Product: Clinique Smart Custom-Repair SerumPrice: $60 for a 1-ounce bottle, $89 for 1.7-ounceWe Think:
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How It Looks, How It Feels: The serum comes in a sleek, silver pump bottle. The dispensed creamy serum has a light champagne color to it. The super-soft texture is pretty amazing: it goes on silky smooth, and within literally five seconds, is absorbed into the skin. It doesn’t sit on top or feel heavy and oily; it’s one of the most lightweight formulas you will ever put on your face.How to Use It: Twice a day, every day. After cleansing, dispense one or two pumps (I’ve been using one, the bottle suggests two) onto your fingers and apply all over your face. Top it off with sunscreen in the morning (duh).Results: Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum is supposed to respond to your skin’s specific needs — whether that’s smoothing wrinkles, evening skintone, brightening or tightening. I don’t have the faintest start of a wrinkle, so I can’t speak to that. But my skin is quite dull, and I’ve got dark spots and unevenness from years of harsh topical acne products paired with sun damage. After using the serum for about three weeks, I’ve already noticed the brightening effects; my skin looks livelier after I apply (which is probably due to the instantaneous exfoliation from salicylic acid paired with antioxidants and fruit extracts). The serum also has calming ingredients, like red algae and licorice extract, and they’ve done their job in soothing some nasty acneic inflammation I had. And it hasn’t made me break out at all, which is a huge fear I have every time I slather something on my face.It’s going to take some more time to tell if my dark spots have truly lightened (the clinical studies Clinique did were over 12 weeks), but the instant brightening effects paired with how smooth it makes my skin are enough to keep me using it regularly.I received Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum as a sample, but I would happily purchase it to use in the future.
