A.G.E. Interrupter Ultra

The sugar problem

As skin matures, excess sugars bond to its collagen and elastin, a process called glycation that leaves the support structure stiffer and the surface more deeply lined. This cream is one of very few designed around that specific chemistry.

The Pro-Xylane answer

Hydroxypropyl tetrahydropyrantriol, better known as Pro-Xylane, sits third on the ingredient list: a sugar-derived molecule developed over two decades of research to support the look of firmness and bounce. A wild-fruit flavonoid blend, blueberry and pomegranate with cassia and gentian, rides alongside.

The comfort build

Ectoine, a humectant borrowed from organisms that survive extreme dryness, joins panthenol and rhamnose in a cushioned, velvet-finish texture made for skin that has grown drier and more delicate with the years.

Mature skin whose chief complaints are deep lines, lost plumpness and a thinner, papery feel; menopausal and post-menopausal skin wanting a cream with an argument behind it; and anyone whose night cream needs to do more than moisturise.

Worth knowing

Lightly fragranced, the one perfumed formula in our SkinCeuticals line-up, so fragrance-averse skin should sample first. Contains hydrolysed soy protein, avoid with a soy allergy.

Morning and evening as the final step: warm a small amount between fingertips and press over face, neck and jawline after serums have settled.

The neck and jaw deserve deliberate attention here; they are where this cream's brief is usually written.

Use alongside

The closing act over C E Ferulic by day or a retinal by night, with P-Tiox earlier in the routine when expression lines share the agenda. SPF still finishes every morning.