Estée Lauder is one of the most popular cosmetics brands, and their anti-aging night cream is their most popular product. The brand describes Advanced Night Repair Serum as “The #1 prestige serum in the U.S.” and containing “the power of 7 serums in 1.” The product is certainly priced as a prestige serum at over $100 for under 2 ounces (oz).

But does Advanced Night Repair Serum contain ingredients proven to have anti-aging effects or are these just marketing claims? Does the product contain any questionable additive ingredients? What retailer sells it for the best price? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in Advanced Night Repair Serum based on medical studies to give our take on whether it’s likely to be effective or if it’s a waste of money.

We’ll also provide a cost comparison featuring the retailer that sells this product for the best price, as well as feature real, unsponsored user reviews of the product.

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Advanced Night Repair Serum are shown above.

This serum does contain a number of active ingredients shown in clinical studies to have an anti-aging effect and other benefits to skin.

Bifida ferment lysate is a probiotic bacteria shown in a clinical trial published in the Experimental Dermatology journal to significantly reduce skin irritation and dryness.

Tripeptide-32 is part of a class of chemicals called peptides, and this type of ingredient was shown in a 2020 clinical trial to cause “significant improvements in skin wrinkles.”

Sodium hyaluronate is one of the most well-studied anti-aging ingredients. As we documented in our CeraVe vs Cetaphil review article, sodium hyaluronate is clinically shown to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Caffeine is clinically shown to reduce skin roughness when applied topically. It is a powerful antioxidant and has also been shown to decrease puffiness in the skin by constricting blood vessels.

Lactobacillus ferment is another probiotic ingredient shown in a clinical trial published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science to repair the skin barrier and reduce acne.

Hydrogenated lecithin was described in a 2013 clinical trial as a “penetration enhancer,” which means it can increase absorption of other active ingredients in a skincare serum.

Clearly there are a number of effective ingredients in Estée Lauder’s eye serum. But there are also several ingredients we consider questionable from a health perspective.

Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative shown in a 2020 clinical trial to be toxic to human cells.

Red 4 is an artificial dye, and we know from research studies that artificial dyes can be absorbed through the skin.

Yellow 5 is another artificial dye, which may be damaging to human DNA as referenced in our Nailboo reviews article on another cosmetic brand containing this ingredient.

Triethanolamine is used to balance the pH of a formulation, but was shown in a 1999 clinical trial to be irritating and potentially damaging to the eyes, making it a strange choice for an eye serum in our opinion.

BHT is a synthetic preservative, and one of the chemical compounds it’s broken down into by the body was described as a “tumor promoter” in a clinical trial published in the Carcinogenesis journal.

Overall, we consider Advanced Night Repair Serum likely to be effective for anti-aging and improvement of skin quality generally. However, we don’t currently recommend the formulation due to the inactive ingredients that we consider questionable from a health perspective.

But how do real users rate this product? We’ll review in the next section:

Real, Unsponsored Advanced Night Repair User Reviews

A YouTube creator named Trevor Ritchie reviewed Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum after one full year of use:

A TikTok video from the “skinhydration” channel tested whether this serum could actually hydrate skin based on a measurement device:

@skinhydration Estée Lauder advanced night repair serum did moderately well at hydration. Cost $185. #skincare ♬ Made You Look - Meghan Trainor

Where to Buy Advanced Night Repair for the Best Price

Advanced Night Repair Serum is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here’s a price breakdown for the 1.7 oz version at the time of publishing this article:

Sephora: $125 (link)

Ulta: $125 (free shipping, link)

Brand website: $115 (free shipping – link)

Amazon: $44.49 (free shipping – link to Amazon listing)

This product is listed at a 61% discount on Amazon but it’s sold by a third-party and we’re unsure of the legitimacy of the listing. 

Some of the Amazon reviewers mention that the seal is different from the official brand’s seal, and for consumers who can afford it, we would recommend purchasing this product directly from the manufacturer to reduce the risk of counterfeit product.

Dermatologist Reviews Advanced Night Repair

A popular dermatologist and influencer named “Dr Dray” reviewed Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum to give her thoughts on whether or not it’s worth the money:

Our Clean Skincare Picks

There are skincare products containing ingredients shown in clinical trials to be effective for reducing wrinkles and improving skin quality.

Annie Mak Vitamin C Serum is our top anti-aging serum.

It contains hyaluronic acid which was described as a "skin-rejuvenating biomedicine" in a medical review due to its ability to reduce wrinkles and signs of facial aging.

HYDRAGLOW by CLEARSTEM is our top moisturizer pick.

It features bakuchiol as an active ingredient which was described in a 2014 clinical trial as "clinically proven to have anti-aging effects." 

Bulletproof Collagen Powder is our top skin supplement.

Collagen supplementation was shown in a medical review published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology to reduce visible signs of skin aging as well as improve skin elasticity and skin hydration.

All of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy or unsafe.

Pros and Cons of Advanced Night Repair Serum

Here are the pros and cons of Advanced Night Repair Serum in our opinion:

Pros:

• Should reduce wrinkles
• Should improve skin hydration
• Many effective active ingredients
• Favorable online user reviews

Cons:

• Extremely expensive
• Contains artificial dye
• Contains synthetic preservatives
• Doesn’t appear to be clinically studied

Conclusion

Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum is one of the more potent eye serums that we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health. We certainly believe that this product is likely to improve aesthetic appearance and reduce wrinkles.

However, we do not currently recommend this product due to five inactive ingredients that we consider questionable from a health perspective. One, a pH balancer called triethanolamine, was shown in a clinical trial to be irritating to the eyes.

There are two other synthetic preservatives and two artificial dyes.

For consumers intent on purchasing this product, we recommend doing so on the brand’s official website. Amazon sells it for a cheaper price, but it may be a knock-off and illegitimate product since it’s from a third-party seller with questionable reviews.