Kérastase Night Serum NZ: 8H Magic Night Serum or Cicanuit?

Updated October 2026. Prices are our live online prices.

Night serums are the product I get asked about most at the backwash right now, usually by someone whose hair feels like straw by Thursday. The appeal is obvious. You put it on, you go to sleep, and the eight hours your hair would have spent doing nothing go into treatment instead. Nothing to rinse out in the morning, nothing to fit into a routine that's already too long.

Kérastase makes two of them. They look similar and cost the same, but they're for different hair, and picking the wrong one is the most common mistake we see.

Kérastase night serums in NZ: prices and who they're for

What does the 8H Magic Night Serum actually do?

It's a leave-in nourishing treatment from the Nutritive range, the Kérastase line for dry hair. Like the rest of Nutritive it's built on niacinamide, with plant-based proteins. You put it on dry hair at night and it soaks in while you sleep. The texture is a light, silky gel-cream. It goes on wet-looking for about a minute and then disappears.

What you notice in the morning: lengths that feel softer, a brush that goes through without catching, and ends that look less frayed. Frizz is calmer, too, which is a big deal for anyone fighting Central Otago's dry air, a fire in winter and a heat pump the rest of the year.

It won't repair broken bonds. If your hair is snapping rather than just dry, that's a damage problem and you want Kérastase Première or a bond builder. Dry and damaged look alike, and they need different products.

8H Magic Night Serum or Cicanuit?

• Your hair is natural, coloured darker, or a soft brunette, and it's dry: 8H Magic Night Serum.
• You're blonde from bleach, foils or balayage: Blond Absolu Cicanuit. It's made with hyaluronic acid and edelweiss for lightened hair, which goes rough and stretchy in a different way from hair that's simply dry. Use it alongside your purple shampoo, not instead of it.
• Grey or silver hair that feels coarse: 8H Magic. It softens the wiry texture without adding a tone.

Don't buy both. Pick by your hair, not the bottle.

How to use a Kérastase night serum

1. Start with dry or nearly dry hair. Towel-dried works too, but on soaking wet hair it just slides off.
2. Pump it into your palms: 2 pumps for fine or shoulder-length hair, 3 to 4 for long or thick hair. Rub your hands together.
3. Work it through the mid-lengths and ends. Keep it off your roots and scalp, or you'll wake up with flat, greasy-looking roots.
4. Comb or finger-comb it through, then sleep. A loose plait or low scrunchie stops you rolling on the ends all night.
5. In the morning, leave it in. Style as normal. If your hair looks a touch heavy, you've used too much; drop a pump next time.

Two or three nights a week is enough for most hair. Very dry, thick or curly hair can have it every night.

If you want to try it before committing, the 30ml travel size is $34.95. That's enough for a few weeks of nights, which is long enough to tell. The Nutritive Travel Set ($62.95) also has a 30ml night serum in it, plus Bain Satin Riche, Lait Vital and Nectar Thermique, so it doubles as a full routine for a trip.

Build a night routine around it

The night serum works best as the last step of a routine that's already right for your hair:

• Dry hair: Bain Satin (or Satin Riche if your hair is thick), Masquintense once a week, 8H Magic on the nights in between.
• Hair fall as well as dryness: apply the Genesis serum to your scalp before bed, then the 8H Magic on your lengths. One goes on the scalp and one on the ends, so they don't fight.
• Split ends: the 8H Magic at night and the Nutri-Supplement Split Ends Serum on dry ends in the morning. It's still not a substitute for a trim.

Is it worth it?

At $90.72 for 90ml it isn't cheap, and I won't pretend otherwise. The case for it is that you use a couple of pumps at a time and it replaces a leave-in you'd otherwise put on in the morning. If you're spending ten minutes with a straightener trying to make dry ends look smooth, it'll earn its keep within the first bottle. If your hair is already in decent shape, a good conditioner and a weekly mask are probably all you need.

Kérastase night serum questions

Do you rinse out Kérastase 8H Magic Night Serum in the morning?

No. It's a leave-in. Apply it to dry lengths before bed and style as normal in the morning. If your hair looks heavy, you used too much, so drop a pump next time.

Will a night serum stain my pillowcase?

Kérastase made both 8H Magic Night Serum and Cicanuit to absorb before you sleep, so they shouldn't transfer to bedding. Give it a minute to sink in before your head hits the pillow, and keep it off the roots.

Can I use 8H Magic Night Serum on wet hair?

It works best on dry or towel-dried hair. On soaking wet hair most of it rinses straight off the surface.

Which Kérastase night serum is best for blonde hair?

Blond Absolu Cicanuit. It's made for bleached, highlighted and balayage hair. 8H Magic Night Serum is for dry hair that hasn't been lightened.

How often should I use a night serum?

Two or three nights a week suits most hair. Very dry, thick or curly hair can use it every night.

Is Kérastase 8H Magic Night Serum good for fine hair?

Yes, if you keep it to two pumps on the mid-lengths and ends only. Too much, or any on the roots, will flatten fine hair.

Where can I buy Kérastase night serum in NZ?

From authorised Kérastase salons. UKIYO buys direct from L'Oréal New Zealand and ships nationwide from Wānaka, with free shipping over $75.

Every bottle we sell is bought direct from L'Oréal New Zealand and shipped from our salon on Helwick Street in Wānaka. Free NZ shipping over $75.