First Impressions: St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer

I have been using Celeteque’s water-based moisturizer for a few months now and though I really like it, the forever-restless spirit in me wanted to try a new moisturizer. Yes, curiosity has always been one of my greatest strengths or weaknesses, whichever way you want to look at it. So, what made me try this one?

Initially, I wanted to try the Human ♥ Nature moisturizers because as I said before I am leaning towards organic products right now. There are two variants, one for the day and the other for the night. But given my bizarre sleeping patterns as of late, I would be having trouble deciding which to use when. Haha. So I guess getting both would be impractical for me right now.

Then I stumbled upon this review of St. Ives Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer the other night while looking for other moisturizers and got intrigued enough to look for more reviews. I have seen this product before at the supermarket and found its claims promising, but was hesitant to try it since I do not know anyone else who uses it. It does come in a humongous tub after all, and to waste all that should I not like it would be akin to throwing away good money. But after reading other glowing reviews about the product, I decided there’s no harm in trying it. If all else fails, I could just use it on other parts of my body as a plain moisturizing cream (like what some of those reviewers do as well). That it is formulated without parabens and phthalates is a bonus too, and about as close to organic as I could hope for at the moment.

So excited me, I got myself a tub the first chance I got out of the house. That is, yesterday afternoon. Luckily I had an errand to run and needed to go to the mall, so I dropped by the supermarket for this as well. The HUGE 10-oz. tub set me back P227.75. Not bad for the amount of product I’m getting. By the way this is also available at Watson’s but at a higher price of P239. So glad I got mine at the supermarket (despite my irrational affinity to Watson’s) and saved myself a precious few bucks.

Oh, there’s one thing I gotta say that I do not like about it though: the tub was not sealed. I actually opened a tub right at the supermarket (on the off-chance that one tub was unsealed) to take a sniff and discovered that all the tubs were actually by default unsealed. Tsk. Not very hygienic at all. Anyone could have already dipped a finger or two in any of those tubs. *shudders in disgust* But I figured, since it didn’t seem to be a very popular product and was placed at the rack near the bottom (where you have to look for it if you want to find it), I’d take my chance. But I got one of the tubs from the row behind the display anyway just for good measure. Haha.

Anywho, this is what the cream inside looks like:

The consistency is kinda like that of Cream Silk conditioners. Rich, but still light. It also has a subtle scent which I neither like nor dislike, just okay I guess.

Excited creature that I am, of course I tried it last night on my face and neck. Though there’s no menthol content, it felt cool on my skin as I applied and massaged it in. My face looked kinda shiny after application, but it otherwise did not feel heavy or greasy on my skin. Curiously, my neck seemed to absorb the product better so I reckon that that part of my skin is a bit drier than my face.

This morning when I woke up, my skin felt.. okay. Haha. I wasn’t expecting a miracle, but I am hoping it won’t break me out just the same. Thankfully, my skin seemed to take it in well with no adverse reactions. And by the way, I discovered that I slapped on a bit too much of the stuff on my face last night when I used it again after my bath earlier and just used a little bit. My face looked just sorta dewy and not shiny like last night (except for my nose, but that’s a different story). Oh, and I used it on my hands too in place of regular lotion. Not too bad in comparison.

I will keep on using this because I do not want to waste a big tub of product and see if I really made the right decision deviating from my trusty Celeteque moisturizer. For now, I am satisfied. For now. *winks*