I find I have two types of face treatments in my nighttime skincare arsenal: I have Punishment, and I have Kindness. I feel I OUGHT to use the Punishment ones (wrinkle correction! aging prevention somehow! burny acids to reveal the skin of my youth and keep the situation from Getting Worse!), but almost every time I instead reach for the Kindness (creamy soothing lotions, nice smells). These are my three favorite Nighttime Kindness lotions, which I use interchangeably based on the evening’s whim; plus a fourth that I use less often.
(image from Olay.com)
Night of Olay Firming Night Cream (Olay link; Amazon link, unfortunately a three-pack, which is rough if you just wanted to TRY it). The absolute classic. (There are similar-looking containers that include anti-wrinkle ingredients; make sure you look for FIRMING and not anti-aging or whatever.) I saw an ad for Oil of Olay when I was about 12, showing an old lady looking glowingly wrinkled and lovely, and I have used their products ever since. Does the night cream actually do any firming? Unclear. Does it make me feel as if I am lovingly nourishing my glowingly beautiful wrinkles rather than burning them with acids? Yes.
(image from Target.com)
Pond’s (Amazon link, again for a three-pack, and notice they’re only 3.9 ounces each; Target link, 6.5 ounces, just one jar). Another absolute classic. One can imagine the generations before us using the exact same product before bed. It’s soothing to think of, and increases my feeling that it is futile to do anything other than care gently for our faces, and give them love and comfort.
(image from Target.com)
Pond’s Crema S. Nice floral scent, for those of us who like floral scents. I am linking to the giant honking tub of it (Target, Amazon), because that is what is available to purchase online; but if you go into a Target store and look in their travel-sizes section, you may be able to find a little one (my Target mixes them in with two other Pond’s formulations, both of which I have tried but I didn’t like them as much as the Crema S; look for the one with the BLUE lid). Oh, and I see Amazon has a three-pack of the little ones, and that’s not a terrible price: I think they’re more like $3 each at Target, but it’s been awhile since I looked. I get the little ones on purpose, because they fit in my bathroom cabinet—but I have a big one in my emergency supplies, because there was a time when I could not find it in stock anywhere, and so when I DID see the big guy, I bought it. Then I started finding the small ones again, so I never opened the big one. This is getting to be kind of a long and boring story, anyway I put the big one aside in case the day comes when I need it. I would probably use it to refill my little container: for some reason it bothers me to think of digging around in that big jar.
I notice only now, this far into my post’s thesis, that the Pond’s Crema S says it contains alpha hydroxy acid. Hm. Okay, well then I recommend this as a COMPROMISE night treatment: it does apparently contain Punishment, but it FEELS like Kindness.
(image from Target.com)
CeraVe Skin-Renewing Night Cream (Target link, Amazon link). This is a newer one in my arsenal, and I hardly ever use it because it is more expensive. Also, I hide it in my bathrobe pocket, because otherwise the children use it, but also this means I forget about it. This is another in-between one, because I have heard the ingredients in it make some people break out, so it gives me a Medicine feeling if not a Punishment one. But because it does not make me break out, it primarily feels like a Soothing Treatment—a medicated balm.
Do you have any that don’t smell like anything? My current one has a perfumey scent and I almost never use it because then I go to bed and I have to SMELL MYSELF for hours until I finally manage to escape the oppressive scent of perfume and go to sleep.
Elizabeth uses the purple one because I had a jar I didn’t want and gave it to her (can’t waste something so expensive!) and it backfired on me because she loves it and now I have to buy it at teen usage levels.
I think mine all smell like something: the Pond’s Crema says it is unscented but it smells floral to me; the regular Pond’s is probably the most unscented, but still smells to me like Night Cream.
I will try the Ponds and see if it is gentle enough. Thanks!
I have incredibly sensitive skin and can not have any perfumes, etc. I use Cetaphil cream. They also have a lotion, if you do not have dry skin and/or cream is too much. It contains no punishment whatsoever (I am not kidding about the sensitive skin), but it is incredibly hydrating and that seems to be good for protecting the skin. I actually use it morning and night on my very dry skin.
Here to recommend Vanicream! It’s inexpensive, it’s commonly available at places like Target, and it’s fragrance free. https://www.vanicream.com/
I can’t stand scented products on my face either! I’ve had good luck with The Vitamin Shoppe Hyaluronic Moisturizing Creme. To me, it has a nice light texture and no scent at all. It comes in a 2-oz tub.
I think I divide between kindness and punishment, although I never thought of it that way. But for me, the deciding factor is smell: if I like the smell, it’s kindness, and if I don’t, it’s punishment. I am happy to use things with alpha hydroxy acids, but I mostly care about the smell.
Here’s to being kind to our faces, however wrinkled they may be.
I have an Ipsy subscription so I have lots of trial size skin care items. Let’s try this one today! Now this one tonight! But Olay is usually my go-to.
Added point – all cosmetics have a shelf life once opened (see the symbol on the label), so you’re much better off finishing the Cerave now it’s been started!
I have used Olay Total Effects 7 in one moisturizer for ages and ages. Fragrance-free no sunscreen version for those of us sensitive to absolutely everything. Feels like kindness but also nourishing and I get compliments on my skin often (I’m in my early 60’s).
Oooh, I may need to try one of these this winter as my usual cerave ultra light lotion sometimes isn’t enough in the winter.
I also like the CeraVe product, and also have teens that lavishly use my facial treatments. I don’t mind sharing, although 17 year old skin is glowy and gorgeous without any potions, but I do mind when they actually remove them from the bathroom and I have to search through their bedrooms for the remains. Teenagers!!
I just turned 49 and my skin is SO DRY. It’s like a switch flipped. I have to be careful and only punish my skin 1x week and the rest of the time slather kindness unguents on it like I’m frosting a cake.
If you haven’t yet, try Cetaphil cream. It was ife changing for my sensitive, very dry skin even though I was only in my twenties when someone recommended it.
I have rosacea and CeraVe products are my go to. I use the gentle face wash, dry skin cream, and on days when I feel particularly dry, that night cream. They are the only products that don’t make me have a flare up so I love them.
Oh, perfect timing, Swistle!! I’ve been on the hunt for a replacement for my beloved Nutrogena Intensives line that has been discontinued (*rage weeping over here!*) and it’s pretty overwhelming!
My almost 60 year old face still thinks it’s 13, but ONLY in the oil/acne dept and not the wrinkle dept, so I can’t use ANYTHING that even hints at being for dry skin or I end up looking like I have some sort of plague on my face. *sigh*
Changing brands at this stage of the game seems so fraught! So! Many! Choices! All of which are too expensive to just buy & try. So thank you for this post!
I too am almost 60 and I still get pimples and I still get migraines. I thought those particular inconveniences would be gone when my period signed out.
I am here for this discussion! I love this (although I will say all my night creams contain retinol, so am I more of a Punishment person? I guess so). I hear nothing but amazing things about CeraVe, and I have not yet tried it. But I have a shopping day today so you never know!
Those creams look so nice and luxurious! My face is oily and very sensitive so I can’t use cream or lotion on it, even unscented, without my skin turning red and itchy with Punishment. I only wash my face (with Cerave) during my daily morning shower and not at night. On the rare occasion when I do want to moisturize my skin (face or elsewhere) I’ll dab on a little vitamin E oil. I even avoid putting sunscreen on my face and upper chest, which I know is terrible, and just wear a visor and try to hang out in the shade. My skin seems to get more sensitive the older I get.
For some reason CeraVe sounds like a burny cream to me – I wonder what bell it’s ringing in my tiny brain that does that.
I use an affordable cream that purports to have retinol in it – Maritime Naturals – because I love the smell and the price, but I’ve used actual retinol cream and that burned and this doesn’t, so it’s probably Kindness that sort of lies about being Punishment. Every few days I just use my regular Oil of Olay moisturizer – I think I have a jar of the night cream stashed under my sink that I never used. Sigh.
I just realized whose writing you remind me of. E. Jean Carroll. I hope you take this as the enormous compliment that it is intended to be.
Oh!! I DO!!
My teen daughter and I both use the Bodyshop vitamin E moisturizer – not the heavy overnight one, just the regular one. We also both love their hemp lip balm.