Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Youth Eye Creme

Just started using my deluxe 5 mL GWP jar of Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Youth Eye Creme about a month ago. I started using this simply out of boredom, because a jar or bottle of eye cream lasts me for a very long time. After more than a year of daily use, I'm still only half way through my huge 1 fl. oz. pump bottle of BeautyMate Nano Eye Essence! If that's any indicative, the current 0.5 fl. oz. pump bottle of Body Shop Nutriganics Soothing Eye Cream will also last for at least a year with my nightly use. So I was bored out of my mind and was itching to try something new, so I did!

This Re-Nutriv Ultimate Youth Eye Creme is an unscented eye cream that claims to be super moisturizing all the while being light. And it's true that the eye cream is very light and absorbs almost instantly, leaving my eye area amazingly velvety soft. However, it's not heavy or moisturizing enough for night use. I have dry combination skin, so in the winter I prefer a heavier eye cream at night and a lighter one for daytime, especially when a heavier eye creams tend to melt my sunscreen and stain my contact lenses regardless of the season. 

So naturally I used this Ultimate Youth Eye Creme during the day instead. It's actually excellent underneath my Allie sunscreen, not too light and not too heavy, just perfectly moisturizing! The problem began when I started applying eye makeup on top of the eye cream and sunscreen's [thoroughly absorbed and dried] layers. I'm not sure what's happening here, but it seems this eye cream is actually selective of my eye makeup! The eye shadows in my current rotation include the 2 VOV Castledew Diacut Eye 6 Colors compacts and the 8 compacts of Kate Dual Carats (will post next), and while this eye cream is perfectly fine with the VOV eye shadows, it seems to not get along with the Kate Dual Carats at all! 

Actually, this eye cream together with Kate Dual Carats makes a disastrous combo and my contact lenses would start staining within 30 minutes of completed eye makeup application. If you're wondering how bad it is to walk around with stained lenses, it's the equivalent of driving with a windshield that is slowly freezing up. I was pretty much blind by the time I get home and couldn't wait to get those damn contact lenses out of my eyes so I can see (with blurry vision) again! At first I thought it was the Caudalie Beauty Elixir that contributed to the meltdown and stopped using this spray as makeup base or to set makeup. Nope, still the same results with or without Caudalie Beauty Elixir. Then I thought it was because I had used Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on Shadow Pencils to line my eyes on those days, which in itself is a ridiculous conjecture given this stuff wouldn't even come off the back of my hand when rubbed with a freakin' paper towel, but hey, it was worth a try. Nope, still returned home a blind person with or without using these Urban Decay pencils. 

I was pretty frustrated at that point, after all, I'd been struggling to attend class and then see my way home everyday for more than a week! So I decided I would go about the experiment a different way trying to pinpoint the culprit who has been melting my sunscreen and stains my contact lenses. I went back to using the BeautyMate Nano Eye Essence underneath the sunscreen, then apply Kate Dual Carat eye shadows as usual. Ha, what do you know, I didn't go blind that day. Embolden, I re-added Caudalie Beauty Elixir as makeup base. Nothing happened that day either. Hell, I even lined my eyes with the Urban Decay pencils, and hmm, I could see perfectly that day too!  

So yes, unfortunately it was this eye cream after all that made a terrible combination with Kate Dual Carat, and after this discovery, I stopped using it during the day altogether. Perhaps there was something in the Kate Dual Carat that didn't fare so well with this eye cream, but I'll be honest that I'm not exactly looking forward to find out what other eye makeup will end up with the same blinding results. But other than that random unintended melty effect, this eye cream is actually really nice. The full size jar goes for a whopping $140 for 15mL, which puts my 5mL GWP jar at a little over $46, so I'm not going to throw it out or anything. Instead it will be deferred to summer use at night, when it's hot as hell and I won't be needing any heavy eye cream at all. I can't find it on the Estee Lauder website anymore, so I guess that means it has been discontinued (hmm...I wonder why, a $140 eye cream that melts even the Japanese sunscreen that requires an oil cleanser for complete removal? Why on Earth would they discontinue that?!?).

Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Youth Eye Creme:

Water\Aqua\Eau, C12-20 Acid PEG-8 Ester, Cococaprylate/Caprate, Polyethylene, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, PEG-100 Stearate, Acetyl Glucosamine, Whey Protein\Lactis Protein\Proteine Du Petit Lait, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Extract, Calophyllum Inophyllum (Tamanu) Seed Oil, Boswellia, Serrata Extract, Triticum Vulgare (White Bran) Extract, Micrococcus Lysate, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Ascorbyl Tocopheryl Maleate, Trisodium Resveratrol Triphosphate, Trehalose, Acetyl Carnitine HCL, Sucrose, Milk Protein\Lactis Proteinum\Proteine Du Lait, Saccharide Isomerate, Linoleic Acid, Caffeine, Sorbitol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Coleus Forskohlii Root Extract, Decarboxy Carnitine HCL, Camelina Sativa Seed Oil, Creatine, Fructose, Glucose, Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract, Pearl Powder, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Extract,  Lecithin, Isomerized Linoleic Acid, Nordihydroguaiaretic Acid, Ethylbisiminomethylguaiacol Manganese Chloride, Padina Pavonica Thallus Extract, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Juice Extract, Citrus Reticulata (Tangerine) Peel Extract, Asparagopsis Armata Extract, Lactose, Hydroxyproline, Yeast Extract\Faex\Extrait de Levure, Proline, Arabidopsis Thaliana Extract, Gold, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Cholesterol, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria), Laurdimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile), Selaginella Tamariscina (Spikemoss) Extract, Glycine, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Sodium Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyltaurate Copolymer, Xanthan Gum, Silica, Cyclodextrin, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Laureth-8, Behenyl Alcohol, Acrylates Copolymer, Potassium Sulfate, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Sodium Carbomer, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Mica, Yellow 5 (CI19140), Titanium Dioxide (CI77891).

***Stock picture and list of ingredients from Beautyknot.