What a mouthful to say! The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Intensive Recovery Ampoules. I heard of this product at the Estee Lauder preview which took place last autumn.
I thought it was a pretty cool product as I’ve never seen anything quite like it before, in that the products were contained in capsules or ampoules as they call it!
What it says (taken from Sephora):
A powerful oil concentrate to calm and repair the look of over-stressed skin, helping to strengthen resistance against future assaults. Revolutionize how you repair at night and help your skin recover the healthy, luminous look of youth. This active treatment oil includes ChronoluxAI technology to help reduce visible irritation and support skin’s natural synchronization. Ideal for brightening, soothing, and strengthening skin, skin will appear calmer, more radiant, and healthier-looking.
The ampoules are made out of a plastic material. I’ve put a few in my hand for scale, so you can get a better idea of the size of each. At $138.00 CAD, these little guys aren’t cheap! Luckily, one is more than enough for moisturizing my face.
Since it is $138, I use this very sparingly… I only use it when my skin is in dire need of some hydration. The Estee Lauder spokesperson who introduced us to the product said that he only uses this when travelling to tropical destinations, as his skin dries out in the hot weather.
Using it can be a bit messy, so you have to be gentle. Gently twist the smaller circle to open the capsule, and then the product will come out right away. I can’t find a way to gracefully apply this product without it getting all over my hands, and frantically trying to put it on quick enough before it all spills out.
It has a very thin, almost liquid like consistency but with a hint of oil. It also has a bit of herbal smell to it, which I find neither pleasant or unpleasant. I really like the smell of their Nutritious Vitality8 Overnight Cream though.
Anyways, the most important part… is it effective?! Without a doubt, yes. At $138, you pay what you get and the quality is definitely there. When I wake up, my face is nice and moisturized but oily, because my skin didn’t absorb all of the product yet. I always feel like I’m wasting it when I wash off my face and I feel the product coming off!
- Easy to carry around. If on-the-go, you could put some ampoules in a zip loc bag for a quick but intensive moisturizing session!
- Deeply hydrates skin
- Suitable for many skin types: normal, oily, sensitive, dry
- Lasts a long time
- Slightly messy application process
- Price is not affordable for everyone, definitely considered a luxury skincare item (although there are luxury products out there which cost $250+)
Yay!
We had plans to go to another nice restaurant but that didn’t go through, so it was a pretty spontaneous decision to come here (we decided to come here half a hour before). I was Yelping and this placed seemed like the perfect atmosphere that we were looking for.
I didn’t really want to sit on the patio because it seemed cold outside, but we were ensured that the patio was heated. We were seated next to a roaring fireplace which kept us warm and cozy the entire evening! Not all the seats have the fireplace, and the views are slightly better without the fireplace blocking.
Bread, free: Standard complimentary bread. The bread was nice and chewy instead, and served slightly warm with a side of butter.
Calamari, $13.50: We normally don’t get appetizers to save money and our appetite, but it was a special occasion. We were glad we ordered this because it was really good. It came with a very generous portion of calamari, with crisp and fresh batter. The calamari was seasoned with a variety of herbs which made it really good.
Alderwood grilled BC salmon, $29.50: The salmon was DELICIOUS. It flaked off nicely, and had a slightly grilled taste to it. So good. I just wanted to eat the whole thing.
New York Striploin, $42: My entree was the striploin, cooked medium rare! It was very juicy, tender, and flavourful. If I recall correctly, it usually comes with some sort of sauce or butter, but I asked for only salt and pepper with it. I’m a big believer in eating steak with good ol’ salt and pepper because I find it tastes so much better when made simply! Am I the only one who prefers steak this way?
Close up of my medium rare steak! WordPress needs to have an emoji keyboard so I can insert the drooling and heart eye ones here!
Mac and cheese, $7.00: Wow, I didn’t realize how much food we ordered until writing this post. For $7, this was a really good value and good size. The mac and cheese was baked with four types of cheese. The boyfriend said it was really comforting, with very stringy and delicious looking cheese.
I was in the mood for some authentic sushi, not the usual Chinese or Korean-run fast food sushi joints that we usually go to. I’m not hating on Chinese/Korean-run sushi joints because those are cheap, fast, and usually decent but I just wanted to go somewhere that was authentic that day.
Tuna tataki, 9 pieces, $14.95: The boyfriend loves tuna tataki, so we usually order it at every new place to see how it compares. It came with grated daikon on top which we haven’t seen at other places, but it was refreshing and cleaned our palette.
Tuna & salmon sashimi, $14.95: We really appreciated the fact that they had freshly grated wasabi here, as most places do not! I normally like to eat my sashimi plain, but I used wasabi this time because it was freshly grated.
Salmon nigiri, $2.95 / piece: Just like the salmon sashimi, the salmon nigiri was so good as well. The sushi rice was absolutely perfect too!
Negitoro maki, $4.75: Just like the tuna tataki, negitoro is a must for the boyfriend. This was soooo good. The tuna was so soft and mashed perfectly with the fresh green onion. At first, we were reluctant to order it because it was more expensive than we were used to, but so worth it.
Our bill came to around $65-70 with tip (forgot exactly how much), which was a lot more than we we usually pay! But it was nice to treat ourselves and have a relaxing, authentic Japanese dinner.
The timing was perfect- I brought them out to my little weekend getaway to the Sunshine Coast! The Ray-Bans had some fun in the sun and shielded my eyes from the rays… glad I wore them out that weekend because it is currently pouring rain again in Raincouver – oops I meant Vancouver.