Lancôme Absolue is a luxury skin care line by Lancôme, a global company that has been in the beauty industry for over 80 years offering skin care, fragrances, and cosmetics inspired by French elegance. The Lancôme Absolue collection currently includes 26 different products. In this review, we’ll discuss the best selling products in the collection, key ingredients, Lancôme Absolue reviews from real customers, and more!
OUR TOP SKINCARE PICKS
| Rank | Brand | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carrot & Stick | Review | |||||
| 2 | Formulyst | Review | |||||
| 3 | Skinceuticals | Review | |||||
| - | Lancome Absolue |
Is Lancôme Absolue Skincare Worth The Money?
A common question about this brand is if the products are worth the cost. Lancôme Absolue products are expensive, for example, the ABSOLUE L’EXTRAIT REJUVENATING ELIXIR SERUM is $410.
In our opinion, Lancôme Absolue products aren’t worth the money, simply because there are other skincare brands that offer similar products that are less expensive.
One brand is Carrot & Stick, a clean skincare brand that perfectly balances the gentle nurturing of plants with the powerful results of innovative science.
What are the best selling Lancôme Absolue products?
The Lancôme Absolue collection consists of creams, masks, serums, powders, and eye care products. All of these products are claimed to help retexturize the complexion and reveal more luminous, bright skin. However, as you’ll learn in the next section, Lancôme formulates their products with ingredients that temporarily disguise signs of aging rather than actually helping to improve the skin. With that being said, we’ll still discuss three of the bestselling Lancôme Absolue products below.
Revitalizing and Brightening Soft Cream
The most popular product from this collection is the Absolue Soft Cream, a facial moisturizer that is said to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles, while rejuvenating skin with firmness, radiance, and 24-hour hydration. The texture of this cream transforms from a thick, hydrating cream to a thin, serum-like lotion, to a thick layer.
Night Premium Bx
Absolue Night Premium Bx is an anti-aging night cream that is said to help restore skin’s moisture, firmness, and clarity. It contains several patented ingredients, such as Proxylane, N-Stimuline, and a Bio-Network of wild yam, soy, sea algae, and barley. However, if you take a look at the product formulation, most of these ingredients are used in very low concentrations (less than 1%). We know this by looking at the ingredient list (which is in order of descending concentrations). Most of these ingredients are listed after the preservative phenoxyethanol, which cannot be used in concentrations more than 1%.
Revitalizing Eye Cream
Absolue Revitalizing Eye Cream is an anti-aging eye cream that is said to restore firmness to the delicate skin around the eye contours, diminishing the appearance of wrinkles, crow’s feet, fine lines, and puffiness. This eye cream may help to disguise the look of wrinkles, but it probably won’t provide long term benefits based on how it is formulated. We’ll tell you more about this in the next section.
What are the key Lancôme Absolue ingredients?
As we mentioned above, the Lancôme Absolue products are formulated to temporarily disguise signs of aging rather than actually improve the health of your skin. In fact, there are several ingredients in the Lancôme Absolue products that can actually cause harm to your skin! Let us explain.
If you take a look at the Lancôme Absolue formulations, you’ll notice that nearly all of the products in this collection have the same few ingredients at the very top of the ingredient list (meaning they are used in the highest concentrations in the formula): water, glycerin, silicones, and denatured alcohol. A high concentration of denatured alcohol is a major red flag in any skin care product. The problem with this type of alcohol is that, at first, it seems like it’s benefitting the skin. Initially, denatured alcohol gives products a quick-drying finish, immediately degreases the skin, and imparts a weightless feel.
In addition, combining denatured alcohol with glycerin and silicones will provide an effect that disguises signs of aging. You see, alcohol tightens the skin, glycerin hydrates the skin and thereby plumps skin, and silicones form a thin, invisible film that can help disguise signs of aging. However, these effects are temporary and will disappear once you wash off the product. Pretty tricky, right?
The major problem with using high concentrations of denatured alcohol is that this ingredient is well known to cause skin dryness, irritation, and even disruption of the skin barrier. Furthermore, alcohol can disrupt the lipids that make up the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of skin), according to a publication in the journal BBA Biomembranes.
There are a few Lancôme Absolue products that don’t contain denatured alcohol, such as the Absolue soft cream. The key ingredients in this product include glycerin, silicones, synthetic emollients, shea butter, meadowfoam seed oil, and Pro-Xylane. Pro-Xylane, also known as hydroxypropyl tetrahydropyrantriol, is a patented ingredient by L’Oreal (Lancôme’s parent company). Pro-Xylane is a biomimetic, which means it mimics biochemical process. Specifically, Pro-Xylane stimulates the production of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the skin. GAGs are long, unbranched polysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharide units. They are responsible for supporting the structural proteins collagen and elastin, as well as functioning as the skin’s natural moisturizer. Thus, by stimulating the production of GAGs, Pro-Xylane helps to keep skin hydrated and firm.
The final problem with Lancôme Absolue products is that they all contain synthetic fragrance (even the eye cream!). We understand that consumers appreciate when products smell pleasant, but we’d like to point out that fragrance is not skin care. Fragrance ingredients (both natural and synthetic) have the potential to cause sensitization, irritation, and even skin damage. You see, fragrance ingredients impart scent through a volatile reaction, and this natural reaction almost always causes a sensitizing reaction on skin. Even if you don’t have a full blown reaction to the fragrance ingredients, the damage may still be occurring every day. Ultimately, this can cause mild problems for your skin in the short term and worse problems in the long term.
Where is Lancôme Absolue sold?
Lancôme Absolue and other Lancôme skin care products are sold online through the company website and third party e-commerce sites. In addition, you can find Lancôme skin care products at beauty stores and beauty counters at department stores around the world.
What is the Lancôme return policy?
The Lancôme return policy states, “If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with your Lancôme purchase you may return the purchased products within thirty (30) days of the delivery.”
Is Lancôme cruelty free?
Lancôme is not cruelty free because Lancôme skin care products are sold in mainland China where animal testing is required by law.
Lancôme Absolue reviews
Lancôme Absolue reviews on the brand’s website are mostly positive, but there are some negative reviews that you may want to take into consideration. The product with the most reviews is the Lancôme Absolue soft cream, which currently has a 4.5 out of 5 star rating after more than 1,600 customer reviews.
Positive reviews for the Lancôme Absolue soft cream indicate that this cream has a nice texture that moisturizes the skin well without leaving a greasy feeling on the skin. For example, one review says, “This Absolue Revitalizing & Brightening Soft Cream is like Magic to my Face. This is my second purchase of it for now. I just opened my second large jar of Absolue. When I put it on my clean face it feels so terrific and soft and ready for my makeup . After night I put it on and then my night cream. This is the best cream that Lancome has made.”
However, there are quite a few negative Lancôme Absolue reviews for the soft cream that say it does nothing for the skin and is a waste of money (2 oz is $212). For example, one review says, “Just finished my second jar and what a waste of money. It is just a basic moisturizer. It didn’t do ANY of the things promised On the website! Save your money. The most basic ingredients! I wish I never wasted so much money on it. Never again! Reformulate this for 2020.”
What are some alternatives to Lancôme Absolue?
If you’re looking for skincare products to address the signs of aging, we recommend Carrot & Stick. Carrot & Stick maximizes the use of powerful ingredients and minimizes the use of superficial ones, resulting in advanced skincare solutions that help promote healthy, more youthful-looking skin.
Margaret Original review: Aug 25, 2022.
I just hate the FRAGRANCE IN LANCOME products. I want to use them but when I put the products on my face, I am constantly annoyed at the smell. Awful. Please, LANCOMBE , make some fragrance free skin care products?