“It’ll make you look up to 10 years younger”*. I still remember the first time I heard these words. I almost choked on my morning coffee...
I’d been up most of the night and was sitting at a glamorous breakfast in the Art Gallery of NSW, hosted by Elizabeth Arden. I looked at the iconic shiny gold coloured capsules displayed in front of me and immediately started applying the lightweight, silky-smooth serum to my face. How could this be possible? I’d take even one year off my face, but up to 10 years? I knew it was always best to stick to the classics. They never let you down. You want to know more, right? I certainly did. The product in question was Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum. It’s not a new product. It’s a classic. Back in 1990 when it first launched, it was lauded as a new bio-engineered, skin-identical ceramide formula available in a first-of–its-kind single-dose capsule format. This is the first time that the brand has changed the formula. It now offers triple the power of the original.
SHOP: Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum 60 pc, $140. To shop the entire Ceramide range, go to www.davidjones.com.au
Tell me more. Oh, ok then. Skin’s ceramide levels decrease rapidly with age – by the time you reach your 30s you will have lost about 40% of your skin’s ceramides, and by your 40s you will have lost more than 60% of your skin’s ceramides. I’m pretty sure the process is a lot quicker for sleep-deprived mothers. Sigh. These hydrating ceramide-spiked serum treatments are biodegradable, fragrance and preservative free, and designed to deliver a concentrated dose packed with even more advanced ceramide technology. It has been formulated with new ingredients such as hydrating tsubaki oil and Elizabeth Arden’s signature ‘botanical complex’ which improves elasticity while reducing the appearance of fine lines. There’s also sea fennel extract, which helps to enhance skin cell renewal as well as increase luminosity and skin smoothness.
SHOP: Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum 60 pc, $140. To shop the entire Ceramide range, go to www.davidjones.com.au
So what exactly are ceramides? Essentially, they’re the ‘cement’ that holds your skin cells together. We asked Dr. Dendy Engelman, Elizabeth Arden Consulting Dermatologist to help demystify ceramides for us. “To better understand how ceramides work, think of your skin as a brick wall,” she explains. “Your skin cells are the bricks, while ceramides and other lipids make up the mortar that holds them together. As skin loses its ability to replenish ceramides, it can no longer sufficiently bind those skin cells together, resulting in skin that loses its firmness and clarity and looks dry and dull.” The serum glides on like a luxurious facial oil, but doesn’t leave your skin feeling oily and soaks in quickly. It’s also not scented, which is ideal for someone like me who has inherited my mother’s sensitive skin. Ok, ok, so you get it: I’m hooked. But what will this serum do for you? In a nutshell: enhance skin’s barrier repair function, increase moisturisation within the surface of the skin, and minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Tick, tick, tick. It looks like gold because it is – it’s a serum with a difference and guaranteed to freshen up your face.
The Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum 60-piece retail for $140. Available at Elizabeth Arden counters nationwide | In association with Elizabeth Arden. Photography: Grace Alyssa Kyo | *US clinical test, 25 women at 12 weeks.