Revive your skin: Lancôme Absolue Precious Oil

I’ve been searching for the perfect facial oil/serum from quite a while now! As dynamite 30 is dangerously closing in (just a couple of months to go – NOOOOOOO!!) I thought it’s time I start protecting my skin with barriers of oils, serums and moisturizers. Not to mention what the air cons do to my skin as I am ALWAYS surrounded by them. My skincare routine is never complete without an oil or serum (or both).

As you may have seen in my November haul post, I got a sample of the very tempting Lancome Absolue Precious Oil. This is a SUPER expensive oil, retails at QAR 1070 for 30ml (almost USD293 AND GBP197 -Pheeew!!!) here in Qatar – though I noticed it sells for USD 185 on the Lancome website, wonder what makes it 100+ dollars more expensive here. Anyway, I wanted to test a sample before I splurge.

The one I have is the sample size – 5ml. But a little goes a LONG way for Absolue Precious Oil! How long you may ask – Well, I’ve been using this from four weeks now mostly at night and I still have enough oil to last me for another couple of days.

Ingredients:

CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, OLEA EUROPAEA OIL / OLIVE FRUIT OIL, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS SEED OIL / JOJOBA SEED OIL, CAMELINA SATIVA OIL / CAMELINA SATIVA SEED OIL, ZEA MAYS OIL / CORN OIL, TOCOPHEROL, ORIGANUM MAJORANA LEAF OIL, PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS FLOWER OIL, LIMONENE, LINALOOL, GERANIOL, CARROT OIL / BETA CAROTENE, ROSA CANINA FRUIT OIL, PASSIFLORA EDULIS OIL / PASSIFLORA EDULIS SEED OIL, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS LEAF OIL / ROSEMARY LEAF OIL, ROSA DAMASCENA FLOWER OIL, CITRUS AURANTIUM DULCIS PEEL OIL / ORANGE PEEL OIL, CITRONELLOL, CITRUS LIMON PEEL OIL / LEMON PEEL OIL, ANTHEMIS NOBILIS FLOWER OIL, CITRAL, PRUNUS ARMENIACA KERNEL OIL / APRICOT KERNEL OIL, COUMARIN, LAVANDULA ANGUSTIFOLIA OIL / LAVENDER OIL, ORYZA SATIVA BRAN OIL / RICE BRAN OIL, PARFUM / FRAGRANCE

Take a look at that – So many emollient, skin repairing oils that are also moisturizing and healing. Lancome definitely has come out with an impressive oil blend. Maybe that’s why they decided to call it “Precious”? 😉

Lancome Claims : 

Absolue Precious Oil reinforces the skin’s barrier function, helping to maintain moisture. Radiant skin is unveiled, softer and suppler.
This golden elixir is applied between the moisturizer and serum. Absolue Precious Oil melts into the skin in an intensely luxurious moment to deliver moisture and luminosity to the skin, leaving a satiny finish, delicately scented with the Absolue signature fragrance: Majestic Rose Heart, inspired by the Lancôme Rose.

The Golden Glow is immediately revealed.

Were they lying like most other brands? Let’s find out.

My experience with Lancome Absolue Precious Oil:

The first thing I noticed when I saw it is the beautiful, elegant golden bottle! I’m a sucker for cute bottles 🙂 The tester is even more cute with the tiny glass bottle with glass pipette, I just can’t get over it! Guess what? I can even reuse this tiny bottle when I travel.

The oil is rather very light and runny. It gets absorbed into the skin in a jiffy! The oil smells like rose-y essential oil, yet very pleasant. The floral scent is not too strong, however I was quite apprehensive about the fragrance irritating my skin.

I used this oil for four weeks and it has not caused any sort of irritation or break outs on my skin. I use it only at night, used it during the day once but my makeup looked oily after a few hours. It glides on smooth on the skin and leaves a nice sheen (not to be confused with oily). Lancome claims of a Golden Glow, well I wouldn’t call it Golden Glow. It’s rather a nice soft sheen.

                                            

Oils do not stay in one place like creams, they slide to surrounding areas, thus spreading itself over the area. So I’m not too bothered even if it gets absorbed before I spread it over the area. The smell does not fade very fast once absorbed, so if you’re not a fan of the smell then you might not like this. I use about two to three drops to cover my entire face. The dropper is really tiny, so you won’t need three drops if you buy the full size bottle.

This oil is very moisturizing! I use this on top of my Estee Lauder Advanced night repair serum. Since I have dry skin, I also use my moisturizer on top. I had very dry skin and dry patches on my face before I started using this and in four weeks I must say I have almost no dry patches. I still have dry skin, but it doesn’t feel as stretchy as before after using this. My skin is also much softer to touch, I’m very impressed.

However I did not notice any visible changes in my skin texture overall, pores remain the same, no change in my skin tone or fine lines either. No magical glow or difference. I wouldn’t complain because the brand doesn’t promise it. I don’t have wrinkles, so can’t comment on that.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the product, but definitely not worth the price. Will I purchase the full size? Hmm.. Well  I wouldn’t spend 1000+ riyals on this. Maybe this is not worth so much money after all. I would have definitely purchased if it was a bit more affordable, or if it at least had a good quantity for the price.

Here’s a quick highlight:

Pros:

• Moisturizes very well
• Great ingredients
• Does not cause skin break out
• A little goes a long way
• Pleasant fragrance
• Non irritating
• Skin is much smoother
• Leaves a soft sheen on the skin
• Not greasy
• Beautiful packaging

Cons:

• Super expensive
• Does not make skin glow golden as it claims

 

Have you tried this product? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!