Vichy Idealia Day Care Cream

I wasn't in the market for a new day cream as I'm currently give Niva Visage Anti-wrinkle Q10+ pore refining day cream a proper road test, but as I recieved a sample of this in September's Glossybox I thought I may as well try it out. 50ml of this product normally retails at £22 but is currently on offer on a couple websites.

I do like a dinky little pot!

The Claims

Smooths, illuminates, evens out skin tone.
Refines and promotes vitality by using 3% concentration of  Kombucha extract (from black tea apparently).
AHAs for a boost to the micro circulation.
Vitamin B for healthy skin.

Test Conditions

After 3 days of broken sleep and general poorliness my skin was lack lustre to say the least! I cleansed with Olay Anti Wrinkle Wash and applied a smartie size dollop of Idealia, massaging in well. I left it to settle in for about 10 minutes before applying my make up as normal. 

Conclusions

This cream felt a bit rich for my combination skin and smelled quite fruity. Apparently the frangrance is kombucha-inspired, tea sweeten with white flowers (description on www.escentual.com), I found it a bit off putting, to be honest, but it didn't linger. 
The cream absorbed fairly quickly and I did notice a brightening effect, my pores certainly looked more refined and my skin had an almost velvety texture, a bit like after using Benefits Dr Feelgood. My foundation (Max Factor Ageless Exilir) seemed to glide over more effortlessly than usual too. l
I conducted thorough examination of my skin after about 4 hours and I was pleasantly suprised, smooth & bright and pores still fairly tight. I was expecting to be a bit greasier after rushing around after a toddler and cooking the tea! I did wonder whether my return to health may be clouding my judgement as my skin had been looking particularly dull for the last week.
I think I'll stick with this one for a while as the claims suggest that regular use will improve the appearance of the skin. I'm slightly weary that it'll break me out after a couple of weeks of continual use (frequent occurance with many creams that promise to give me some radiance) due to its richness but only time will tell on that one. Overall I'm much more impressed than I thought I would be, but won't be rushing out to buy a full size jar just yet. 

The last word (& not from me!)

I got my Husband to proof read this review and he said 'I did notice your skin was looking good earlier.' High praise indeed!