Caudalie Vinoperfect Night Correcting Cream

I'm actually posting so soon, and feeling pretty diligent! This product ends my trial period with Caudalie. In conjunction with the Caudalie 1st Wrinkle Serum, I decided to get their Vinoperfect Night Correcting Cream. We've all heard over and over again how you have to use a company's line of specific products in order to achieve the best result. (I suspect this is an advertising or marketing ploy sometimes.) While these two products aren't under the same umbrella of result (brightening vs. energizing), Caudalie uses similar ingredients in all their products anyway, so I thought I would still be getting the maximum Caudalie benefits.

You can get this at Sephora or on the Caudalie website. The cream is for all skin types, and costs $68 for 1 oz. All Caudalie products seem to be made in France, but there might be a couple exceptions...I'm not completely sure.

I got this cream to try because it promised to deliver results that seemed too good to be true. The cream is supposed to "diminish dark spots while renewing skin," "tighten pores," and "make your skin more radiant." Instead of containing the usual anti-oxidants from the grapes themselves, this product has "500 ppm titration of pure Viniferine" taken from"grapevine stalks" which supposedly has much more concentrated anti-oxidant effects than the normal anti-oxidant product. I don't understand much of the scientific language, but since the Viniferine is patented, you'd think it means the product is even more amazing.

Some of the ingredients in the Vinoperfect Night Correcting Cream as taken from the Caudalie website are Viniferine in 500 ppm titration (improves radiance, complexion enhancing and anti-oxidant on the upper layers of the skin), grape acid (provides mild exfoliation), olive squalane, shea butter, cassia angustifolia, grape extract & sodium hyaluronate (all are nourishing & moisturizing), camomile extract (soothing), sweet orange, tangerine, orange blossom water, petit grain, galbanum, ylang ylang (provide relaxing scent?)

This cream is supposed to be applied only at night, but I also used this morning and night. I don't think there's any harm in doing that. The cream is a little hard to squeeze out from the tube. It comes out in a very precise, small little stream of cream, so you're not in the danger of squeezing out too much but you might get frustrated trying to get it out when you're almost done with the tube. (Tip: I cut all my tubes open in sections to get the leftover cream out!) The smell isn't as pleasant as I thought it would be...maybe I had a defunct tube, but the scent made me think of medicine with a faint tinge of grapes.

The texture of the cream is very smooth and it melts down very easily when you rub it between your fingers. It has a medium thick consistency--not too thick as far as creams go, so people with dry skin can probably use it during the warmer months. The cream is buildable, you can use a little for a tiny bit of moisture, or a couple additional layers for a more hydrating effect. When I added on more layers though, it did not absorb very well into my skin. Some of you might enjoy that effect though if you want your cream to maximize the efficacy of serums or other products you've used underneath. It actually also has a bit of a tendency to ball up if you rub your face after application or put any other moisturizers on top.

As for results, I'm not sure if this product helped with my pores. I can't tell if it made their appearance any smaller since my skin has been gradually improving lately anyway, but I haven't had any major clogged pores or break out issues. Also, as for brightness and radiance, I think the cream does a so-so job. I've used products that have given me more radiance before, so I don't think this is the product for that. My acne scars don't look any lighter either. It's really a pity because Caudalie always has such great ingredients, but for some reason the two products I've tried just haven't really done much for me, especially with how expensive they cost. Perhaps dry skin types might want to check this out, but as for everyone else, I'm sure a good retinol product like Skinceuticals 0.5 or 1.0 Refining Night Cream will do a better job. I did a review on the 0.5 version in case you're interested in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm going to be going home pretty soon, so let's see if the change in environment causes my skin to completely go crazy again...I will have to change all my products again!

P.S. Join Mayaari's giveaway to win some great products! You blogger ladies are all so generous!