If you’re on the hunt for anti-aging remedies, have you tried getting more rest before reaching for retinol? While you sleep, your body repairs and renews itself like clockwork. So, if you want to retain your youthful appearance, try to get at least eight hours per night. “The term ‘beauty sleep’ comes from the concept that at night, skin cells are naturally regenerating. The skin factory is open while you snooze,” says board-certified dermatologist and ELLE Beauty Advisory Board member Dr. Mona Gohara. She explains that restless nights can often lead to a pro-inflammatory state. “You are more likely to get acne and [skin] irritation because cortisol, which is your stress hormone, increases with lack of sleep.” Whenever I toss and turn, I notice my skin looks more haggard in the morning and sometimes even suffers from breakouts. Though I know the solution is eight hours, sometimes that’s just not my reality.
Enter: Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Overnight Treatment. For the uninitiated, the cream is the newest addition to the beauty brand’s Advanced Night Repair collection, which includes a cleansing balm, a facial cleanser, a best-selling serum, an eye concentrate, an eye gel cream, and an under-eye mask. It serves as the last step in your nighttime skin care routine and helps lock in all your products, allowing them to seep deep into your dermis. “We know that skin is completely biologically different from day to night. [We] continue to research skin’s unique night biology, and our latest discovery that skin needs energy at night led to the development of the new Advanced Night Repair Overnight Treatment,” says Dr. Nadine Pernodet, SVP of Bioscience, Global R&D for Estée Lauder and The Estée Lauder Companies. The formula is guided by more than 40 years of night science expertise. How it works is simple: The mask wraps your face with a silky texture to help restore moisture while nourishing your skin barrier. Think of it as giving your skin eight glasses of water…or eight hours of sleep.
As I’ve gotten older, I find myself returning to tried-and-true heritage brands, like a traveler returning home after a long excursion. In fact, my favorite way to use this product is as an in-flight treatment. It has fast become one of my go-to beauty travel essentials, mainly due to the fact that dry cabin air with low moisture levels always wreaks havoc on my skin. I’ve tucked this treatment in my backpack for my past three flights. Right before I get on the plane, I’ll wash my face, do my skin care routine, and as the last step, slather the treatment on. Because it’s infused with hyaluronic acid, it plumps my skin, and the shea and cocoa butters help fortify the skin barrier, too.
“Flights can be very dehydrating for the skin,” Dr. Pernodet confirms. “Advanced Night Repair Overnight Treatment is ideal for long flights because it provides intense moisture recovery [to the skin]. The formula leaves the skin ultra-hydrated, with a fresh and energized look.” The cream contains skin-invigorating ingredients, including artemia extract and succinic acid, to support adenosine triphosphate, which is your skin’s natural energy source. When I land and wash the product off my face, my skin is smooth—I am refreshed and ready to take on my next destination. The product is priced at $100, but that feeling is priceless.