dark comicbook franchise, which is fitting in a way, because this is a truly iconic product that is designed to slow down the appearance of ageing. Well, my skin felt amazing. $98 for 30ml bottle
2. BABOR Active Night Ampoules. These are individual capsule things – "shots" if you will, for the skin at night and full of exotic ingredients like black algae, black truffles and black willow. This one changed me – it gave my face the texture of glass. Utterly smooth, clean, gleaming. Like Christmas morning. RRP TK
3. Mesoestetic Radiance DNA Night Cream. Oooh this was a delight to wear ... in daylight. Still. My skin felt smoother every time I used it. $152.50
4. Dr. Hauschka Night Serum contains organic berner rose apple blossom extract and smells delicious. It also made my skin feel softer. $79
