Is some skin care worth its weight in gold?
Hi all! A while back, a luxury retailer very kindly sent me a new night cream that was about to make its debut on the marketplace to the tune of $850. Yes, you did read that price right, and no, I didn't forget a decimal point!
I checked out the ingredients on this (famous brand-name) product and decided it wasn't something I was willing to test out (I really do practice what I preach!) So... I had some friends test it out instead. :) I gave fair warning about my concerns, but no matter, they were all eager to give the cream a go and see if it lived up to its pretty fantastic claims!
Before I get to their results, here are my thoughts on the ingredients. First, I don't have anything against luxurious ingredients that can truly help improve skin. In fact, some of my personal favourites can be pricey -- a reflection of the rarity and challenge of obtaining the ingredients. Examples of these include certain plant extracts and essential oils -- and there were costly botanical extracts and oils in this skin cream.
The problem was that, in my opinion, the value of these special, active ingredients was negated by the "dead" and potentially toxic synthetic ingredients -- including several synthetic preservatives with known concerns. The product also -- unbelievably for its price point -- contained mineral oil, a very cheap synthetic emollient that actually dries out the skin in the long run! Frankly, what the price truly reflected was sky-high marketing and packaging costs.
So, how did my friends feel about the cream? It was a generous size, so I divided it amongst three women of different ages, skin types and even ethnic backgrounds. They agreed to use the cream every night on one side of their face and practice their usual skin care on the other, without revealing to anyone which side was the "expensive" one. (And that's about as far as my "science experiments" go!) For each person, the cream lasted about two months, which was ideal, as the company said full results would visibly show in that time. Here are the anecdotal results.
L. - Throughout her test period, L. asked friends and family to see if they could detect any difference between each side of her face -- none could. Just as she was nearing completion, L. saw her dermatologist. Her derm, intrigued by the experiment, tried to guess which side of her face she was using the cream on -- and couldn't. The office esthetician was brought in; she examined L.'s skin carefully under bright lights, and admitted she couldn't see a significant difference, but thought there was perhaps a marginal improvement on the test-cream side. Both the dermatologist and esthetician advised her that this possible improvement didn't warrant the price of the product -- and then, not surprisingly, tried to sell her a cream for $100 they said would do at least as good or better a job. L. declined -- I think she was through with "miracle-creams"! ;)
V. - V. is a skin-care aficionado, and kept close watch for changes, but couldn't detect any herself. Towards the end of her experiment, five women, including myself, checked out V.'s face to guess which side she had been using the cream on. We looked carefully under different lights, and all of us unanimously chose the same side of her face. Ironically, we didn't choose the test-cream side -- we all thought the other side looked plumper and smoother!
S. - I didn't get a chance to check out S.'s face personally, as she was out of country. However, she diligently reported back to me every week with the same, boring results: "no change, no change". In fact, she told me she actually preferred her much less expensive product in terms of feel and effectiveness.
So, the point of this story isn't that pricey skin care doesn't work. But that you want to choose skin care that contains potent, active, and "alive" ingredients, without potential toxins and irritants that can negate their benefits -- like synthetic emollients, preservatives, fragrances, colour, and more. (And you definitely don't want to pay for a company's advertising costs!) There are a lot of choices out there for good, natural skin care, some at very reasonable price points. :) Have a beautiful week, everyone!
As I had said earlier I know it can be lengthy but can you give a foundation lesson/a post on your experiments and findings with potent and healthy/natural skin care lines and ingredients?
As you do know, conventional products are the dominant choice for even women who take extra care of their skin and clearly many think some products like La Mer are worth the price; since they pay happily.
What i find very frustrating is this and the fact that there are not many major (or at all) who offer the same quality and production value along with the values you follow.
Posted by: A | September 13, 2010 at 06:15 PM
very interesting, you don't really get what you pay for!
Posted by: Debbie Rand | February 12, 2011 at 10:46 PM