Clarins Double Serum Age Control Concentrate
Clarins Super Restorative Total Eye Concentrate

I was recently lucky enough to go on a work trip to New York where I had a day and a half of blissful free time before coming home. Imagine. No children, no husband, just doing what I wanted when I wanted after having three full night’s sleeps in a row!

However the weather was absolutely freezing and my face went all red and puffy and so I was unfortunately easy prey when I walked into Bloomingdales and was accosted by the very lovely ladies at the Clarins counter.

Normally I don’t allow myself to get sucked into these things, being naturally suspicious as well as hating to feel obligated into making a purchase. But, given I was kind of high on freedom at the time, I just thought what the hell and sat down. What followed was the saleswoman rubbing and dabbing a bunch of different lotions and gels on my face, ruining my makeup, which I then asked them to touch up and consequently I was a bit scared to look in the mirror afterwards – these people aren’t exactly professional make-up artists! And then she laid out the products she’d used and asked if I wanted to buy any. And I felt the pressure, having sat and been dabbed at for 10 minutes, so I thought what the hell, I could use some good eye gel and face serum. After all, parenting young children is aging me faster than I thought possible.

So I picked out two products to buy and she walked me to the till and ... “that will be $250 please”. And my immediate thoughts while choking on my bile were ... Er, what’s that now? Did she just say $250?? For two fricking products? Shit that’s expensive. It’s not that expensive in the UK. Or is it? Is it too late to change my mind now she’s rung them up? Can I just make a run for it?

But the British in me took over and I was too proud to admit I couldn’t afford them, so like a chump I handed over my credit card, paid and legged it with my ‘free gift’ as a consolation prize. Because a teeny tiny travel cleansing set really makes it worth the money :-)

But you know, even if I only get to use the products once and can’t afford to buy them again, at least my skin might get to look a bit less tired in the meantime.

I bought:
Double Serum Age Control Concentrate (lowest price I found on a UK website is £37 for 30ml or £64 for 50ml on beautyspin.co.uk )
Super Restorative Total Eye Concentrate (£39 for 15ml on beautyspin.co.uk)

Are they worth the money?

Well it’s hard to say. The Double Serum has a lovely feel on the skin and creates a nice glow. But I’m not sure if it’s meant to improve the current state of my skin or to stop it getting worse. The Eye Concentrate is very moisturising and a bit of relief for my poor sleep deprived eyes. I’m not sure there was a noticeable improvement after a few applications though.

But I don’t like to judge these things on the first go. I will use them until they run out and see what happens. Then I’ll report back with a full review and decide if I want to fork out for more!

RL x