You may remember that in mid-December I started trialling the Regenerist Luminous Serum and Regenerist Luminous Brightening & Protecting SPF20 Moisturiser, both new products from Olay*. (If they haven’t reached the shelves yet then they will be with you very soon, I’d imagine.) I thought that I’d do a mid-way-ish update and fill you in on what I’ve found out about the Sepiwhite ingredient, lauded as one of the two main actives in the serum, because I wasn’t too sure what it did or how it worked.

So just to recap; I was to use the entire Regenerist Luminous range for 30 days and record my results. No other skincare, though I have been using the Regenerist Skin Perfecting Cleanser because there isn’t a dedicated cleanser for the Luminous range. (If Olay brought out a gorgeous, massagey balm cleanser I would literally be in my element.) Routine: cleanse, serum, eye swirl (see previous Olay post for more details on the range) and then either the Skin Tone Perfecting Day Cream or the SPF Moisturiser, depending on my situation. (I’ll be honest, there haven’t been many opportunities to test out the SPF yet!)

Handy dropper application…

Thoughts so far? A massive hurray for the serum. It’s just lovely. I have always felt that the moisturiser on its own doesn’t give me enough of the hydrated feel that I like – though my skin never seems lacking in moisture, it just doesn’t have that dewy, juicy finish that I always crave. On the one hand, that’s great if it’s a moisturiser designed to suit all skin types (which it is) because it’s a lovely finish for oily and combination skin, but if you want your moisturiser to feel very nourishing and rich then the “dry touch” feel isn’t the most desirable. (Perhaps a version for dry/very dry skin would be a good addition? I’d definitely go in for some of that!) Anyway, all this is kind of irrelevant with the addition of the serum because it is so plumptious and silky to apply and really makes my skin feel hydrated. I can see it being a product that will slip easily into my skincare routine post-trial; I’m a big advocate of serums anyway (see post here for more on serums) but when they have targeted effects like this one it’s a great way to make noticeable changes to your skin without having to buy a heap of new products.

I’m applying my serum – and reading your mind.

Talking of targeted effects, the Regenerist Luminous Serum has been designed to even out skintone, both by managing the production of excess melanin (the pigment that looks dark on the surface of the skin; if there’s an excess then you get darker patches, or dark spots) and tackling the dark spots once they’ve appeared. So, both prevention and a bit of damage control. Hero ingredient for me, as I mentioned in the last post, is Niacinamide, which is a bit of a skincare superstar, doing all kinds of wondrous things. (Read more here.) But since the start of the trial, I’ve been reading up a bit more on this Sepiwhite, otherwise known as Undecylenoyl Phenylalanine. Try saying that after a Christmas Sherry! I had never heard of this ingredient, but when I started researching there seemed to be quite a buzz around it. It’s supposed to be really rather effective at helping to improve skin-tone, especially when combined with our old pal Niacinamide. Good news if you’re tackling a bit of unevenness, and it’s also a brilliant one to apply in the morning before you go in with your SPF, as although it doesn’t provide any UVA/UVB protection, it’s there beavering away to keep your melanin production nice and steady.

Right – onwards with the rest of the trial! You’ll notice that I’m quite considerably over the half-way point; I should tell you that for the first week or so of the trial I was really under the weather and hardly even got out of bed, let alone applied much skincare, so I thought it only fair to start it again properly the week after. Remember that I’ll be giving away a whole shedload of Regenerist Luminous for you to try in the final video post, so keep a lookout for that.

Find the Regenerist Luminous range at Boots.com. *UPDATE: the serum is now online, £29.99 here and the SPF20 is the same price here.

Read the first trial post here…

*this trial and the associated posts are sponsored by Olay.