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Product Line Review: Hard Night, Good Morning

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2009.09.29--Hard Night Good Morning Complete Line

Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “A penny of prevention is worth an ounce of cure.”  And maybe that’s the case, but when you’ve found that you’ve stayed out too late and have the inevitable morning-after skin, well, that’s where Hard Night, Good Morning comes in.  A luxuriously priced skin care line (items are $52-$124 with the current 20% discount, and the complete set is a cool $556.50), Hard Night, Good Morning features an exotic array of antioxidants and soothing ingredients to help recover the skin, ranging from wild blueberries and grapes in the AM cleanser to Organic Açai Extract in the Detox Toner.

So is it worth the money?

To be honest, many higher-priced skin care lines are not worth the extra money.  Most large companies that are able to sell their products at drugstore-level prices also have large amounts of funding placed into research and development.  It also doesn’t cost that much money to include a lot of the scientifically proven effective ingredients into skin care, like retinol or sunscreen or antioxidants.

That having been said, many companies justify their higher prices with either patented delivery systems or exclusive ingredients.  The Hard Night, Good Morning line does the latter, justifying its prices with the inclusion of rare and exotic ingredients in its products, like Gatuline® RC, a patented lipid permeation enhancer for improving skin’s cosmetic appearance, and African Griffonia Extract, a plant extract designed to prevent hyperpigmentation (age spots).  Though neither ingredient has as much research backing as, say, niacinamide, both have been reported to improve skin’s appearance.  Furthermore, the line’s sense of luxury and selectivity does not apply just to ingredients, as it is sold exclusively online, at Stanley Korshak, the Stoneleigh Hotel, and Ritz Carlton Spas.

Best Product in the Line: The Hard Night Good Morning Facial Cocktail

2009.09.29--Hard Night Good Morning Facial Cocktail Serum

One of my favorite products in the line is the Hard Night Good Morning Facial Cocktail ($124.00 on sale, HNGM.com).  The product features a high concentration of soothing aloe vera, which has been demonstrated to have some effect in promoting healing and in treating psoriasis, though it does not prevent against the intense dry skin caused by radiation therapy.  That having been said, a review in the British Journal of General Practice states that “clinical effectiveness” of aloe vera is not at this time “sufficiently defined.”  Still, the product also has a high concentration of green tea, which has been shown to have a multitude of positive effects, ranging from prevention of UV-oxidation induced stress and inflammation to anticarcinogenic effects.  Both aloe and green tea, then, seem as though they would soothe the skin after, as the company says, “a hard night.”

The exclusive ingredients in this product include Gatuline® In-Tense, Gatuline® Expression and Osilift®.  While Gatuline® is simply a patented lipid permeation enhancer, Osilift® is a purified fraction of natural polyoses (sugars) derived from oats that regulates the tension in the skin, helping it to appear somewhat smoother almost immediately after application.  The company claims that the combination of ingredients improves the appearance of wrinkles by 51% after one use, although this data is not available to the public.  Still, the product is certainly exclusive: Although developed by another company, I have yet to see Osilift® incorporated into another skin care line.

Overall Opinions

Typically, I will not buy products for their exclusive ingredients.  However, if I were to indulge in this line, I find the Hard Night Good Morning Facial Cocktail to be the greatest investment, with its high concentration of mainstream aloe and green tea, as well as the exclusive (but promising) Osilift®.

In addition, if I were to buy the Hard Night, Good Morning cleansers, I would make sure to rub the product into the skin for at least a minute, as Dr. David Bank advises in the December 2008 issue of Health magazine, in order to make sure that the skin absorbs at least some of the beneficial ingredients.

Overall, I find the Hard Night, Good Morning to be luxurious and exclusive, and if you’re looking for a quick fix after a “hard night,” the Hard Night Good Morning Facial Cocktail (and an aspirin to reduce inflammation) may grant your skin some relief.  Product Line Rating: 6.5/10. (High concentration of proven-effective ingredients: 2/3.  New technology or unique formulation: 2/3.  Value for the money: 1.5/3.  Sunscreen: 1/1).

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