Filorga’s new Skin-Absolute night cream promises to blitz wrinkles and pigmentation while improving your skin’s firmness and radiance while you sleep. It’s also jet freakin’ black but the pigment disappears as its rubbed into your skin. Filorga says it gets its colour from the meteorite powder it contains but I think it’s more likely from the copious amounts of charcoal powder I found sitting high up in the ingredients list. (Not a bad thing. Much like clay, charcoal’s good at drawing out impurities.)

Gimmicky blackness aside, this cream still has merit in that it contains loads of vitamin C in a form called 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic acid. This is a good thing as it’s an especially stable kind that won’t break down when exposed to air and light as per regular vitamin C. Still, the fact that it’s packaged in a jar irks me as many of the other ingredients aren’t stabilized. Thus, I’ll soon decant this dude into an airless pump bottle and, if you choose to buy this, I’d suggest you do the same.

But ja. Let’s get back to vitamin C. If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that, after retinol and AHAs, vitamin C is one of my favourite anti-aging ingredients. Hoekom? It encourages collagen and can lighten up the look of pigmentation by inhibiting the flow of excess pigment lurking deep in your skin to the surface. It’s because of the latter that brands love to attach the word ‘radiance’ to anything containing vitamin C.

As far as the meteorite extract goes, Filorga reckons it contains silicon which assists in the production of collagen. To be honest, I’m only aware of studies where silicon’s improved skin when it’s taken orally, not topically, but I’m not going to worry about digging further as the vitamin C’s already got you covered in that department.

Other notable ingredients in decent concentration include good hydrators like glycerin and hyaluronic acid, a type of collagen-encouraging kelp and Sy-nake, a Botox-like peptide that’s supposed to relax your face muscles to temporarily smooth out the look of fine lines and wrinkles. I’m still not sure how I feel about Sy-nake, but you can read my thoughts over here in another Filorga review. On the upside though, if you’re a fan, you’re getting decent bang for your buck as it’s listed in the middle of the ingredients list. By way of comparison, Nip + Fab’s Viper Venom makes use of it too, but lists it stone called last, after the preservatives.

Anyway, if you’re a Filorga fan and appreciate vitamin C-rich skin care, Skin-Absolute Night Cream is worth a look and you’ll find it in selected Edgars and Red Square stores going for R1 700. Don’t have deep pockets but still want a good dose of vitamin C? Paula’s Choice Super Antioxidant Concentrate serum (R490) is a goodie but then bear in mind it you’re skipping out on meteorite powder and Sy-nake.

Love, love

Leigh

P.S. For the record, I took these shots using my new fancy pants HTC One (M8). The picture quality is incredible and, since getting it, I haven’t really used my actual ‘camera-camera’ at all. Seriously impressive stuff.