I'm giving this four stars because even after a week I can see that the crow's feet under my eyes are tightening up. However, some of the cons tend to balance this out:
Pro
*Although it's pricey, they pretty much swear you will see results in a month, so it's not a huge investment financially or timewise to see if it works for you.
*The creams smell like expensive salon products, so you'll feel/smell pampered at your bathroom sink.
*My skin definitely looks brighter to me. Having said that, my 7-year-old asked me yesterday if it was hand cream. When I explained what the product was for and asked if I looked any younger, she could not stop laughing and yelled "No!" So, out of the mouths of babes. You probably won't get any miracles out of this.
*Psychologically, I think if you're going to spend time dabbing goo on your face each and every day, you're probably going to take care of yourself in other ways: flossing, going to the gym, etc. So in general, it may prompt you to engage in self-care.
*One of the tubes contains sunblock (I believe---see "con" comment regarding lack of info. on the tubes), so you automatically get that benefit (although it's hard to believe there could be enough protection from such a small dab of cream).
*There's a cute little plastic holder to store your tubes in and they don't take up much room.
Con
*It's expensive and the bottles are miniscule. They are meant to last a month (I can't verify if they do, but I have been skipping my neck, because I suspect they do not). This means that if you were to keep buying the program, you'd be shelling out close to half a grand a year. By comparison, my eighty-year-old aunties don't look a day over sixty, and they've never used anything but Noxema. So you may be able to achieve the same results for a lot less.
*One of the creams is grey. It does not feel natural to spread grey goo on your face. Also, it has a weird plastic feel, almost like a face mask product. This all brings me to the next point:
*As another reviewer noted, this is not an organic product. So if this is important to you, keep looking. Basically, you're putting chemicals on your skin, which does not appeal to me over the long-term.
*There aren't many instructions on the tubes (because they're so small), so unless you memorize the "instructions" on the box, you're pretty much on your own. It seems to me the box called this a "starter kit," which implies that we should be moving on to something else after a month, or maybe a set of larger tubes, but my DH threw out the box, so again, no more info.
Bottom line: If you are interested, try it. One month won't break the bank. However, although I like it, I suspect I'll be moving on when the tubes run out, based on cost if nothing else.
Now in my early 40s, I am lucky enough to have no major problems with wrinkles so far, although of course, some aging is beginning to show. However, I was mainly interested in this Starter System for the inclusion of an Eye product. I struggle with dark under eye circles, and according to the box, the eye cream included in this kit is "clinically proven" to produce "noticeable improvement" in reducing puffiness and dark circles by the end of one week; by the end of four weeks, these results are supposed to increase to "significantly noticeable."
So, I began using this system about a month prior to my 42nd birthday. There are three total products: 1) a serum, which is supposed to be applied over the face, neck, and entire eye area, 2) an activating cream, also designed to be applied over the entire face and neck, and 3) an eye activating cream, designed to be used around the entire eye area. The instructions did not specify exactly when to apply the products, but because the activating cream was labeled "Day" and contained SPF, I choose to use this regimen in the A.M. only.
Here were my initial impressions:
The serum comes out of the tube a medium gray color, which seems a bit odd at first, but it does disappear into the skin. It has a silky feel but seems to be easily absorbed. The activating cream has a light, pleasant scent (it fades fairly quickly for those who don't like scented items); the cream itself is fairly rich, but again, it is absorbed quickly. The eye cream, on the other other hand, is significantly thinner, which was unexpected (I would have thought it would be the other way around). I preferred the pumps of the two creams to the serum's tube.
WHAT I LIKED:
All three products seemed to absorb into my skin well, and they didn't leave my oily-prone skin feeling greasy (although I used the products during the spring; it may have been different in the summer). Similarly, I didn't seem to break out any more often than normal while using this system. My skin generally felt fairly smooth and looked decent in appearance for the duration that I sampled this kit, although I did get some dryness around my mouth towards the end of the month.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
First, I began running out of the serum before the other two products. I emailed the Neutrogena web site, and they replied to say that I could continue using the other two products alone and still see "some effects." But this leads to my second complaint: I didn't see ANY noticeable effects! Yes, my skin generally felt soft, but no more so than from using any good moisturizer. I certainly would not say that I saw improved skin tone/minimized signs of discoloration or improvement in fine lines/wrinkles, both of which are supposedly "clinically proven" to be "noticeable results" after just one week (and should have been even more pronounced after a full month). Similarly, I can't say that I saw any of the other claimed benefits of this system, such as lifting the look of sagging skin and improving the look of facial contours/and definition.
So, in the end, the BEST that I can say about this Starter Kit is that it seemed to act as a decent moisturizer during the time I used it (about a month, which is how long the products lasted). But there is no way I can recommend paying this much for a set of three products that promises so much more; there are certainly better and less expensive moisturizers out there.
Buy Neutrogena Clinical Now
Since my own skin is picture perfect and virtually impossible to improve, Mrs. Spudman agreed to try the Neutrogena Clinical Lifting System on her own face. I was an interested observer, photographer, and interviewer. At the beginning of the trial I took six close up photographs of the subject's face to compare to her face after treatment.
Some thoughts of the volunteer subject:
"The product felt luxurious going on and seemed to make my face look smoother immediately after application.
Using three separate tubes is too much bother considering the final results."
"I don't like doing the Neutrogena treatment at night because some nights I'm just too tired and not in the mood." A true statement.
"The first tube and the second tube felt good on the skin. Unfortunately by the next morning the effects were gone"
Invariably one tube is going to run out before the others. This happened to "us."
After a little over three weeks, I took follow up photographs of the same face on the same subject and compared the second set of pictures to the first set. I also compared the first set of photographs to the actual face post treatment.
Our conclusion Very little if any difference or improvement was perceived after studying the photographs and the subjects face. We won't be buying this product unless it goes on sale for half price. Then maybe.
Read Best Reviews of Neutrogena Clinical Here
When I was younger I swore by neutrogena products, though as I reached my 40's they didn't really have products for mature skin, so I switched to Oil Of Olay, which have been using for some time. When I had seen Neutrogena came out with this product for mature skin, I was thrilled and excited to try it. After one week of using this product I was very disappointed! I'm 51, but look like in early 40's, after a week of using this product, my face seemed dryer, lines were more visable, skin just didn't look healthy. I switched back to Oil Of OLay and skin is looking better again. For the price I paid was very disappointed and the tiny bottles just wasn't worth it to me! If you never used a skin care product might be good for you, but if you are using a product and happy with it, I would not suggest wasting your money!!!
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I read other reviews, so I thought I would try it, it is expensive and the size of the product is too small, if you get four weeks out of it you will be lucky use sparingly. That night I washed and dried my face applied the nightime serum and cream felt good, the next two days I did the same thing I applied the daytime and eye serum and cream, in the afternoon my face was dry, itchy, redness around my chin and cheeks, eye area was fine day. I have problems with fine lines, wrinkles, and dry skin, this product added to the dryness. I would not recommend this product. Now I need to go out and find a moisturizer for the dryness. More cons than pros.
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I bought this about a month ago to replace a lost sleep mask. I LOVE it. I have never slept better. The eye mask is light weight with an adjustable band and the eye covering part is slightly lifted off of the eye. I thought the mask looked a little odd, but it feels great.
