Beauty Product Review: L'Oreal Skin Genesis Daily Moisturizer Oil-Free Lotion and L'Oreal Skin Genesis Serum Concentrate.
Did you know that your hands age faster than your face? The skin on the backs of the hands are much thinner than the skin on your face. When even a tiny amount of collagen begins to break down, it can leave the skin on your hands wrinkly, crinkly, crepelike, with bulging veins, which also grow larger over time!
Since I was treating my face with Hyalis, for this review, I decided to test the skin on my hands.
For as long as I can remember, I have had wrinkly, crinkly, crepelike skin and veins that bulge so much that the back of my hands look like a 3D road map of the United States. This genetically inherited curse flys in the face -- or skin of my real age.
genesis: beginning; the coming into being of something; the origin.
To cut to the chase, Skin Genesis was a new beginning for my hands. After weeks of applying both products two times a day to my hands, I didn't see a substantial difference in the bulging veins, but I did see a significant difference in the level of softness.
I annoyingly asked friends and family to participate in my Soft Hand Analysis Test. Amazingly, my hands were significantly softer than their hands! Seriously. It was a Miracle on Hand Street.
But this is where the miracle ends.
Unfortunately, my baby boomer hands didn't morph into hands of a hand model (channeling George Costanza on Seinfeld). In my humble opinion, only two options exist to mitigate the bulging veins: (1) Like George Costanza, wear oven mitts; (2) Plump the hands with Juverderm, and I'm not going there.
Okay, I could easily fall hard for the tempting title "ALLURE Best of Beauty Beauty Breakthrough in October 2007" and the L'Oreal verbiage that promotes their product --
Moisturizer strengthens skin, leaving it smoother, healthier and more even. The exclusive formula includes a SPF 15 sunscreen to help protect skin against damaging UVA/UVB sun exposure.The first step to stronger, tighter, younger-looking skin. This unique, crystal clear highly concentrated treatment deeply penetrates skin’s surface to even skin tone and immediately tighten. Skin Strengthening Benefits builds strength deep within skin’s surface. Reinforces skin’s matrix to add fullness, improve elasticity, and renew skin’s evenness from within. Strengthens between skin’s layers. Helps promote healthy collagen production to fortify skin's structure and support. Smooths the surface layer. Boosts cellular renewal to help erase fine lines, and instantly hydrates for more even, light-reflective skin.
-- but I have fallen hard for other seducing verbiage and have suffered a broken heart.
I'm a born-again sceptic.
Brains on Chemistry: The products contain the following ingredients:
Active Ingredients - Ensulizole 1.8%, octinoxate 7.5% Inactive Ingredients - water, glycerin, alcohol denat., cyclohexasiloxane, dimethicone, silica, peg-20 methyl glucose sesquistearate, caprylic/capric triglyceride, polymethyl methacrylate, cyclopentasiloxane, ammonium polyacryloyldimethyl taurate, triethanolamine, hydroxyethylpiperazine ethane sulfonic acid, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), hdi/trimethylol hexyllactone crosspolymer, dimethiconol, caprylyl glycol, titanium dioxide, mica, hydroxypropyl tetrahydropyrantriol, divinyldimethicone/dimethicone copolymer, tocopherol, C12-13 pareth-23, c12-13 pareth-3, silica dimethyl silyate, algae extract, sodium hyaluronate, phenoxyethanol.
What does that mean to you as as a consumer?
Pros: Contains sunscreen - titanium dioxide.
Cons: In an earlier post, 8 Ways to Deal with Toxic Chemicals in Beauty Products, one of the suggestions was to consult Skin Deep and the Environmental Working Group. TRIETHANOLAMINE, according to the site, has the worst score in the ingredient analysis. The group also suggests triethanolamine is linked to cancer, allergies/immunotoxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive).
According to blogger extraordinaire/dermatology student Future Derm, the research found in L’Oréal Skin Genesis is truly novel.
It stimulates the skin to produce more glycoaminoglycans (GAGs), polysaccharide chains composed of repeating disaccharide units linked to a core protein in the dermis. The major purpose of GAGs is to defend against water loss, as they bind large quantities of water, up to 1000 times their volume. For this reason, GAGs are also known as “natural moisturizing factors,” or NMFs. Although topical application of hyaluronic acid to the skin has been shown to moisturize the skin effectively, stimulating aged skin to mimic younger skin with the production of GAGs is a new advancement, as Dr. Debra Jaliman states in the October 2007 Allure magazine: “The research is amazing. It proves that these products produce long-term results by boosting the skin’s production of GAG, which are crucial in fighting aging.” A
full review of this product is available from October 04, 2007 here.
Brains on Green: L'Oreal's patented Pro - Xylane™, a superior naturally - derived molecule so small it can penetrate skin's surface layers, is extracted from the beech wood plant, an environmentally friendly process known as Green Chemistry.
Brains on Beauty: Determinants used in analyzing if L'Oreal Skin Genesis products are efficacious in the following claims as indicated by L'Oreal:
- Hydrates skin
- Promotes collagen production
- Adds fullness
It's my belief that Skin Genesis will hydrate skin, produce collagen and add fullness as a result of the hyuralonic acid, but it will not reverse the signs of aging. As per the Softness Test, it will soften the effects of the skin, which will make your skin look younger. It's more of an anti-aging product than a reverse-aging product.
Start young. Use often.
Purchase at your local drugstore or online at Drugstore.com ($19.99 and $25.99)
Reviewed by Beckie for Total Beauty.
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