The night is young and, hopefully, so will our skin be after we get up close and personal with Obagi’s nocturnal savior, the much praised Obagi-C Rx System C-Therapy Night Cream.

What’s In It

This miracle maker that’s tucked in many celebrities’ vanity desks packs a powerful punch: loaded with Vitamin E, Vitamin C and hydroquinone, it’s meant to visibly correct an uneven skin tone, fight free radicals (the persona non grata in every beauty-related conversations), promote collagen production and reverse sun damage.

If you’ve been keeping up with the skincare game, you already know that Obagi is a beauty A-lister. And, if you’ve been meddling in major skin fix territory, you’re probably well aware that a good skin treatment is exactly that — a treatment. More than that, it’s a system. It starts in the morning and it ends before calling it a day.

The System

Obagi’s no different. And this is why we have to understand their night cream in a larger context. The beauty routine Obagi promotes is made of small, often difficult steps that translate to gels, serums, lotions and, finally a therapeutical night cream that’s meant to complete the demarche.

And, while the exfoliating lotion is responsible for the panic mirror moment when you realize your face A. looks weird, B. kind of hurts, the night cream works as a final moisturizing product that acts as a reverse lifeguard, keeping your skin from going too dry from your day treatment and also improving its condition.

If you’re an Obagi newbie, read on.

We know we talked about this before, but we can’t stress enough that the Obagi Nu Derm System is a radical solution for radical problems. It’s meant to be a bit hard on the skin, but at least you know you’re getting real results.

With that in mind, it goes without saying that the night cream is crucial in the whole skin transformation process. Nighttime is when your whole body can recover and your cells are able to regenerate. And that includes your skin.

How it Feels

The night cream in the Obagi System is, therefore, particularly potent in fighting dry skin. It has a rich texture and, when used on its own, it has the ability to leave your skin soft, but not oily.

When used for a longer time, this night cream is Oscar-worthy — it’s a dark spot killer, a fine line annihilator and a discoloration champion. It works wonders with mature skin, as it makes the sun shine once more on 60 year old cheeks, giving the face a creamy, smooth look and feel.

Making the Best Out of Your Obagi Night Cream Experience

• Know your Obagi: Before you start with the treatment, visit your dermatologist. They’ve probably heard about Obagi and they probably know a lot more about your skin than you do. Figure out what your objectives are and understand how the treatment will affect your skin on the long run as well as short-term. You might want to take the Night Cream boat or you might be dying to go on the whole Obagi System jet-plain. But first, you have to know how to use them and what to expect, right?

• Keep it flowing: There ought to be a picture of this night cream in the dictionary under “thick”. Don’t fret! An easy trick to counter that low gravity effect is holding the bottle upside down. With that mundane problem out of the way, there’s nothing else to worry about. While heavy, the cream is not really greasy, and it absorbs well.

• Apply well: When you’re getting ready for bed, get 1 to 2 pea-size drops on your face and massage gently. Make sure to ask your dermatologist if you should avoid any particular areas or use it in a different manner. There might be more to moisturizer than what meets the skin.

Ok, Obagi Initiate. You’re looking good.

You now know what Obagi is all about, what your options are if you have normal to dry skin, but you still want a big skin change, and, now, how the C-Therapy Night Cream works and how you can make it work for you, in particular.

What’s really missing right now, and we know it very well, is a bit of human touch. Some good old reality checks from people just like us, women and (sometimes) men who’ve used Obagi and have become life-long believers.

We didn’t go looking for these people on Obagi’s website. That would’ve been ridiculously easy. What we did do was crusade beauty websites and online platforms, discussion forums and communities.

And this is what we found: 52 year olds with better skin, excited women who use more exclamation marks than conventionally acceptable, just because they want to express how happy they are with Obagi, women who’ve battled melasma for decades and have finally found relief and “huge fans”.

With that, the journey is complete (for now). We have one more stop to go, but now we deserve a small break. A la prochaine!