Would you spend £170 on a night cream? I asked that question on Instagram recently, and most of you said no. It made me think about the difference between enjoying beautiful skincare and deciding what a product is actually worth to you.
For my latest YouTube comparison, I put five familiar products side by side, from the £5 end of the scale to Elemis Pro-Collagen Overnight Matrix at £170. They aren’t all marketed exclusively as night creams — Nivea Creme and Weleda Skin Food are multi-purpose moisturisers — but that makes the comparison more interesting. Do we always need a specialist, expensive jar?
The five creams in my comparison
1. Nivea Creme
An instantly recognisable classic, and a useful place to begin when talking about budget skincare. It isn’t sold solely as a night cream, but it gives us a straightforward, inexpensive point of comparison.
2. Weleda Skin Food
I’ve long appreciated Weleda, and Skin Food is one of the affordable products I enjoy. It’s a rich, multi-purpose cream for dry skin rather than a conventional night cream. For me, it demonstrates why you don’t always have to spend a fortune to enjoy your skincare.
3. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream — Fragrance Free Night Cream
Olay sits between the very inexpensive classics and the premium products in this comparison. I wanted to include a fragrance-free night cream and consider how it compares with the other textures and price points.
4. Medik8 Advanced Night Restore
This is Medik8’s Advanced Night Restore, a multi-ceramide night cream. It represents the more specialist skincare end of the selection, and I compare it with both the lower-priced options and the luxury Elemis cream.
5. Elemis Pro-Collagen Overnight Matrix
I absolutely love this cream. The experience of using a product matters to me, and I enjoy luxurious skincare. But loving something and being happy to pay £170 for it at full price are two different questions. That’s why I wanted to put it beside products costing a fraction of the price.
So, is expensive skincare worth it?
My answer isn’t simply that expensive is better, or that inexpensive is always just as good. I pay attention to how a cream feels, how comfortable my skin is and whether I actually enjoy using it. Weleda is a favourite at the affordable end; Elemis is a luxury product I genuinely love. Whether the extra expense makes sense is a personal decision.
Rather than reduce the comparison to a price tag, I’ve shown the textures, application and my thoughts on each product in the full video.
Watch my £5 vs £170 night cream comparison
Watch the full comparison on my YouTube channel, Susy B Lifestyle.
Where to find the products
Shop the five products featured in my video:
Nivea Creme — shop here
Weleda Skin Food Original — shop here
Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Fragrance-Free Night Cream — shop here
Medik8 Advanced Night Restore — shop here
Elemis Pro-Collagen Overnight Matrix — shop here
Affiliate disclosure: Some shopping links I share on my website and YouTube may be affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. My opinions are my own.
My final thought
I’m perfectly happy to enjoy an expensive cream and still recommend an affordable one. What interests me is finding products that I genuinely want to use, whatever they cost. I’d love to know where you draw the line on night-cream prices — and whether you’ve found a brilliant budget favourite.
Susy
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