Sunday Riley Luna review

Sunday Riley is one of those brands that I’d heard an awful lot about through the blogging community but had yet to try myself. So when I was given the opportunity to try out the brand’s latest innovation – the Luna Sleeping Oil* – I leapt at the chance.

Luna is an interesting mix between a night oil and a retinol treatment product. It combines all the lovely hydrating benefits of avocado, chia, and blackberry seed oils with the very technical sounding advanced trans-retinoic acid esther.

Retinols are one of those ingredients that people often find makes a big difference to their skin as they get to work on the appearance of wrinkles and even out your skin tone. However some retinol based products can also be quite harsh, making it a careful balancing act for your skin. Luna uses a next-generation type of retinol that is much more stable and is a lot gentler to the skin, meaning it's suitable for almost everyone. I’ve previously steered clear from a lot of retinol based products before as my skin can be quite sensitive, but since using Luna, I’ve had no problems at all, and in fact, my skin is looking better than it ever has before!

Luna is a pretty unusual blue colour, which comes from the blue pansy extract included in the formula. This completely disappears once it’s applied to your skin, so don’t panic – you won’t be left looking like the latest addition to the Smurf family.

I’ve been using around 3-4 drops every other night for the past two weeks and have been seriously impressed. The first night I used it, I woke up the next day and could actually see the difference in my skin, which is something I’ve never come across in a skincare product before (face masks aside!). Over the past few weeks, my skin looks brighter, more even and generally just more radiant. Despite having reasonably good skin to start with, I’ve still noticed a difference and that for me is a massive selling point. Even my boyfriend noticed the difference, which really says a lot.

If you have oily skin, then this will probably be enough for you as a night treatment, however if you’ve got drier or dehydrated skin I’d add an extra moisturiser over the top. I tend to add a bit of Caudalie’s Polyphenol C15 moituriser to my cheeks after Luna has sunk in, as I find I get quite dry in those areas.

Like all retinol containing products you do need to take extra precautions with SPF as it can make you more sensitive to the sun, so slap on that SPF every day – don’t just rely on the stuff in your makeup or moisturiser. It’s pointless using a powerful product like this and then ruining it all with sun related ageing, so this is a definite must!

Initially I was a little scared by the £85 price tag, but having used it I can confirm I would repurchase this in a heartbeat. And will be doing so once my bottle starts to run low. A little goes a long way, so it should last you a good few months and I really think the final results are worth the investment.

You can find Luna exclusively at Space NK, both in store and online, along with lots of other Sunday Riley products (my wish list is currently a mile long).

Have you tried Luna before? Is it something you'd be interested in trying?

*PR sample