Lancôme’s Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector

At this weekend’s Spark Sessions conference, the topic of negative product reviews came up a few times. Some of the panelists explained that if they come a product that they don’t like or that doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, they simply don’t write about it. Others said that they’ll give their honest opinion but add that while the product didn’t work for them, it might work for others. While I would never do the former, I am very familiar with the latter approach because, well, it’s true: Sometimes the reason a product doesn’t work is because it’s just not suited to my skin/hair/whatever.

I think that’s the situation with today’s product: Lancôme’s Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector. According to Lancôme, this item is, "Much more than a wrinkle-corrector, our 1st skin perfecting serum with LR2412 to visibly correct wrinkles*, pores* and uneven skin texture." It works so well, says Lancome that, "One out of two women tempted by a cosmetic procedure decided to postpone it.**"

What do those stars mean? The first one means "*Clinical study” (no, there’s no link or study name but then there never is) while the second means,"** After 4 weeks of consumer use. Consumer evaluation of women aged 35 to 49 years tempted by hyaluronic acid, laser or chemical peeling. Results not equal to a medical procedure."

Confession time: I’m not in the previously mentioned age group and I’m not tempted by any of the cosmetic procedures mentioned above. And I also didn’t use this product every day for four weeks straight.

But I have been using it almost daily for the past month and so far, I’m not impressed. I didn’t notice any real immediate benefits from using this thin, milky serum. While it does feel nice on, and it does smell pretty, it did nothing to plump up or disguise my forehead lines or any visible pores (uneven skin isn’t really an issue for me).

Longer-term benefits also weren’t obvious to me. I used this product on at least half of my face for almost two weeks straights and at the end, the side that was regularly receiving the serum didn’t look any different than the other side. I kept using the serum for over another week and nope, there was no change in the appearance of my fine lines or pores.

Clearly, this is not a product for me, especially not at $89 for a one-ounce tube. And based on these MakeupAlley.com reviews, I’ll not the only person out there whose not loving this product.

But, all that being said, the reviews on the Lancôme site are mostly complimentary and this serum has won a few awards for it must deliver results for some people.

Would I buy this product: No, it doesn’t work for me.

Should you buy this product: Don’t buy this product until you try a sample out first (based on the MakeupAlley.com reviews, this product has irritated more than a few users’ skin). The sample I received was actually quite generous and since this is one of those products where a little goes a long way, you should be able to get close to four weeks worth of use out of the sample. By then you should know if this product works for your skin or not.