In this blog post I would like to review Sunday Riley’s Luna Sleeping Night Oil. A while ago I decided to try some more expensive skincare to see if it was worth the hype and the money. With my dry/ dehydrated skin, I mostly suffer from texture and that’s what I definitely hope to target with my skincare products. Sadly, I also have very sensitive skin and many skincare products that help with texture such as acids, scrubs and peels, end up being far too intense for my skin and therefore I feel they don’t always get the effects the product promises as I can simply not use it at all, or not as instructed. I was hoping that spending a bit more money would get me formulas that would not only work but also be better for my sensitive skin. This was one of the products I decided to try and this was my experience.

Skincare review: Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil w/ Retinol Ester & Blue Tansy

Sunday Riley is a brand that I mainly know from influencers. This is definitely a luxury brand which I bought through Cult Beauty. This comes in two sizes: a 35 ml bottle at €95 and a smaller 15 ml bottle at €49. You do get a slightly better deal if you buy the full size, but with my skin type, I just wanted to try this out before I fully committed to see if it was worth it. This is quite possibly one of the most expensive skincare products I have ever tried. And I will just get straight to it: I will not be repurchasing this, as it sadly wasn’t worth the money for what I got out of it.

What does the Sunday Riley Luna oil have to offer?

So why did I buy this? Well not just because influencers talked about it (I never really do), but after doing a bit of research this product sounded like something I might like. This was my first product that contained a retinol. I am in my 30s so I thought I could give it a go. It promises to reduce the appearance of fine lines, sun damage, stimulate the overturn of your skin as well as reduce redness and be anti-flammatory and reduce your skin’s reaction. It is a night treatment that should be especially good for dry, dehydrated skin with the result being beautifully plump looking skin. In short, this has a lot of bold claims and it had me intrigued.

What are some of the claims & ingredients?

So this product is supposed to be used at night and applied to clean, dry skin. If you use this for four weeks it should change the appearance of lines and wrinkles and make your skin smoother and more radiant. The ingredient list reveals this is mainly an oil based on avocado, grape seed and blackberry see oil. Additionally it contains blue tansy (but not until halfway up the list) and the retinol is also listed in the top half of the list. The rest of the ingredients are mainly other oils and extracts and some colorants. This is the full ingredient list:

Persea Gratissima (Extra Virgin, Cold Pressed Avocado) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Organic, Cold Pressed Concord Grape) Seed Oil, Rubus Fruticosus (Cold Pressed Blackberry) Seed Oil, Salvia Hispanica (Cold Pressed Chia) Oil, Dimethyl Isosorbide (And) Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, Chamomila Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Oil, Tanacetum Annuum (Blue Tansy) Oil, Anthemis Nobilis (English Chamomile) Oil, Eriocephalus Punctualatus (Cape Chamomile) Oil, Citrus Aurantium Amara (Neroli) Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Blood Orange) Oil, Cananga Odorata Flower (Ylang Ylang) Oil, Vetivera Zizanoides (Vetiver) Oil, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil (And) Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, CI 61565 (Green 6), CI 60725 (Violet 2).

So the ingredient list looked promising. There doesn’t seem to be anything in it that I have had reactions to and since there are a lot of oils involved I thought my dry skin would love it. I kept it around in a dark spot for a while until this fall season, when there was less light around, I could finally start giving a full text. By now I have used up my 15 ml bottle.

What does this product do for me?

So now we know what this product is supposed to do, let’s talk about whether it actually works. Unfortunately this product does not do what it promises to do. My skin has been quite sensitive for weeks now and the more I used this, the more I felt this may be the culprit. Since the box doesn’t say how often you should use it apart from ‘apply at night’, I figured this would be intended for daily use. Not on my sensitive skin! If I used this two days in a row my skin didn’t feel great. So I quickly reverted to my usual schedule for using any kind of skincare product that promises to improve texture: 1 – 2 times a week. That worked, but I feel I therefore didn’t get out of this product what it promises to do. I definitely feel it did something to help with some texture in my skin and my skin definitely doesn’t feel dry, but the fact that my skin has become more sensitive after using this (my skin flares up red the moment I touch it) is just not great.

Why I won’t be repurchasing this product

This product has some great claims but there are a few reason why I won’t be repurchasing this. First of all, I really suspect this product of being one of the reasons why my skin is looking red more quickly these past few weeks. I used it together with some other products, and some of those ran out while I was still using this. I didn’t replace all of them as I wanted to make a point of using this up. Ever since I used this without some of those other products to back it up, the redness started to flare up and my skin started to become more sensitive.

Secondly and my main reason for not wanting to repurchase this, is the scent. This product has a terrible smell and color. The blue color needs to disappear when you apply it and it does, but I have found this turning my white pillow cases green (even if I let it sit on my skin for hours before going to bed) and the scent is very unpleasant. Don’t get me wrong I don’t want a nice smelling product as I dislike fragrance in my skincare, but this scent was so strong and it lingered for such a long time that it made me feel nauseous. That’s why I started layering something else on top to help with dissipating the scent so I could actually keep it on my skin.

My final thoughts

But that is not all. I will not be repurchasing the Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night oil for another reason and that is the cost. For what I got out of this product result wise, I feel I could get a much cheaper, easier to use product that I don’t need to layer and therefore spend even more money on. For instance, The Ordinary’s Lactic Acid or Good Molecules’ Discoloration Correcting Serum do very similar things for my skin but at but at €7.50 and €10 respectively. Plus both of those come in 30 mls bottle, rather than this only being 15 mls and both of them did not make my skin more sensitive. In fact, the Good Molecules serum was the one I layered on top when I used the Luna oil, I could use it every single day and once I ran out of this is when I noticed my skin turned more and more sensitive as the weeks progressed. In short, I feel that this face oil was not worth the money.

Would I recommend the Sunday Riley Luna oil?

I think that really depends on what you are looking for. If you have sensitive skin, I would advise you to stay away. It doesn’t do enough as you can’t use it as regularly as recommended and you can find other products that do the same for a lot less money. If however, you love a bit of luxury and you don’t mind the scent than I can see this work for quite a few people. You should realize that it is quite an investment. The product claims to show results after 4 weeks of consistent use and I feel this small bottle would only last you for that time period if you used it more regularly than me. At €50 a month x12 it is quite the yearly expense once you add it all up.

What is your experience trying more expensive skincare?