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Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser review

Ever wondered who you have to blame for those pesky wrinkles? It’s all the Exposome’s fault. Huh? Exposome is a fancy name for environmental factors. You know, pollution, sun exposure, stress… the usual culprits. You fight it with antioxidants. Sunscreen. Probiotics, even. At least, that’s Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser does it.

The brand claims this revolutionary moisturiser is formulated with antioxidant Baïcalin, probiotic-derived Bifidus, Vichy Mineralizing Thermal Water, and SPF 25 to give your skin everything it needs to stay safe from its environmental enemies and slow down the aging process. Me? I’m always sceptical. I take everything a brand says with a grain of salt, until I put it to the test. So does it live up to its promises? Here’s everything you need to know about it:

Key Ingredients In Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser: What Makes It Work?

UV FILTERS TO PROTECT SKIN FROM UV HARM

This moisturiser uses a combination of chemical UV filters to keep you safe from the sun without that ugly white cast:

  • Homosalate: A weak UVB filter. If it were used alone, the sunscreen would be useless!
  • Octocrylene: An UV filter that protects from ALL UVB but only short UVA rays. It also makes sunscreens water-resistant and boosts the effectiveness of other UV filters (like avobenzone).
  • Ethylhexyl Salicylate: A.k.a. Octyl Salicylate, an UVB filter with a slightly oily consistency and a mild floral scent.
  • Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane: A.k.a. avobenzone, an UVA filter that’s very unstable (i.e. stops working quickly when exposed to light) on its own. It’s absorbed by the body (and expelled quickly through urine), so it’s not recommended during pregnancy.

WARNING! You need to apply 1/3 of a tablespoon to the face to the get SPF 25. If you ain’t gonna do it, stick to sunscreen.

Related: Do Moisturisers With SPF Provide Adequate Sun Protection?

BIFIDA FERMENT LYSATE TO SOOTHE IRRITATIONS

Probiotics are all the rage now. This moisturiser has its own share of good bacteria, too. Bifida Ferment Lysate, to be exact. It’s a multitasker that:

You’ve guessed it, it’s especially beneficial for sensitive and easily irritated skin.

Related: The Truth About Probiotics In Skincare: Do They Really Work?

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ANTIOXIDANTS TO FIGHT WRINKLES

Think of antioxidants as the skin’s police. These little molecules patrol the body looking for free radicals, the rascals that give you wrinkles and dark spots. Dark spots, pollutants, and anything that causes inflammation gives you free radicals. The more antioxidants your skin has, the more free radicals they can neutralise before they wreak their damage. Unfortunately, this cream only has sprinkles of baicalin and vitamins C and E. Not enough to get the job done. 🙁

Related: How Do Antioxidants In Skincare Work?

ALCOHOL DENAT TO ENHANCE PENETRATION

Alcohol Denat is one of the most misunderstood ingredients in skincare. Word on the street is that it’s terribly drying and irritating. To an extent, that’s true. The reason you feel so bad after you gulp down one too many cocktails is that alcohol is drying out every cell in your body, giving you a bad case of dehydration.

Does the same thing apply to skin when you slather alcohol on it? It depends. If alcohol’s all you’re slathering on, then yes, it will dry out your skin. But if you use alcohol together with moisturizing ingredients, they’ll counteract its drying effects. Science confirms this. Recent studies show that alcohol isn’t as drying as we once thought.

Having said this, everyone’s skin is different. If your skin is particularly sensitive to alcohol denat and doesn’t tolerate it well, this cream isn’t for you. But what’s alcohol doing here, anyway? Alcohol thins the texture of skincare products and enhance the penetration of active ingredients. It’s the cheapest way to do the job.

Related: What Does Alcohol-Free In Skincare Really Mean?

The Rest Of The Formula & Ingredients

NOTE: The colours indicate the effectiveness of an ingredient. It is ILLEGAL to put toxic and harmful ingredients in skincare products.

  • Green: It’s effective, proven to work, and helps the product do the best possible job for your skin.
  • Yellow: There’s not much proof it works (at least, yet).
  • Red: What is this doing here?!
  • Aqua / Water: The main solvent, it helps other ingredients dissolve in the formula.
  • Glycerin: A common humectant that draws water from the air into your skin, increasing its moisture level, so it stays soft and supple for longer.
  • Silica: A mineral that absorbs excess oil from your skin and keeps it matte all day long.
  • Dimethicone: A silicone that gives products a silky texture and helps them spread onto your skin easily. It also fills in fine lines and wrinkles, so they look smaller to the naked eye. It has a particular molecular structure, made up of big molecules with wide gaps in between. This means it still allows skin to perspire and doesn’t clog pores.
  • Isopropyl Lauroyl Sarcosinate: An emollient that makes skin softer and smoother. It also helps UV filters dissolve in the formula.
  • Styrene/acrylates Copolymer: It gives colour to cosmetics.
  • Peg-100 Stearate: It makes skin softer and smoother. It also prevents the oily and watery parts of a formula from separating into a gooey mess.
  • Glyceryl Stearate: An emulsifier that helps oily and watery ingredients blend seamlessly, so the formula doesn’t separate into layers. It also makes skin softer and smoother.
  • Synthetic Wax: A binding agent that improves the texture of skincare products.
  • Peg-8 Laurate: Another emulsifier that helps oily and watery ingredients blend seamlessly, so the formula doesn’t separate into layers.
  • Ci 14700 / Red 4: A colorant that gives a reddish tint to cosmetics.
  • Stearic Acid: Another emollient and emulsifier. It makes skin softer while preventing the formula from separating into a water-based and an oil-based layer.
  • Dicaprylyl Carbonate: An emollient that makes skin softer. It also helps skincare ingredients better penetrate skin.
  • Stearyl Alcohol: A fatty alcohol that makes skin softer and smoother.
  • Dimethicone/vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer: A silicone powder that gives the texture a silky feel. It also helps absorb excess oil.
  • Triethanolamine: It helps to adjust the pH of a skincare product.
  • Myristic Acid: An opacifying agent.
  • Myristyl Alcohol: It makes skin softer and thickens the texture of skincare products.
  • Sodium Benzoate: A preservative that inhibits the growth of bacteria in your skincare products.
  • Palmitic Acid: A fatty acid with emollient properties that make skin softer and smoother.
  • Phenoxyethanol: A common preservative that kills any bacteria that may grow in your skincare products, thus keeping them safer for longer.
  • Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate: It thickens the texture of skincare products.
  • Disodium Edta: A chelating agent. In other words, it attaches to the metal ions in the water and neutralises them, so they can’t spoil the formula.
  • Capryloyl Salicylic Acid: It’s an exfoliant derived from salicylic acid. Not sure what it does here, though. There’s not enough of it to exfoliate skin – and that’s the only reason it gets a red rating.
  • Caprylyl Glycol: It makes skin softer and has mild preservative properties.
  • Xanthan Gum: It thickens the texture of skincare products.
  • Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract / Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract: A plant extract with antioxidants and soothing properties for your skin.
  • T-butyl Alcohol: A solvent that helps dissolve other ingredients in the formula.
  • Cetyl Alcohol: A fatty alcohol that makes skin softer and smoother.
  • Parfum / Fragrance: It makes the product smell good and pleasant to use. But it’s a common allergen.

Texture

This moisturiser has a lightweight texture that sinks into the skin quickly without leaving a greasy residue behind. 

Fragrance

The moisturiser has a clean and subtle scent. It’s quite pleasant, but I still wish it weren’t there. Fragrance is the most irritating ingredient in skincare. If something irritates sensitive skin, this is usually the first suspects. So why add it?

How To Use It

Like all moisturisers with sunscreen, use it in the AM, in between serum and sunscreen (unless you apply enough to be able to use it as sunscreen). You could use it in the evening as well, but not much point of using SPF when the sun’s not around.

Packaging

This moisturiser comes in a white-to-green gradient-coloured bottle with a pump applicator. It looks pretty and is practical. It pumps up the right amount of product you need, so that none gets wasted.

Performance & Personal Opinion

Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser gives combo and oily skin all the moisture it needs to stay soft and hydrated all day. (If you have dry skin, you’ll be better off with the Cream Moisturizer. From what I hear, it has a richer texture).

I can’t say that I’ve seen any dramatic results since I’ve started using it a few weeks ago. It just does all the usual things a good moisturizer should do. You know, making your skin look plumper. Reducing the look (not the size) of fine lines and wrinkles. Keeping your skin soft and hydrated for hours. It even doubles up as a good base for makeup.

But, you can’t use it alone. You need a separate antioxidant serum to up your antiaging game against the Exposome. I’m cool with that. I use a separate one anyway (the more antioxidants, the better, remember?).

vichy slow age fluid moisturizer

How Does Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser Compare To Other Vichy Anti-Aging Moisturisers?

Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser isn’t the only anti-aging moisturiser the brand makes. There are a few more to choose from. So, how do you know which one is right for you? This quick guide will help you make the right choice for your skin:

  • Vichy Idéalia Energising Day Cream for Dry Skin (£30.00): A basic moisturising cream that makes skin softer and smoother, plumps up fine lines so they look smaller, and gives skin a dewy glow. Suitable for dry skin. Available at Sephora.
  • Vichy Idéalia Energising Day Cream for Normal to Combination Skin (£30.00): A lightweight, soothing formula for combination and oily skin. It makes skin softer and smoother without adding more oil to it. Available at Sephora.
  • Vichy Liftactiv Hyaluronic Acid Anti-Wrinkle Firming Day Moisturiser for Dry Skin ($34.95): An oil-based formula that deeply hydrates dry skin. But it can’t firm skin (no skincare product can do that). Available at Boots.
  • Vichy Liftactiv Specialist Collagen Anti-ageing Day Cream (£38.95): A moisturising formula that feels velvety smooth to the touch. It has Vitamin C, but not the real deal. It uses a derivative that’s not as effective as the pure form of Vitamin C – and there’s not much of it either! Available at Boots.
  • Vichy Liftactiv Supreme Day Cream for Normal to Combination Skin (£34.95): A hydrating cream that uses sugar-based ingredients to attract and bind water to the skin and silicones to fill in fine lines and wrinkles, so they can look smaller. But it doesn’t have anti-aging properties. Available at Boots.
  • Vichy Liftactiv Supreme Day Cream SPF30 (£33.95): This is one of my fave Vichy moisturisers, simply because it contains niacinamide, a multi-tasker that smoothes out wrinkles, brightens the complexion, treats acne and soothe skin. Whatever your skin is dealing with, niacinamide is always a good idea. Available at Boots.
  • Vichy Neovadiol Phytosculpt Neck and Face Contour Cream ($36.95): A moisturising cream with hyaluronic acid to infuse moisture into your skin and natural oils to lock it in, keeping your face soft and smooth all day. But it can’t contour skin, no topical product can do that. Available at Boots.

What I Like About Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser

  • Lightweight, fast-absorbing texture
  • Very moisturising, makes skin softer and smoother
  • Plumps up skin, so fine lines and wrinkles look smaller

What I DON’T Like About Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser

  • Contains fragrance, which can irritate sensitive skin
  • Not enough antioxidants to protect from environmental aggressors and slow down aging

Who Should Use This?

This moisturiser is most suitable for combination skin or normal to oily skin.

Does Vichy Slow Age Fluid Moisturiser Live Up To Its Claims?

CLAIM TRUE?
Slow Âge is our most powerful probiotic skincare range with SPF protection clinically proven to slow down the appearance of ageing signs. True. Anything with SPF, if applied generously, can slow down the appearance of aging signs.
Helps to prevent and correct the damage caused by environmental exposure. True, but only if you apply enough.
Fine lines appear reduced. True. Anything that moisturises skin makes fine lines look smaller.
Complexion looks fresh, even and more radiant. True.
Skin feels firmer and hydrated. Note how they didn’t say that skin is firmer, but only that it feels firmer. True.

Price & Availability

£30.00 at Escentual, Feel Unique, and Look Fantastic

The Verdict: Should You Buy It?

If you’re looking for a moisturiser with SPF for combination skin, this is a good option to consider. Just don’t expect it to do more than hydrate your skin.

[penci_review]

Dupes & Alternatives

I don’t know of any dupes for this product.

Ingredients

Aqua / Water – Homosalate – Octocrylene – Glycerin – Ethylhexyl Salicylate – Bifida Ferment Lysate – Silica – Alcohol Denat. – Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane – Dimethicone – Isopropyl Lauroyl Sarcosinate – Styrene/acrylates Copolymer – Peg-100 Stearate – Glyceryl Stearate – Tocopherol – Synthetic Wax – Peg-8 Laurate – Ci 14700 / Red 4 – Stearic Acid – Dicaprylyl Carbonate – Stearyl Alcohol – Dimethicone/vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer – Triethanolamine – Myristic Acid – Myristyl Alcohol – Sodium Benzoate – Palmitic Acid – Phenoxyethanol – Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate – Ascorbyl Glucoside – Disodium Edta – Capryloyl Salicylic Acid – Caprylyl Glycol – Xanthan Gum – Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract / Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract – T-butyl Alcohol – Cetyl Alcohol – Parfum / Fragrance

About Gio

Hi, I'm Gio. I'm a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is skin coach and writer on a mission to help you achieve your best skin day ever - every day. I bust skincare myths and debunk marketing jargon to help you figure out what's worth the splurge and what's best left on the shelf - using science, not hype. I also offer skincare consultations to help you create the best skincare routine for your unique needs.