Review: La Mer's Moisturizing Cool Gel Cream

Lately, I've been trying La Mer's 'Moisturizing Cool Gel Cream.' I was able to get a trial size from Sephora and honestly, I have mixed feelings. I'm not sure if I love because it's a really good product, or because I know it's really expensive and I have some sort of bias towards liking it. I love this cream not only because it is a good moisturizer, but also because I just wake up with baby bum soft skin. It has a smooth application and you don't need too much of it to feel like your skin is fully moisturized. However, it comes with a price tag of $230 CAD!!!
So why is this product so expensive? I figure that it’s probably due to the fact that it's La Mer - a high end brand. But is La Mer just expensive because of the brand name, or do they use really high-end products? To figure out the answer to this question, I obviously had to do some detective work!
To do this, I had a look at the main ingredients (I just looked at the first 6 ingredients; remember, ingredients are always listed in order of highest to lowest concentration).

Ingredients in La Mer's 'Moisturizing Cool Gel Cream'

• 1. The first ingredient, aside from water, was 'Cyclopentasiloxane,' which is a skin conditioning ingredient.
• 2. The next ingredient was algae extract (an antioxidant, emollient & texture enhancer.
• 3. Glycerin (an ingredient found in all natural lipids/fats, which functions to replenish and hydrate the skin). Glycerin is actually already present in the skin.
• 4. Cyclohexasiloxane is a form of synthetic silicone used in skincare products to improve texture
• 5. Butylene Glycol is an organic alcohol used as a conditioning agent.
• 6. Dimethicone is a common type of silicone found in moisturizers due to its gentleness & effectiveness; it provides your skin with a "silky feel.”

I did a quick (but time-consuming) search on the rest of the ingredients, and didn’t find any that were alarming. However, I did find denatured alcohol, which is known aggravate and dry out the skin… but it is so low on the list of ingredients that I don’t think it would really negatively impact your skin. I also found that this product had a strong, citrus scent; I generally try to avoid strong perfumes/scents on my face as much as I can, so this wasn’t something that I was necessarily a fan of.

Overall, La Mer’s cream has great ingredients with awesome benefits for the skin. However, after doing a quick search on other popular moistures available at Sephora, many other skin creams and moisturizers contained the same ingredients that La Mer’s cream did. Ultimately, I find La Mer’s cream to be very luxurious and soothing, however, I don’t think it is worth its price, especially considering its ingredients aren’t very unique.
My rating: 3.5/5


References:
EWG's Skin Deep (2018). Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. Retrieved from https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/#.W7AoWpNKh-U
Paula's Choice (2018). Ingredient Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www.paulaschoice.com/ingredient-dictionary?crefn1=name-first-letter&csortb1=name&csortd1=1&crefv1=C