... or "The price of Faux French"

By Hannah Sivak, PhD
Biochemist, Skin Actives Scientific LLC

Recent articles in national newspapers have called our attention to the factors that affect the purchasing of skin care products. Many will be surprised to learn that many women, instead of being deterred by high prices, are encouraged by them. The attitude seems to be "I deserve it" and "If it is expensive, it must be better".

I can sympathize with the "I deserve it" point of view. I love pretty things and I am attracted to the gorgeous containers used by the most expensive lines, and when I am blue I feel like something pretty and expensive may help. BUT, there is a catch. Women buying the most expensive products may be buying bad products, because there is a surprising lack of correlation between the price of a product and the quality of what is inside that jar. Moreover, by buying a bad product you are actually depriving your skin of what it needs, letting it age faster than it should.

Dior, La Prairie, Chantecaille, ReVive, La Mer are among the most expensive products you can buy. The abundance of French sounding names is the reason for the second title of this rant. Let's look at their ingredient lists and see what actives they offer. I have marked in bold the actual actives (vs. the ingredients that make the bulk of the cream or are in the list for label value).

ReVive Peau Magnifique $1,500
Water, Glycerin, Methylsilanol Mannuronate, Sodium Carboxymethyl Beta-Glucan, Sodium Hyaluronate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Madecassoside (Centella asiatica), EGF, FGF (KGF), Telomerase, Panthenol, Borage Seed Oil, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Cetyl Palmitate, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Citral, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Butylene Glycol, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Hydrolyzed Corn Starch, Hydrolyzed Corn Starch Octenylsuccinate, PEG-33, PEG-8 Dimethicone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, PEG-14, Xanthan Gum, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben.

Comment: Some good stuff here, like Centella, EGF and KGF, but get it for $70 from SAS instead of paying $1,500. Telomerase would be dangerous but, fortunately it will never get near enough the nuclei of your skin cells to give you trouble.

Chantecaille, La Crème Riche Anti-age/ Biodynamic Lifting Cream $295 for 1.7 ounces

Rose floral water, c12-20 acid peg-8 ester, carprylic/capric triglyceride, glycerin, coco-carprylate/caprate, shea butter, imperata cylindrica root extract, shea butter extract, green tea extract, plankton extract, biosaccharide gum-1, caprylyl glycol, saccharide isomerate, jojoba seed oil, rose hip oil, cetyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, triethanolamine, potassium cetyl phosphate, carbomer, hydrolyzed soy protein, borage oil, spent grain wax, poet's narcissus flower wax, jasmine flower wax, bisabolol, silver wattle leaf wax, argan kernel oil, propylene glycol, disodium edta, methylparaben, ppg-25-laureth-25, carrageenan, sodium hyaluronate, rose essential oil, pollen extract, glycoproteins, magnolia leaves oil, palm oil, tocotrienols, acetyl hexapeptide-3, beta-carotene, phytosterols, butylene glycol, butylparaben, peg-8, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, tocopherol, citric acid, sorbitol, ascorbyl palmitate, illite, squalene, potassium sorbate, chlorphenesin, ascorbic acid, BHT, hydroxyethylcellulose.

Comment: probably a nice moisturizer but, what a price! Get something even better for less than $20, Canvas base cream from SAS plus argireline (acetyl hexapeptide-3).

Dior Prestige Revitalizing Essence 1 oz. $175.00

Water, cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone/vinyl dimethicone crosspolymer, glycerin, butylene glycol, caprylic/capric/succinic triglyceride, red hot poker plant nectar (great if you are a bee), PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, glucose, methylparaben, acrylates, C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, decycloxazolidinone, fragrance, disodium EDTA, hydroxyethylcellulose, tocopheryl acetate, styrene/acrylates copolymer, soapberry.

SAS version: Canvas base cream. No actives here. Maybe the word “revitalizing” is all you need to keep your skin young?
 
In conclusion:
1) there is no correlation between activity and price (as shown previously by the Consumer Reports study).
2) there is no correlation between quality of ingredients and price.
3) women will never give up, and every new magic ingredient is worth trying (the promise of eternal use is irresistible)
4) there is a factor that has nothing to do with wanting to have youthful skin: spending money makes us feel rich, even if we have to borrow money to pay for the $1,200 bottle of  La Mer cream.
 
If you have the money, go ahead BUT, unless the product is good (besides being expensive) this will be bad for you because it will be a wasted opportunity to do something useful for your skin.

In the old times, when cold cream was all there was, expensive or cheap did not matter (outside of the effect on the bank account): the skin got exactly the same stuff.

Today, there is a lot that can be done for aging skin and because of the longer life expectancy, it is a very bad idea to simply go by pricing. In this case, the skin of the person who buys Dior or La Prairie will age faster and worse than the skin of the woman who buys Olay. Or do even better and get SAS.