Sometimes it takes me a while to work something into the schedule. Everyone loves a launch, but it’s rarely ever practical for me to post right away, or to try something out immediately — unless I fall in love with it at first sight — or in this case, at first smell, and at first touch.

I love oils: I’ve got stuff for my scalp all the way down to my toes, and I especially love love love facial oils. It is absolutely not like the oil you cook with, which I think has to be said — I know it’s the first thing that came to mind when these sorts of things started flying into the post box. Facial oils are fluid, for sure, but they have a slightly dry second touch, and when they absorb correctly, you have the luxuriousness of that fluidity, but you don’t have to wait hours for it to sink in.

By ‘second touch’, I mean: you put some on your hand, and think ‘Ooh, oily!’ and then it almost instantly starts to feel substantial. Like, it’s not going to just drip off of your face. L’Oréal Age Perfect Extraordinary Facial Oil does that, and one stopperful of product — gorgeous, delicious-smelling product — covers the entire face and neck, and turns your skin to silk.

And then you wake up it still feels silky, and clean, and fresh. And then! You get to continue the good work you’ve begun with the brand’s Extraordinary Facial Cream. I know that the image had been styled, but in fact, the cream feels like that — like a soufflé for the face, all light and fluffy.

Fluffy face cream — surely it’s A Thing just waiting to happen.

I think that what we deem to be quality in a product — and what determines the cost, or what we are thought to be willing it pay — has everything to do with texture. Both of these win in the texture sweepstakes: both feel rich and in comparison with some products that I get to try, are truly reasonably priced. With RRPs of €25.99 for the oil and €22.99 for the cream, it’s manageable in the extreme. Also, pricier products can always be justified thanks to the truism ‘a little goes a long way’, and both of these adhere to that.

As rare as it is for me to immediately rotate something into the routine, it is equally so that I turf through that something at a rate of knots. I am turfing through these something fierce. I can’t recommend this duo more highly — and for mature faces? Yer only woman.

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Available at your local chemists.

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