I bought the creme de la mer, since nothing seems to work for me. It felt heavy but didn't break me out. But I did notice some little bumps on my skin. It did reduce the pore size and made my skin smoother. But if u are looking for something with anti aging properties and repair any damages this will not do so much for ur skin. There are many good choices out there with great anti aging ingredients.

La No. I tried this in my late twenties and now that I've entered my forties. Same effect now as then. Greasy, dehydrated skin with an overall feeling of irritation. If you don't have particularly dry or sensitive skin, this may work well for your skin. Just didn't do it for me.

I had been very wary of the 'miraculous' claims made for and on behalf of this product, so tried a sample pot three years ago with low expectations. Unfortunately for my wallet, I was immediately hooked. I have reasonable skin (on the dry side now, can be a little sensitive but pore size and overall texture not too bad), and this product had an immediate smoothing and nourishing effect which left it with a very discernible dewy 'glow'. This has not diminished with continuous use, unlike many other products I've used where you need to take a break after a year or so.
It's fantastic for winter use, when constant temperature switches and the dehydrating effects of central heating can wreak havoc, though can be a little heavy for daytime summer use when heat and humidity can tend to make you 'glow' anyway. I'm planning to switch to the Lotion just for summer, should it ever stop raining in the UK and warm up a bit.
I was less impressed with the Eye Cream and will probably go back to Shiseido Future Solution for eyes (my previous all-time favourite regime), but the Hydrating Serum has also impressed me and I will probably continue to buy it, god help me. It is undoubtedly a shamefully overpriced product, and I almost hate the fact that I've been seduced by it, but I have been.

I got a sample of this in a store in Amsterdam when on holiday. I hate to burst the bubble here but this is overpriced rubbish. Look at the ingredients list. If you saw this in a cheap cream you probably wouldn't go near it but because it's La mer. It moisturises ok, but so does vaseline which this produt contains. Listed near the top of the ingredients in MINERAL OIL, one of the cheapest ingredients there is!! Not to mention the amount of eucalyptus oil which is concerning.Also contains alcohol denat the worst type of alcohol for skin.Any goodness in this cream and it has it's good points are wasted anyway due to the jar pakaging. The ingredients will not remain stable during use.That's why I'll only use tubes or pumps. I wouldn't ever waste my money on this. i didn't even finish the sample.The ingredients said it all!!!

I agree that this product can get mixed reviews.I am a moisturiser junkie, so I have tried all the big brands moisturisers. My skin is a combination skin and throughout my teens and up to 35 years old it was prone to acne, as much as I was on antibiotic for a few years
I am in my mid forties now and my skin is not as oily as it used to be. I have been using Creme de La Mer for 3.5 years and I LOVE it! It moisturises my skin without leaving it oily, doesn't give me acne and it feels soothed. People always guess my age as 30 years old ! I know part of it is because of genetics but La Mer has helped.
On the other hand .. my younger sister has a very dry and very sensitive skin and I thought La Mer would help her ... it was a shock that it left her skin red and inflamed within hours!
Definitely experiment with the best moisturers for your skin, as everyone's skin is different.

I had a sample of 7g and it last me about a week, the cream is thick but you can spread it easily itmakes my skin soft but nothing else.Cream de la mer is simply a good moisturizer, It realy soothes the skin, but this can be happened with cheaper creams likes the cream fraiche from Nux or the ultra facial cream from kiehl's.

DOES ANYBODY HAVE AN EMPTY LA MER JAR? (I REALLY NEED ONE TO TRANSFER MY SAMPLES INTO :))
IF YES, I AM WILLING TO BUY IT OFF YOU (I HAVE PAYPAL :))
PLEASE INBOX ME!! THANKS

I don't believe in miracles. But this is one.

Hi guys, this is a follow up from my original review below.
I've been using La Mer moisturiser for a couple of months now and although it is a top quality moisturiser, it hasn't made any miraculous changes to my skin. As far as I know I have been applying it correctly. I take a small amount and pop it into the palm of my hand then rub in circular motion with my other hand for about 20 seconds till it warms up and melts.
It feels lovely on the skin, although sometimes a little greasy. A little really does go a long way. I also found that if applied under my eyes at night, the skin was a bit puffy underneath. I do still use it in conjunction with my other products, but only at night and not under the eye area!
Overall, I'm not sure if I will buy it again. I think I'm going to wait til I finish the pot to decide, maybe something amazing will happen. But to be honest, I think we should all be going to the dermatologist and finding out what our skin types are! A really good book for this is Dr Leslie Baumanns book - The Skin Type Solution. I took advice from this book, got some new products and started to see changes, albeit slight, very quickly.
Anyway - Good luck and enjoy! It is a lovely cream even if it hasn't turned me into Gisele :) xx
This is my first installment as I have only been using it for three days. I will write a follow up review in about a month. I decided to buy this cream because I just couldn't deny the urge to any longer. I've read the bad/good press and decided to make up my own mind - we all have different skin, so we all have different results. As soon as I started using this I got the flu (no!! i'm not blaming la mer!!! :)) so at the mo I look pretty rough. But...I have used it all over my face including my eyes and it has moisturised very well and leaves a dewy plumpy look which is nice. Still have to wear cream blush tho!! I warmed it up between my fingers and also i tried it out on the skin around nails which are really dry last night and already they look better.

I've tried La Mer on and off throughout the years, and waited about a decade (!) to write this review. My reasons for not buying into the hype:

If you're old enough to remember when La Mer was re-released by EL, there was an in-depth article in the NY Times or LA Times (i can't recall exactly --and this was way before Google existed), that detailed the whole process of trying to replicate Max Huber's formula. Remember, he died and left the "recipe" which EL chemists were left trying to decipher based on his messy crib notes, which involved adding vibrations to the mixing tank, playing classical music to the "broth", etc, etc. After much trial and error, EL chemists finally "got it right" (or did they?) and voila -- mass production began.

However, just like "Mom's chicken soup", simply duplicating a formula is not bound to guarantee exact results. How many times have you tried to match a recipe only to never have it taste as good as the real thing? Of course it helps if Mom or the original chef guides you step-by-step -- much easier, right?

But here is the key point: Huber wasn't alive to guide anyone through the replication process. Worse yet, his notes were like chicken scratch.

Just like the "love" element to a homemade batch of cookies or soup, synergistically there was something more that Huber added to garner miraculous results for his original cream. I truly believe that there was something special about Huber's formula; he was known to give some kind of vibrational TLC to each handcrafted, small batch. But like with any family-held secret recipe, there is always something missing when you try to do it yourself--or worse yet, scale it up for the global market.

Other key factors:

I have met wealthy, older people (women *and* men) who have used Huber's original formula and they acknowledge that EL's version is not the same. (Hang out at enough NYC charity/gallery events for the moneyed Bergdorf's crowd and eventually you'll meet some eccentric characters too.)

I've met people who worked for the La Mer brand, and their skin is totally normal or average. These women have easy access to tubs of this product and with these high expectations, you'd think they'd be the walking fountain of youth, with miraculously baby-smooth skin that makes them look 20 years younger. Nope. Look at the La Mer SA's at the counter. Inspect their skin carefully. Is it smooth, bright, luminous? More often than not, i have met La Mer SA's with average skin, or even sagging, wrinkled skin. Not a good testimony.

As for La Mer's purported "healing" power -- if this product truly "healed" skin or did something so great, where are the clinical trials and quantitative data to support it? Surely the Estee Lauder corporation can afford it, as they do with so many of their other products like Advanced Night Repair, Idealist, etc ---undergone rigorous testing and clinicals (i.e. 28% reduction in fine lines, 57% increase in hydration, 88% improvement in spots, etc). Guess what? There are NO quantitative claims with Creme de la Mer at all. Hmm.

What's left? An amazing story, which EL cleverly bought the rights to. When you spend the $$$ for a jar of La Mer, that's what you're getting. But that's part of the allure --- believing in legend is enough to trigger the placebo effect, and for some people it's enough to get great results.

I'm not saying this cream is bad - it moisturizes well and provides emolliency to support the skin barrier function. Those are the results i had.

i've been using la mer for many years and i've searched high and low for another moisturizer because of the astronomical price but whenever i switch, i always keep coming back.
i have very dry skin that is prone to redness, inflammation and flaking but la mer keeps my skin soft and smooth all day. other moisturizers (and i only buy name brand) work well but mid-day, my face feels tight and dry.
i also find that when my skin freaks out and gets sensitive, i put a bit of this cream on and it goes away. who knows if the "magic broth" is true but it makes my skin feel soft and smooth so i'll keep buying this (and continue searching for a less expensive alternative in the mean time)

I've been using Creme de la Mer as for about 1 year.
For those who say it is not worth the $ and claim German Nivea is a dupe, I respectfully disagree; it has some similarities, but definitively NOT the same. CDLM emulsifies when warmed up between your fingers - Nivea barely does. It also stays a bit tacky and is harder to apply. I find CDLM is healing vs Nivea which acts more like a barrier cream.
I like German Nivea, but for other purposes. It was a staple in our home growing up in Europe, however I use it in the traditional way - for the odd rough spots on the body or as a hand/foot cream at night.
When my skin is dry, peeling or raw, CDLM fixes it in 2 days max; usually overnight. No other cream, serum or oil has been able to do that. I find it very soothing/healing after an IPL photofacials or after a chemical peel. During the colder months I use it nightly over my eye cream.
I highly recommend this only if you have dry skin or a compromised barrier. I don't buy into it preventing wrinkles, but it sure is a moisture boost! The only reason I do not give it 5 stars is the price, especially with the recent increase

I know that I am not in the majority here, but I love this this product. My skin is very dry and while I wish the scent was less overwhelming, I must admit nothing I've tried has acted as a better as a moisturizer for my dry sensitive skin. I rub it in at night and feel glowing in the morning. For me the price is worth it.

I started using La Mer 12 years ago after trying a sample. As I swam daily in salt water and chlorine, my skin needed serious moisture and La Mer provides it. It is expensive, however it's been worth it as my skin looks and feels better now than it did 12 years ago. Growing up in a seaside town in Australia, my skin has a lot of sun damage and La Mer has helped my skin counteract this damage. I bought some for my sister as a present, and she's now hooked, too.

This is one of the two skincare products in the world (that I have tried so far) that actually do something for my stupid, confused skin other than make it worse (my skin is dry, sensitive, acne prone, and oily all at once, try to figure that out). I use it as a night cream because it is too heavy for a day cream, but man, it's perfect. It gives me soft, glowy, clear, and hydrated skin. You don't know how impossible that is. It's so great that when I use it, I actually get compliments on my skin, which says a LOT, trust me. I wanted to hate this, I wanted to pretend that it's not worth the exorbitant price tag, but unfortunately it is. Like I said before, it's one of two products (and I've tried probably over a hundred) not only don't make my skin worse, but actually improve it and make it look GOOD. But being a college student, I seriously can not afford it. I'm not going to pretend that it lasts forever either, that it most definitely does not. I don't know how I'll possibly keep buying this for the ten years of school I have left. But unfortunately for my wallet, I think I will.

Let me add my voice to the chorus of praise for this product! I am in my 50s with combo-problem-hypersensitive crazy bi-polar like skin and this stuff stopped all this chaos in about a month's worth of use.
I don't believe marketing upfront and probably would have skipped ever trying this -I've used expensive stuff before with moderate results BUT received the mid-sized jar as a gift!
I use this nightly - after a good wash with Estee Lauder's pink Soft Wash in the tube (gets all the makeup off!) - I can honestly report fine lines around the eyes almost gone - scar on forehead there ever since I was 25 - almost gone - lines above my lips - gone!
Texture is very rich and thick - but melts into the skin rather quickly leaving a nice glow - not a grandma cold cream nightmare!
Yes! It is hideously expensive! -but wow, it is soooo nice to wake up and not look like spleck! in the morning mirror.

It's quite interesting to read some of the reviews of this product...what a range of opinions! Someone hates the old style jar and wants a pump style package. Another hates the pump and thinks it will make you use up the product faster! I have the moisturizer in the jar, and the rejuvenating product in a pump bottle, and I like both just fine. I have no trouble getting just the amount I want from either one. And someone said the recommendation to rub it between two fingers is bad because your fingers absorb most of it. Um, no...your fingers may absorb a tiny amount the first dab, but then no more, as they can't keep on and on absorbing!
Also someone said she was told this was just repackaged Nivea products. La Mer is a subsidiary of Estee Lauder (who, I have read, follows the exact production of the "miracle broth" as the inventor devised) and has nothing to do with nivea. It's not all a big plot to fool us, haha!
Okay, I am 67 years old and haven't always taken the best care of my skin, thought it has been forgiving, thank goodness. But I totally agree with the person who said that it's silly for people in their teens and twenties to lay out the big bucks for these products...the cream was invented by a physicist who had his face damaged in an explosion...it's for skin in need of extraordianry care! I didn't start using it till I was past 65. But it's such an excellent product that I'm willing to work it in to my budget as long as I can. I'm no longer trying to look young and beautiful, I just want my skin to be moisturized in a healthy and comfortable way. La Mer does that and more...helps minimize wrinkles and big pores and redness. It's the best thing that ever happened to my face!

First, I'll start by stating that this moisturizer is ridiculously expensive BUT this is the best moisturizer that I have ever used and I have used every product from drug store to high end brands. I have combination skin and would consistently break out a few times a month prior to using this; however, since I have been using this if I even remotely see a red spot on my face that is starting to look like a pimple it is gone the next day...it is crazy but absolutely true! Also, since I have been using this my t-zone is not greasy anymore and my pores are noticeably smaller. I know there are tons of things out there that question the price and ingredients in this moisturizer but I am telling you it is worth every single penny b/c when i look in the mirror my skin looks the best that it ever has. A woman I work with actually said to me after only a week of using this that I was looking particularly pretty lately, almost "glowing" she said! The only conclusion I can reach for people who do not like the product is that they are not applying it properly....needs to be warmed up almost to the point that it disappears and then you pat on your face. Despite the cost, will defiinitely buy again and again!!

I never thought that I will be writing a review about this product. My husband bought me a mall La Mer creme jar last christmas along with other goodies and i just put it away being skeptical. I recently used Cerave PM for night cream, and in 2 days I had fine red bumps on my face (furious since I am not the type that breaks out easily). Desperate I reached out for this cream and applied it one night (just one night!) and the next morning my face calmed down, fine red bumps were gone! This is an amazing product.

The only reason I don't give this a 5 is its high price. But honestly, for me it's worth it. It's very thick so a little bit goes a long way. I don't need to use it every night, and I usually only use it in the winter. I've tried drugstore substitutes, like Nivea, but there's nothing else so gentle AND effective, moisturizing without being oily. What really sold me on it was when I once got a really bad skin reaction to using retinol plus a random Korean serum - I think it may have had alpha hydroxy acids in it? Whatever the exact combo, it basically gave me a chemical peel. I'd never seen my skin like that - It was red, angry, peeling, irritated and crazy painful. It hurt even when I wasn't touching it. Creme de la mer was the ONLY thing that soothed it and brought it back to normal. I don't know how much it does for wrinkle prevention but it does leave my skin super soft and creamy-looking.