The Hero*: No7 Youthful Eye Serum

If you've even glanced at the blog before, you'll know that finding a good eye cream is a bit of an ongoing pushing-water-uphill struggle for me. Oh, to find one that will target the fine lines and wrinkles and make them a thing of history. That will get rid of the awful puffiness that seems to haunt me every day. And if it can reduce the dark circles too, then I wouldn't be complaining too much. But although so many promise, sadly, they just don't deliver.

So when a brand is prepared to put their neck on the block and offer an independent "before and after" kind of test after a four-to-six week trial, then I salute them! No7, that brand we all know and love from Boots, has been quietly doing what it does best, producing high quality, clinically tested, high performance skincare products that are affordable and accessible to all. Not a brand I've gone to in the past for skincare....but could that all be about to change? A six-week trial of their Youthful Eye Serum was about to give me the benchmark I needed.

After an initial consultation with Lesley Reynolds (yes, THE Lesley Reynolds of TV show Stitch Me, Lift Me, Tuck Me fame) and a skin imaging session with the VISIA machine (a merciless monster that reads your skin under various different lights to show you all manner of things you'd rather not know!) off I went clutching a tube of the serum to use morning and night, either on its own, or with my usual eye cream. Nothing to difficult there then! Apart from the fact that I'm not the most consistent of people. Amazing what the threat of a VISIA reading will do, isn't it? There wasn't a day (or night) when I forgot to apply it, which is pretty good going for me.

Six weeks later, it was back to Harley Street to meet Lesley again (she really IS as lovely as she seems on screen) for the follow-up consultation, and another date with the charming VISIA. I have to say, both Lesley and I were rather nervous to see the results - after all, there's no fudging the clinical, scientific readings - it's either worked or it hasn't. End of.

And when the results came out there was a huge collective sigh of relief! Thankfully, there was a definite improvement in the skin around my eyes, and because I'd been a good girl and used SPF15 religiously every day, there was an overall improvement in my facial skin too.
The photos above might be slightly confusing, but in essence, the condition of the the skin around my eyes went from being in the 78th percentile up to the 91st percentile. Not bad for only six weeks. 

The initial tube of cream (and the VISIA appointments) were, of course, courtesy of No7, but I'd have no hesitation in buying it for myself and recommending it to others. 

I'm currently testing out another eye cream which I'm really excited about and I'll report back soon, but in the meantime, any others you think I should try?

*Hero: as in - it does what it says on the tin (or in this case, the tube!)

xXx