Review: La Mer the Treatment Lotion 🐟🌟🌊

Happy New Year Beauties!!! 🥳🌟🎊🎉 I hope you have had time to rest after all the New Year shenanigans. I won’t go on about reflections and New Years resolutions, because I think we all do that in our own way and it doesn’t need to be on show for the world to see in order to make it real (shocking, I know haha!).

While others run around making fools of themselves, you relax and 

All I will say, is that I am trying out bullet planning and will hopefully be able to show you the results of my organised new self shortly 😉 in the meantime however, let’s get into a skincare product review!

I have a very high priced and ‘luxurious’ product to review for you today – an essence from La Mer. I received this goodie from a very generous Paris (from My Women Stuff blog) thanks to her 10th Anniversary Blog giveaway. I’ve taken a loooong time to gather my thoughts on this product and I’ll explain why in more detail below.

But first things first, La Mer describe this product as a ‘lotion’ which is confusing, because it isn’t a light moisturiser per se (like the milky lotions that we use at the end of our skincare routine, before sunscreen). It’s an essence. Most Beauties will know what an essence is but for those who don’t (and don’t worry if you are in the later category!) it is a hydrating pre-serum treatment. That’s the best and simplest explanation I could come up with. Korean Beauties wanted to super charge the hydration levels of their skin even before getting to the serum and moisturiser stage of their skincare routines. That is why the texture of most essences tends to be very light, gel-like and highly absorbable, as it shouldn’t get in the way of allowing serums and moisturises to do their work. The reason why La Mer has called their essence a ‘lotion’ (in my opinion 🙄 lol!) is because it is so hydrating, it may as well be a moisturiser – a lotion 😉😜 When did skincare become so complicated huh?!

This is the third La Mer product that I own. The target market of La Mer is more mature ladies who have the cash to splash on skincare and who need highly rich and regenerative skincare products. However, there are products that may suit your needs, even if you don’t fall into the target market. E.g. One of the items I own from La Mer is a loose powder. A hydrating and light loose powder is worth the investment in my eyes, because hydrated and perfected skin is youthful and important to me (I’m obsessed with ‘base’ makeup products). I did a review of the powder, which you can find here.  As the Treatment Lotion is a little cheaper than some of their other skincare products, you might find that its properties might work for you also, even if the whole range doesn’t. And that’s ok 👌😊

This super hydrator optimizes the rest of your La Mer regimen. Like “liquid energy”, this fast-absorbing treatment delivers an instant rush of hydration to visibly soften, nourish, improve texture and even tone.A Closer LookThis silky hydrator supercharges skin with liquid energy. Crafted with the Revitalizing Ferment – a fusion of marine algae and 73 sea minerals – this essential step in your regimen revives, replenishes, and helps optimize skin. A radiant glow lights up from within. Prepped, primed and smoothed, skin is ready for the benefits of each La Mer product to follow.What’s Inside

1. The Revitalizing Ferment: This potent ferment is derived from the remarkable marine algae Scenedesmus, often found dormant in the Sahel Desert of Africa. A single drop of water can revive this algae, reawakening its natural metabolism and defences, inspiring La Mer to choose this algae for its unique ability to endure harsh conditions. It helps give the ferment its moisture enhancing, skin rejuvenating properties. 

2. Softening Waters: La Mer’s propriety Deconstructed Waters are embedded with algae micro gel and hyaluronic acid fragments to create a delivery system that drives renewing, revitalising and hydrating activity deep within skin’s surface. 

3. Miracle Broth: The cell-renewing elixir at the heart of La Mer is formulated with hand-harvested sea kelp and other nutrients and minerals unlocked via a natural fermentation process. Surging with vital energies, Miracle Broth, empowers the five facets of healing – moisture, regeneration, soothing, smoothing and radiance – helping bring skin back to its healthiest centre. It’s an experience unique to every complexion. And its infused into every treatment in the collection. Fermentation is a time-intensive craft that boosts the power and efficacy of individual ingredients for a sum that is greater than its parts. How to UseAfter cleansing, sprinkle a small amount onto fingertips or saturate a cotton pad. Press into skin. Follow with your La Mer serum and moisturizer.

What I take away from the product description (above) is that the essence is mineral rich and seriously hydrating – like a hydration bomb! 💣💥💦 Revitalisation is something I need – I’m not a morning person and often I feel and look tired in the morning (especially if it’s an early morning…). Being seriously fancy, expensive and favourite of Paris’ I had high hopes to say the least.

If you’ve used an essence before, you will be familiar with their textures. They are often somewhere between a liquid and a solid; watery but slightly gel like. The Treatment Lotion is exactly the texture you would expect. It’s clear and a little jelly, albeit a runny jelly 😅 I dispense a little product into the palm of my hand, press my palms together and then ‘press’ the lotion into my face (that’s been cleansed and sprayed with a facial mist/toner). I thought it would leave my face a little sticky (like some essences tend to) but this one doesn’t. You can feel it on your skin, but it instantly plumps and hydrates the skin without tacky residue – big plus! It has an odd scent which is worth mentioning. If minerals had a scent, I think this would be it lol 😂 It’s a touch sweet and sea like (sea salt perhaps?). There is ‘perfume’ in the formula, hence the difficulty in figuring out what exactly it is. Like most department store brands, La Mer’s products are fragranced quite heavily. It’s not an unpleasant scent to me, but it is strong for an essence IMO.

The ‘declustered water’ is a very interesting concept and ingredient. Instead of using plain old ‘aqua’ as the base of the product (added in the highest concentration to the formula, that is why it is usually listed as the first ingredient in the ingredient list) the water is infused with hyaluronic acid and micro algae – that sounds good to me! Does it hydrate better than including hyaluronic acid or sodium hyaluronate added as a seperate ingredient, in very high concentrations? Maybe!

Algae/seaweed extract is also listed in ingredient position number three, so there’s a lot of the hero ingredient in the formula. Seaweed or kelp, is a water binding ingredient and algae extracts can reinforce the skins barrier function and water retention (stoping dehydration). There’s so much to yet discover about algae and seaweed (plus there’s thousands of different varieties containing different properties) it is hard to say what it is capable of. Pretty much all varieties of seaweed contain vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, K3, Calcium, Copper, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium and Zinc. These vitamins and minerals support our skin’s various functions and as you can imagine, sometimes because of our diets, our skin is lacking in these nutrients (and gets them in smaller quantities compared to other organs) so this is one way to give your skin a boost! Potassium helps your skin stay optimally hydrated, calcium is crucial when it comes to collagen formation, magnesium, manganese & copper help your skins natural defence systems and naturally occurring antioxidants function at their optimum level  and iron helps with circulation.

The Treatment Lotion also contains caffeine ☕️ How does caffeine work when applied topically to the skin? Caffeine dehydrates skin cells temporarily, making skin appear smoother (that is why it is usually used in eye gels, because it reduces puffiness thanks to being a diuretic and a vasoconstrictor). Don’t worry about your skin becoming dehydrated though, if the formula you are using also contains lots of hydrators, your skin won’t shrivel up 😉🌻☀️ Caffeine is also an antioxidant that provides some UVB protection thanks to the ingredient containing caffeic acid.

The formula contains a whole host of good things and is quite complex. While my skin becomes plump and super hydrated after using the Treatment Lotion and other skincare products layer over the top of it very well, there’s something in the formula that can irritate my skin when it is sensitive. I’ve noticed that when I use the Treatment Lotion in the morning after using a tretinoin treatment in the evening, my skin  does not react nicely to it.  My skin has calmed down a lot now because it is MUCH more accustomed to tretinoin, however in the early days when I used the Treatment Lotion the morning after, my skin felt like it was burning. I have a feeling it’s due to the essential oils in the formula, like eucalyptus oil and lime peel extract. I’m not 100% sure of course, but generally sensitive and compromised skin dislikes all essential and citrus oils. It could very well be the synthetic perfume in the formula or  all of these ingredients combined.

The other note to make on this essence is that while my skin is hydrated after using it, it’s not SO hydrated that I’m knocked off my feet with the results. If it stopped any tretinoin or acid induced peeling in my skin, I would be seriously impressed, but it doesn’t. My mediocre results could also be from the fact that my skin is already hydrated enough. Perhaps if I lived in a seriously dry climate the effects of the Treatment Lotion would be more observable, but as it stands, it can make my skin temperamental and because of this, I don’t reach for it with joy. There’s a lot of positive reviews out there about this product, so perhaps I’m the anomoly, but hey, I’m ok with that 😜 Seriously dehydrated and mature skin types should enjoy this product and benefit from it’s carefully selected ingredients. You need to weigh up the pros and cons for yourself, including the price and climate that you live in, to decide whether or not this product would be for you. As it stands, I wouldn’t repurchase this product whilst using a tretinoin treatment on a regular basis (I think I’ll be on it for a while still…).

I’d also make a note that I’m not sure who would apply this essence to a cotton pad before wiping it all over your skin. The cotton pad will soak up so much product it’s a bit of a waste (when it’s THAT expensive, you don’t want to waste a drop!💧). Using a cotton pad also isn’t the Korean thing to do lol! The bottle is made from a light plastic but it still feels solid. You could travel with it if you have lots of space in your luggage (there is a smaller size available, see below). The bottle has a stopper, which means you shake the bottle to get product out and it does a good job of not releasing too much product at once. I use about a 10 cent coin amount of product for my entire face.

The full sized 150ml Treatment Lotion will set you back $180 bucks. You can pick it up at David Jones online or in-store or in store at Mecca Cosmetica and online. Mecca also sells the smaller 100ml bottle of the Treatment Lotion for $120. If you have a La Mer counter somewhere near you, they should be able to give you a sample of the Treatment Lotion, so you can try it before investing in the full sized product. Cause it certainly is an investment!

The other (third) La Mer product that I own is the Glowing Body Oil. It’s a shimmery dry oil for your body and it’s beeeeautiful 🌟 It was limited edition (le sigh….) hence I never reviewed it on the blog. I don’t like rubbing it into other peoples faces so to speak (pardon the pun lol) and make people feel left out. That’s one of my biggest hates of social media.

Despite the Treatment Lotion maybe not being the essence of my dreams, it is a nice product and it might be ‘the one’ for you 😊 Perhaps another La Mer product out there will be better suited for me (although I don’t plan on buying anything from La Mer atm). Just because a product is SUPER expensive and luxe, doesn’t mean it’ll be the best product for your skin, so keep that in mind beauties 😉🌻🐝🦋

Would you try this fancy essence? Have you ever tried anything from La Mer? Feel free to share your thoughts with us!

Catch ya next time,

Beauty Bee~

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