Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Gift Set

Just before Christmas I was suffering with extremely dry skin, not helped by my flat being so hot and too dry thanks to constant air conditioning. I saw a good review of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour cream on A Little Bird Told Me (link here) and decided to track it down and give it a go on all my various dry patches (mainly on my hands, at the side of my mouth and feet) .

I'd never paid any attention to Elizabeth Arden as a brand until this review and when I went into Boots to look for it I knew why. The counter was so old fashioned, it looked like something from Beverly Hills in 1989. I half expected Joan Collins to be stood there. The packaging's all gold, red and white and really outdated. It nearly put me off, but the lure of something to help my dry skin kept me interested.

All the individual products were £18 upwards and as I was undecided about which product I actually needed I decided upon a gift set. The gift set I chose included:

• Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant 50ml 
• Eight Hour Cream Intensive Daily Moisturiser 15ml 
• Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Body Treatment 30ml 
• Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Hand Treatment 30ml 
• Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick SPF 15 3.7g

It cost £40 which is expensive to me, luckily Boots had a mega points offer on so I ended up getting £6 back in points which made me feel slightly better.

I've now been using the products since Christmas:

The main product to help with dry skin is the Skin Protectant, its a thick oily gunk, that's orange in colour. It smells really nice and coats well, however it doesn't feel like it sinks in, though the patches I've been putting it on have all improved so it must do! You only need a tiny bit so for the price its actually worth it. I won't need to repurchase for a long time but I definitely will when it runs out.

The next products I've been using are the hand treatment and daily cream. The hand treatment is nothing special, again it smells nice and rubs in well but I've not noticed any great difference from any other good hand cream. 

The daily cream is good, its thick and moisturises my face well, however it does sting slightly around my eyes so I probably wouldn't buy it again for that reason.

Finally the lip protectant stick has worked its way into my handbag. I like this for aesthetic reasons mainly, I get lots of fuss when I get it out to use, as people think its lipstick and then realise its a balm. It smells lovely (the same as all the other products) but wears off after around 30 minutes and then you need to reapply, so not really as moisturising or beneficial as I would like.

I've not managed to get round to the body treatment yet but I'm looking forward to giving it a go over the next week or so.

I've enjoyed using this kit and think the skin protectant is great, however that's the only product I would use again. I also think Elizabeth Arden really need to up their game with their packaging, I must have walked past their counter hundreds of times and never noticed it (or maybe subconsciously I was worried I'd end up Joan Collins-esque!) Try harder Elizabeth Arden!! 

Leanne x