Oskia Bedtime Beauty Boost 50ml Review

image borrowed from http://www.lovelula.com/





Rating: 2.5/5 Available from Lovelula for £74 (+p&p to the UK); Naturisimo for £74 (+p&p to the UK); and Oskia for £74 (+p&p to the UK; +£10 p&p to the EU; +£20 p&p to the rest of the world).

There has been so much buzz around this product that when the chance arose for us to try some we squealed with joy. This "nutri-active nourishing and regenerating night cream" has done the rounds on most beauty blogs and has impressed most if not all of those bloggers.

With MSM, milk peptides, apple stem cells, hyaluronic acid, phytosterols, omega's 3, 6 & 9 vitamins A, B3 & E, and at £74 per 50ml pot this skin cream has got to be a veritable gourmet meal for the skin.

Not only does it claim to help prevent the signs of premature ageing, it also claims that when used overnight it will provide your skin with a softer, healthier-looking morning complexion, iron out wrinkles, reduce age spots and give skin a naturally radiant youthful glow. Here's the rest of the sales pitch (Borrowed from Oskia):

• Provides a feast of health and beauty-boosting nutrients to help rebuild cell health Easily absorbed and non-greasy
• Aids the natural repair and regeneration processes
• Helps plump and smooths out fine lines and wrinkles
• Stimulates collagen production
• Provides long lasting hydration when your skin needs it the most
• Helps lighten and prevent hyperpigmentation
• Protects the skins own DNA

Here's a quick description of the superfoods in this cream:

MSM: is a natural extract of Pine trees and is said to be the most bio-available form of sulphur, which helps to build collagen, skin repair and skin regeneration. It's also anti-inflammatory, helping to calm any skin irritation you may have.

Apple stem cells: help to increase skin cell’s resistance to stress and to repair the skin’s DNA which in turn helps to reduce wrinkles and fine lines. We've only found one study discussing the benefits of the topical application of apple stem cells if you'd like to check it out, click here

Niacinamide: Application has a stabilizing effect on skin barrier function, reducing water loss, and improving skin hydration. It also helps to improve skin pigment, smoothes out wrinkles and the skins surface structure. Along with those benefits it is anti-inflammatory, helping to tackle things ranging from minor skin irritation to acne and rosacea. According to our sources it's beneficial for ageing skin, skin that is prone to acne and rosacea.

Niacinamide also leads to protein synthesis and has a stimulating effect on ceramide and fatty acid production. All this info was taken from this study

Vitamin A from Rosehip oil: Full of antioxidants, trans-retinoic acid (vitamin A) in the form of unsaturated EFA's reduce the effects of aging, regenerates damaged skin, stimulates cell renewal and diminishes fine lines. Like magic in a bottle.

Vitamin E: is an antioxidant, protecting skin against free-radical damage and it has been suggested that it enhances cell resistance to UV.

Milk Peptides: According to Oskia their Milk Peptides "Stimulate collagen I synthesis by 40%, Hyaluronic acid by 1900%, reduces the depth of wrinkles by 35%, and increases skin smoothness by 17% in 14 days. In more detail, it stimulates cell-cell communication, boosts key elements of the Dermo-Epidermal junction to improve nutrients available to the epidermis and skin repair and increases thickness of the epidermis." But we can't find this research....what we can find is that milk peptides are antifungal, and that if you drink milk it can help reduce hypertension (high blood pressure) but we don't think that that applies.

Hyaluronic acid: helps to plump up the skin by encouraging collagen synthesis and increasing the presence of retinoic acid which affects skin hydration. However, results may only be sustained as part of an ongoing treatment (which isn't so friendly on your bank balance). 

As an added bonus Hyaluronic acid is also beneficial for dry scaly skin as in atopic dermatitis.

Phytosterols, Triglycerides and Omegas-3, 6 and 9 (from Shea Butter, Jojoba, Sesame and Rice Germ Oil): help to improve skin barrier function, boost lipid content and provide long-lasting hydration at night when the skin loses significant moisture, plumping out the skin and restoring softness and elasticity for optimum comfort.

I always forget how long ingredient chat takes, let's move to the review! 

Review

When applying, this cream feels rich and luxurious and as an added benefit it's lightweight and non-greasy. According to Oskia it has a deep perfume of bulgarian rose and a hint of rose-lychee. We didn't really get that. The cream has a signature smell, which isn't overpowering and it's not floral.

We were hoping for so much from this cream, unfortunately we could only use it once a week because it was too rich to use every night. We stuck to one week's use and we all got terrible breakouts. I don't need to worry; I'm not in work right now...but Em and L had to face the day with red, sensitive, pimpley skin. Not cool given the pricetag. On further investigation we found that people with sensitive skin have had a hard time with this cream, opting to use it once or twice a week.

Em took it with her to Dubai in June and given that the air was dry and hot, she used it everyday and came back with a glowing complexion. So...if you live in the middle east or another hot, dry place then this is the cream for you! But if you have normal/combination skin you might just find yourself paying for this cream in more ways than one.

In terms of notable differences. . .there were none. It was nice to apply at night, but that was about it. Maybe we've just not suffered enough skin damage or maybe we keep ourselves too well hydrated. We'll never know, it's just that this baby did not work for us.

So, we gave our creams to our mums. And while they all liked the treat, they didn't notice much of a difference either, it moisturised just fine and kept the skin hydrated til the morning. But they all felt the need to moisturise in the morning and instead of getting back with any other points they actually suggested that we review they're favourite night cream (we'll get round to that later) and tell you guys to try a dash of olive squalane for magic lifts...

So...that was a little bit of a disappointment. Ultimately, it does moisturise, and it's got a huge following so it must have a lot of happy customers. But if you don't have dry, mature or damaged skin this might not be the one for you.

teensy amendment: we found that oskia works best if your skin is really dry. Don't know how that'll help...but in the interest of a fair review we thought that full disclosure is the best route!

Have you tried Oskia bedtime beauty boost? What did you think??

Hope you've had a lovely day!

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Ingredients: Water, methyl sulphonyl methane (MSM), glycerin, jojoba oil, sesame seed oil, glyceryl caprylate, decyl oleate, cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate, shea butter*, rice germ oil, cetearyl alcohol, sunflower seed oil, kukui seed oil, rosehip seed oil, niacinamide, benzyl alcohol, glyceryl dibehenate, whey protein, tribehenin, calendula officinalis flower extract, malus domestica fruit cell culture, lecithin, sodium hyaluronate, parfum (natural fragrance) rosa damascena flower oil, citronellol, geraniol, linalool, glyceryl behenate, xantham gum, tocopherol, deydroacetic acid, phenoxyethanol.

* organic ingredient