Product Review: Clinique repairwear intensive night cream

In my ongoing mission to not end up a crusty raisin like many terrifying women in southern California, and to round out my reviews of night creams (previously I've reviewed Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm and Kiehl's Abyssine Cream +), I now review Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream. Will Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + retain it's title as most awesome night cream?

Clinique says Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream

Works all night to help block and mend the look of lines and wrinkles. Rebuilds stores of firming natural collagen. Fuels 24-hour antioxidant replenishment that arms skin for tomorrow.

Running Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream through The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database was more of a challenge than running Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + as the ingredients weren't listed on the container or on Clinique's website. So I emailed Clinique for the ingredients list. These are the lengths I go to for YOU Gentle Reader. But by the time I got a response from Clinique, Skin Deep had posted its score for Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream: 2, which indicates a low hazard.

To put Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream's 2 rating in perspective, please recall from the post in which I first explored Skin Deep that a similar product, Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm, scored a 7, while Seikisho Mask White and Method Hand Wash Refill Sweet Water both scored 5s. Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream even received a better score than the reigning champion Kiehl's Abyssine Cream +, which scored a 3.

The instructions say to apply Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream nightly to face and throat, after using 3-Step Skin Care System while avoiding the immediate eye area, which is exactly what I did. Applying Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream was more like my experience with Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + than my experience with Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm. I had to apply multiple dabs to cover my face and neck. Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream definitely felt more like a layer coating my skin, as opposed to Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + which felt like it soaked into my skin. Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream didn't cause my skin to do anything odd, as opposed to Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm, which made my skin wish it were on another face. Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream's smell was not nearly as strong as Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm, but the fragrance wasn't quite as mild as Kiehl's Abyssine Cream +.

At Neiman Marcus, my source for all these fabulous free samples (well, technically gifts with full-priced purchases - all the links in this paragraph go to their respective pages on Neiman's website), Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream costs $64 for 2.5 oz. jar or $25.60 per ounce. Fresh Repair and Restore Face Balm costs $95 for 1 oz., which is terrifying, but doesn't require me to break out the calculator to tell you it is radically overpriced considering how toxic and slimy feeling it is. On the other hand, Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + costs $32 for 1.7 fl. oz., or $18.82 per ounce.

While I am a big fan of Clinique's repairwear intensive night cream's super low toxicity score at Skin Deep, I have to say, I'm not a big fan of feeling coated, even if the coating doesn't actively make my skin feel pain. And if you're interested in the bottom line (though if you're considering spending this much money on night cream, I'm thinking you're not all that interested) the fiscally responsible night cream is also my favorite: Kiehl's Abyssine Cream +.

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