Olay Regenerist Filling + Sealing Wrinkle Treatment

I’m on the double black diamond slope to 50, so any product that says it’ll make me look younger is a red flag to a bull. Ole! My vanity drawer is loaded with an assortment of creams touting variations on the age-reducing-defying-rewinding theme. What I didn’t have in this arsenal until last week was a filler, but I’ve got one now. Olay!

Olay Regenerist Filling + Sealing Wrinkle Treatment (~$20) professes to offer a “dual action process”: The fill process “penetrates into the wrinkle surface to immediately reduce the appearance of wrinkle depth and length,” and the seal process promises to keep doing so “all day.” I couldn’t wait to wave that wand and watch the magic happen!

Before I got to my car, I had devised a plan to test the product for Momicillin. My plan was to have each family member look at my fine facial lines before and after application of the Olay filler. I figured with two 11-year-old boys who can’t mask their opinions, a teen daughter who doesn’t even try, and a husband who prides himself on being brutally honest, I had on hand a panel of hard-core critics bold enough to tell me whether the stuff works.

Given the rather extensive network of lines on my face, I also decided to restrict the test area. I chose the lines around my mouth 1) because Olay filler explicitly suggests using the cream “around the eyes, mouth and on the forehead” and 2) because the lines around my eyes and on my forehead aren’t “fine.”

I tested each family member separately, starting with me. I put the stuff on and ta-da, it worked: the lines above my lip were less noticeable. Clyde, BigG and Jay also believed the product made the lines less visible.

Tanner, however, was unconvinced. “Uh, wait,” he said. “Okay on this side, it looks like it might be taking effect, but on this side….” The “taking-effect” side was my left and since light was spilling in from my right, I turned to even out the lighting. Tanner winced. “Oh. No. It didn’t work. Sorry.”

Four out of five of my panel of experts agreed that Olay’s filler instantly reduced the appearance of my fine lines. BUT later that same day, all of us agreed that the product did not work all day, as Olay claims. In defense of the product, I have to admit that I spent the day doing all the things that created those lines in the first place, like talking, eating and drinking. If I’d just stopped that nonsense and stood around looking serene with a placid half smile on my face, I could have left that cream to work its magic all the live-long day.

The bottom line is that this filler works instantly but only temporarily. After application, you’ll look great until the fairy-godmother magic wears off and then BAM! You’re a wrinkly old pumpkin again. Alas.