Estée Lauder is one of the most popular cosmetics brands in the US. 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.”
But does Advanced Night Repair Serum contain ingredients proven to have anti-aging effects? Does it contain any unhealthy ingredients? Is the serum or the gel-creme better-formulated? And is Advanced Night Repair better or worse than popular anti-aging serums like CeraVe Vitamin C Serum?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Advanced Night Repair Serum and Advanced Night Repair Gel-Creme to give our take on whether or not the products are likely to be effective for anti-aging, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll also compare the Advanced Night Repair line to other popular anti-aging skincare products to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Contains active ingredients clinically shown to have anti-aging effects
- Contains many inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy
- We do not currently recommend Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum are shown below:
This serum contains 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.
There are several inactive ingredients in this cream that we consider to be 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.
However, we don’t currently recommend this product due to the inactive ingredients highlighted above.
Is the Gel-Creme Better?
The ingredients in Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Gel-Creme are shown below:
This formulation is fragrance-free and synthetic-dye free.
It contains many of the research-backed active ingredients discussed in the previous section, such as sodium hyaluronate and tripeptide-32.
We do not currently recommend this formulation due to the inclusion of synthetic preservatives like BHT which we consider unhealthy, but we consider the Gel-Creme version substantially healthier than the Serum version.
Advanced Night Repair vs. Popular Anti-Aging Products
Here's how Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair line compares to other popular anti-aging products in terms of potential effectiveness and healthiness, in our opinion:
CeraVe Vitamin C Serum
Vitamin C is clinically shown to reduce skin wrinkles when applied topically.
This formulation contains two ingredients we consider unhealthy, but both Advanced Night Repair formulations we reviewed were less healthy.
Winner: CeraVe Vitamin C Serum
Total Package Serum
Total Package Serum is another "all-in-one" serum that meets our effectiveness standard.
This brand wins from a healthiness perspective because it's free from ingredients like fragrance and BHT.
Winner: Total Package Serum
Introstem AquaLift
Contains many research-backed active ingredients, so we consider the products equivalent from a potential efficacy perspective.
Contains two ingredients we consider unhealthy, but not as unhealthy as some of the ingredients in either Advanced Night Repair formulation, so Introstem gets the win from a healthiness perspective.
Winner: Introstem
Our Clean Skincare Pick
MindBodyGreen Best Skin+ is our top anti-aging skin supplement.
It contains orange extract which is clinically shown to increase skin moisturization, skin elasticity and skin radiance.
This supplement also contains astaxanthin which is clinically shown to cause "wrinkle formation reduction."
This supplement is free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Advanced Night Repair Serum Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Advanced Night Repair Serum in our opinion:
Pros:
- Should reduce wrinkles
- Should improve skin hydration
- Many research-backed active ingredients
- Favorable online customer reviews
- Free shipping from brand's website
Cons:
- Extremely expensive
- Contains artificial dye
- Contains synthetic preservatives
- Doesn’t appear to be clinically tested
