Welcome to Robb Recommends, a regular series in which our editors and contributors endorse something they’ve tried and loved—and think will change your life for the better.
For the skin care obsessive, it’s a thrilling thing to realize a product is working. And after about a month of using La Prairie’s new Life Matrix Haute Rejuvenation Cream, that’s exactly how it felt to look at my complexion in the mirror: thrilling.
The cream, released in September, is the product of a collaboration between La Prairie and Clinique La Prairie, the independently operated Swiss health and research clinic that spawned the high-end skin care brand some 40 years ago. (The clinic, located in Montreaux, does “everything but surgery on the heart and brain,” according to Dr. Daniel Stangl, director of innovation at La Prairie.) Together, physicians, scientists, and chemists from both organizations analyzed a variety of skin concerns, and realized that one approach to addressing everything from wrinkles to dryness was optimizing cellular healthspan. They call the strategy “high longevity science.”
While more and more products target cellular senescence—the deleterious effect of the so-called zombie cells we all accumulate as we get older—the Life Matrix Haute Rejuvenation cream aims to extend the skin’s health span at the cellular level, preventing those cells from forming in the first place. According to Stangl, the secret is an ultra-high concentration of what La Prairie calls its Exclusive Cellular Complex. With the increased dose found in the new cream, La Prarie’s researchers found that they were able to modulate cellular information transfer for young, healthy cells as they divide and replace themselves. Translation: With continued use, your skin functions better, longer. (La Prairie has the science to back up the claim. In its clinical trials, it investigated the effects of the cream on around 18,000 biomolecules in the skin, and found that regular use essentially resets your cells to a younger state.)
I have relatively oily skin, so I tend to avoid products in a cream format. But I’ve found that using this cream morning and night hasn’t produced any blemishes. If anything, I’m noticing fewer instances of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, my primary skin care albatross. It has a very mild tingling sensation as it goes on the skin, and absorbs rapidly. When I spoke with Stangl, I asked him whether it would negatively interact with my prescription tretinoin. He wisely advised that I ask my dermatologist, but ventured that I wouldn’t have any issues. (He was right.)
A month later, my skin is a lot smoother and brighter—something the 50 clinical trial participants experienced in their own way. Stangl said that each of the panelists noticed something different—less redness, more collagen production, more even skin tone, shallower wrinkles. “You can measure a lot f things, but if a client says their skin is full of life, we’ve done a good job,” he said.
La Prairie also did well with the packaging for the cream, which is housed in a polished aluminum jar that forms a point on the bottom. It’s heavy, and on its own, it can be a little unstable, but I’ve left it in the base of the sturdy box it’s packaged in and haven’t had any issues. Guys who don’t love scented skin care products may be turned off by the somewhat feminine fragrance included in the product, but the results are worth what to some might be a minor annoyance. After all, what’s a little fragrance in the face of skin that retains its youthful glow for as long as possible?
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