Frankly, the Men’s Folio Grooming Awards 2022 has not changed much since its inauguration in 2020. Its metrics are still yardsticks that have not shrunk in length — does a product feel and work as they claim to do besides looking good on the table? If we are to play spot the difference, then there are smarter upgrades to the daily staples we use such as serums for the eyes, a greater focus on makeup removal, hydration, and many new solutions to scent oneself.
There are, of course, even more choices this year — roughly 528 nominations were made across 80 brands. We narrowed it down to 286 products from 68 brands, of which were tested by this panel of eight — Managing Editor Asaph Low, Deputy Editor Bryan Goh, Makeup Artists Eric Tan, Larry Yeo, Priscelia Wong, Sha Shamsi, and grooming enthusiasts Smita de Souza and Aiman Haikal — resulting in 68 winners that were deeply vetted, tested, and of course, loved.
Here, the best anti-ageing cream award winner: the Heure Ageless Night Treatment available online at heurebeauty.com.
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It has recently come to my attention that I seem to be drying out and am not being overly dramatic. While science explains that it is simply just the afflictions that come with ageing — slower skin turnover that in turn also leads to dullness — the visual effects are very clear. Like a Russian roulette of disfigurement, I sometimes either wake up with skin that feels tight and taut or crepey like a corpse. On better days when it looks soothed and calmed, it is thanks to Heure’s Ageless Night Treatment.
While one might already be familiar with the brand — or as we call it, the Apple of Skincare — its Ageless Serum and Facial Treatment mask (the latter was a winner last year) work great but even better, when it is used with the Ageless Night Treatment, a densely whipped soufflé of skin- loving ingredients. To refresh one’s memory about what makes the Singaporean skincare brand as efficacious as it is exceptional, we need to remind him about what the brand calls its SPHR™technology, an encapsulation and transdermal delivery system abbreviated from sphere.
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To simplify it, one can think of it as “magic capsules” that enters the upper dermis of the skin to “detect” sections where the ingredients within are missing. If the cheeks, forehead, or any section of the face is particularly lacking in collagen and elastin, these “capsules” deliver an optimum amount for 24 hours. In a rudimentary sense, one just needs to apply this cream, go to sleep and allow the product to work till the minute he hits the sheets again.
When my fellow judges and I were debating about the category and its necessity (and apparently, so have three hundred and fifty-seven trillion people on the internet), we came to the conclusion that night creams were a necessity as we were able to divide our skincare needs squarely. While our daytime routines focus on light hydration, oil control or sun protection, our nighttime ones have to address water loss and brightening as our microcirculation is at its peak.
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While the Heure Ageless Night Treatment addresses trans-epidermal loss overnight thanks to SPHR™, I noticed that my skin was glowing instead of glowering due to a lack of overnight hydration. This is thanks to Acetyl Hexapeptide, an alternative to botox, Pentapeptide that powers the SPHR™, and Palmitoyl Tripeptide which smoothes wrinkles. Included in the cream’s formula are Heure staples such as Vitamin C, E, and sodium hyaluronate (at a higher dosage than the others).
Retinol has also been added which coincidentally, has made the brand one of the earliest entries to the “sandwiching” trend. It is one that believes that to reduce or eliminate sensitisation from acids, one has to create a gentle environment for potent skincare actives by using hydrating products as the “bread” of a routine. In Heure’s case, retinol is set at an optimal percentage for daily use.
Truth be told, while the Heure Ageless Night Treatment is quite a miracle maker, it does not account for a lack of sleep. For everything else one needs it to do, from being the first retinol product he will use, a salve to soothe sensitisation and dryness, or an overnight plumping product lest he is scared of needles — it works beautifully. And that is the unanimous verdict of all eight of us judges.
The Heure Ageless Night Treatment is priced at $190 and is available for purchase on heurebeauty.com.
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