This classic cream is a multitasking marvel that I always keep close to hand – or lips or eyelids
Authenticity. It’s a word that I keep hearing and being told it’s what everyone is searching for. Well, apart from the fact that I hope you find it here on these pages – and in this magazine – every week, when it comes to beauty products you really can’t get more authentic than Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant (£28, elizabetharden.co.uk). It’s an original, a classic,
This is an old faithful stalwart that has stood the test of time in an industry that thrives on the innovative, exciting, and well-publicized. Its original formula has survived. It stands proud, distinguished, and confident in its abilities. This deserves an ode.
They have a wide range of abilities. I love using Eight Hour Cream as a lip balm and also to add a little shine to skin when desired, whether that’s on eyelids – either bare or over the top of eyeshadow, which is a much-loved trick of make-up artists – shoulders, or even down the front of shins. You can use it to treat a variety of skin conditions, including calming redness, soothing burns, softening the cuticles and treating cuts. Many mothers carry it in their baby’s nappy bag. I’ve even heard that some use it as an intensive night treatment on their face. It’s just one of those multi-use marvels. Indeed, legend has it that the cream got its name after a mother said it took just eight hours after applying to heal her son’s skinned knee.
Of course, the even bigger legend surrounding it is that the cream was originally created to help soothe the shins of Arden’s own racehorses before it was discovered that it worked on humans, too – though in reality I think which came first seems to have been lost in the mists of time. It was loved and used by both.
In the past two years the cream – as well as the range of skincare that has been created around it, including hand cream and lip balm – has seen double-digit growth. This could be due to a rising in beauty nostalgia, as many of us spend so much of our time at home, and its reputation for caring for the skin.
Eight Hour Cream is a potent cream that every regular user will know. However, the brand has now clinically proved these powerful powers. However, the brand’s tests show that it is not as accurate as its name suggests. It can repair your skin in under an hour. Not bad going for a 92-year-old – or should that be 92-years-young?
@edwinaingschambers
It is definitely worth the effort
I’m rhapsodizing on the topic of things being proved about cult classics we already believe in, so let me wax poetic about it. SkinCeuticalsAnd its success HA Intensifier Serum (£90, skinceuticals.co.uk). That’s HA as in hyaluronic acid – a great hydrator and plumper – though it also contains proxylane, which helps to boost the skin’s own HA levels by up to 30 per cent. This stuff does a great job. The serum can be used as a home-based alternative to fillers. That doesn’t mean it can replace or give the same results as filler, but it is so effective on the HA front that it can help to prolong the plumping effects between appointments. This cult skincare product can also be used on lips and around the eyes where it can improve the look of crow’s feet.