Review Avène Ysthéal Anti-Wrinkle Emulsion

It’s been over 2 months that I turned 26, so it’s about time I gave you a little update on how my anti-wrinkle skin care experience is going. First of all let me just say that there is no right age to start with anti-ageing (ugh I hate this word so much, there’s nothing wrong with ageing) products. The n°1 product for this is and will always be a good sunscreen. Never leave the house without some SPF in case you don’t want to get zapped by the sun’s rays of death. (Read my post about sunscreen & sun block here.) That said, let’s go on to the other step in my routine I use to keep my skin’s elasticity. Because let’s be honest, I don’t have any wrinkles yet, only a fine line on my forehead that can hardly be called a wrinkle. It’s one of the (few) perks of having oily combination skin. So how does one maintain a bouncy skin? 

I’ve tried anti-ageing moisturizers before and none of them worked. Because of their often thick texture and filling properties, they usually sat on top of my skin, they were lacking in serving as a good base for makeup. Then I turned to skin care for during the night, but I hated the greasy feeling some gave me, which often resulted into acne (I sleep on my belly, which means rubbing my face in my pillow all night = not the best combo). I turned to my dear blogger friend and skin care fanatic Phil for help and he recommended the Avène YsthéAL Anti-wrinkle Emulsion for normal to combination skin. Avène is sold at the better pharmacies and I got mine online at Farmaline, an online apothecary that  offers a huge range of (French) pharmacy brands.  

Avène markets it as follows: “Preventative anti-aging emulsion for combination skin to diminish the appearance of fine lines and help stop future signs of aging. Formulated with an exclusive patented combination of ingredients to smooth away fine lines, reinforce skin elasticity and restore skin radiance without irritation. The lightweight texture absorbs quickly into the skin, preserving its youthful appearance.”

I’ve been testing this for the past 2 months and I can honestly say this is the only the second time I actually liked using an anti-wrinkle product. The Avène YsthéAL is developed for sensitive skin that is normal to little oily and it fits that description really well. The product is a light apricot-coloured cream (firm, but not thick) that turns into a transparent liquid as soon as you start to massage it in, making it sink into the skin rather quickly without feeling oily at all. Instead, it turns matte that gives the skin a nice subtle glow (which I tried to illustrate in the swatch pictures below). One that looks healthy balanced. Like I’ve mentioned, you use this at night, so this is very important as you don’t want to wake up with greasy skin – or worse acne – in the morning.

My skin immediately becomes smoother and looks bouncy. It’s hard to tell because the effect is so subtle, but once I do the trick of applying it on one hand and hold it next to my other hand, the result is clear: the texture of my skin looks and feels smoother and the fine lines have been reduced. I’m not sure if this works with wrinkles as I still have to see how that goes, but for fine lines, this is definitely a keeper. Here’s to 5 more years of getting mistaken for a teenager/student. YAY!

Also good to know: this emulsion is completely fragrance-, paraben- and silicone-free so you don’t need to worry about what that nastiness might do to your skin. At a price point of 25€, it’s not the cheapest skin care around, but also not the most expensive one I’ve tried (more about that one later). A little goes a long way and the perfect dosage of the pump (as seen on the swatch above) helps you do that.

The Avène Ysthéal Anti-Wrinkle emulsion is available at Farmaline for € 25.

Have you tried any anti-ageing products before? Any favourites?

The product in this post is a PR sample.