Overview

Darphin is a French company based out of Paris that offers a wide array of products for the skin, hair, hands and even the bust. In the past, Darphin has developed products to help with aging skin, including some formulas intended to help reduce wrinkles and fine lines. One of their products, called Predermine, is an intriguing blend of botanical extracts and other common anti-aging ingredients meant to moisturize the skin, reduce wrinkles and protect against free radical damage.

 Featured Ingredients

Predermine contains several ingredients, including Iris extract, which comes from a flowering plant. It is believed that Iris can help to retain moisture in the skin, although the evidence comes mostly from folklore rather than solid scientific research. In contrast, Hyaluronic Acid - which is contained in such renowned products as Dermitàge - has a more proven reputation for moisturizing the skin. Predermine also contains Aloe Vera, which is highly regarded as a healing agent. Even though studies show that Aloe Vera can produce dramatic regeneration of the skin, most of these studies have been conduced with burn victims or those with severe surgical scars. That may not make Aloe Vera the best choice for wrinkle reduction.

Predermine also contains Vitamin E and Horsetail. Vitamin E is a well-known antioxidant that can help protect the skin from free radicals, but unfortunately many skincare companies now use synthetic forms of the vitamin, which may not be as effective as natural antioxidants such as Green Tea, White Tea and Grape Seed Extract. Horsetail Extract has been used primarily to help those with varicose veins, so it is a puzzling choice for a cream such as Predermine. Perhaps the researchers behind this product felt it could help with blood circulation to the skin, but research is inconclusive on Horsetail’s ability to reduce wrinkles.

 Web Site Description

Although the web site for Darphin’s Predermine Cream seems very similar to what you might find for other products of its type, there may be some crucial items lacking from the content. In addition to a lack of sufficient research for some of its botanical ingredients, the Darphin web site seems to push hard for the consumer to use Predermine Cream along with several other products in order to see a benefit. This could be problematic and may be a ploy to get consumers to spend more money than they have to.

 Positives

- Botanical based product featuring Aloe Vera

 Negatives

- Lack of collagen boosters such as Glucosamine Complex

- Vitamin E may be outdated in comparison to Green Tea, White Tea and Grape Seed Extract

- Iris extract is inferior when compared to Hyaluronic Acid

- No free trial offered

 Conclusion

While Darphin’s intention seems to be admirable - by designing a product that can reduce wrinkles, moisturize and also help protect the skin - the Predermine Cream doesn’t really accomplish any of these tasks as well as it should. Other ingredients would have made better choices, so we would recommend looking elsewhere if one wants to reduce wrinkles and look younger.

Overview

Avotone is a relatively new company in the cosmetic field, having just come out with a series of products for wrinkles, cellulite and eye care within the past few years. Avotone’s lead effort in the wrinkle reduction market is its Wrinkle Relaxant Cream, which they claim can make you dramatically appear younger in about 10 days or less. This is quite a claim, and one that the AntiAging-Reviews.com research team has seen with other products that simply fail to deliver. We decided to look at the ingredients and science to see if Avotone could in fact have a positive effect on aging skin.

 Featured Ingredients

At first, it was difficult to determine exactly what ingredients were included in the Avotone Wrinkle Relaxant Cream, since the company is not exactly forthcoming with a full list of the components in this formula. However, after looking a bit deeper, our team found that this product consists primarily of Argireline and Avocado Oil. Argireline is an amino acid believed to be a natural alternative to Botox, since this compound seems to help relax facial muscles and thus diminish the contractions that can cause skin creases to deepen. However, the research for Argireline is not complete, and this ingredient does nothing to help the skin to produce its own natural collagen, which we believe is crucial to not only reducing wrinkles but also preventing more from forming.

Avocado oil is a natural ingredient that is sometimes used to help moisturize the skin. Derived from the avocado seed, this oil is similar to olive oil in that it does capture moisture. Unfortunately, it also contains a high amount of fat, which could potentially clog the skin. Hyaluronic Acid makes a much more effective moisturizing ingredient, with far less potential to irritate the skin.

 Web Site Description

The Avotone web site is definitely one that uses a lot of bells and whistles to sell its products. There is a definite push by the company to sign up for a free trial and automated shipping, which could unwittingly trap a lot of consumers into committing to have their credit card charged without their knowledge. Even though Avotone does include plenty of customer testimonials on the web site, it seems to be lacking in some kinds of research that we would like to see.

 Positives

- Plenty of customer testimonials

 Negatives

- Argireline does not stimulate collagen production

- Avocado oil is inferior to Hyaluronic acid

- Web site may be too focused on marketing and sales instead of research

 Conclusion

Thanks to an aggressive online marketing campaign, Avotone surely has captured a lot of attention for its products, including Wrinkle Relaxant Cream. But when it comes to analyzing the actual ingredients in the product, it was hard to procure exact information. Even after finding out the actual ingredients, the AntiAging-Reviews.com researchers were not impressed and believe other products could do a better job at reducing wrinkles and protecting the skin.

Overview

The Meaningful Beauty line of cosmetic products are largely the brainchild of famous French dermatologist Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh, who started designed products for consumers after years of helping celebrities like supermodel Cindy Crawford to deal with problem skin. Meaningful Beauty recently teamed up with Cindy Crawford, who is the lead spokesperson for the line, and Guthy-Renker, one of the most famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) infomercial companies in the United States. Meaningful Beauty does take a unique approach to facial aging by offering a unique Facial Masque that can be applied to the face and washed off after a brief wait. We decided to look further into this formula’s ingredients and judge for ourselves.

 Featured Ingredients

Meaningful Beauty’s Facial Masque consists mainly of traditional botanical extracts, which basically operate by cleansing the skin, toning it and providing protection against damaging elements. One of these is Ginkgo Biloba, which is usually used as an ingestible supplement to enhance brain function. Ginkgo Biloba does help to enhance circulation, so its inclusion in this formula could help revitalize parts of the skin that have become cut off from a good supply of oxygenated blood.

Meaningful Beauty also contains Eucalytpus Oil, which is an effective astringent that helps dry out and remove excess oil and other clogging materials. Eucalyptus is often used by aestheticians as a first step before performing a facial, since it does have a powerful cleansing effect.

The company’s facial masque also includes Cucumis Sativa (cucumber), which has a long history of use in spas as a gentle toner for the skin. We’ve all been imprinted with the image of a woman lying in a spa with two cucumber slices over her eyes. There is a reason for that image, since Cucumber does in fact help to soothe the skin.

 Web Site Description

The Web site for Meaningful Beauty actually contains quite a bit of helpful information for consumers and seems pretty straight-forward in its presentation. There is a 60-second clip about some of the products, which features instructions on how to apply the Facial Masque product. In addition, each of its products comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, which is refreshing.

 Positives

- 60 day guarantee

- Some helpful botanical cleansers in the product

 Negatives

- Does not really help to reduce wrinkles

- Contains no collagen boosters like Glucosamine Complex

- No free trial option available

 Conclusion

While these ingredients may have beneficial effects on the skin, it doesn’t seem as if they will really perform any sort of significant or lasting wrinkle reduction effect. We don’t doubt Meaningful Beauty - or Dr. Sebagh’s - reputation in the field, but this product seems like a good supplementary formula rather than one you could rely on to fight wrinkles and help protect against future wrinkle formation. We recommend this product only in conjunction with a proven wrinkle reducer.

Overview

The full name of the product actually is High Resolution Fiberlastine Intensive Recovery Anti-Wrinkle, which shows how much Lancome is invested in highlighting that this formula contains the company’s proprietary Fiberlastine ingredient complex. This compound is meant to soften wrinkles and facial creases. High Resolution is specially meant for dry skin, since the formula also contains several moisturizing compounds.

 Featured Ingredients

It is difficult to precisely determine what Fiberlastine contains, since Lancome keeps the exact formula tightly guarded. From what the AntiAging-Reviews.com team of researchers was able to determine, however, the complex seems to feature peptides (proteins) associated with the production of elastin. In addition to collagen, elastin is an important component of healthy skin since it keeps skin flexible and able to stretch in response to environmental stressors. Elastin declines with age, so if Fiberlastine can help the body produce more of it, than this ingredient does have some merit. But it is difficult to obtain more information on the research behind the ingredients in this complex, making it hard to determine if it does what is promised.

We are concerned that while Lancome High Resolution addresses an important part of skin rejuvenation by encouraging elastin production, the product does nothing to help produce collagen, the other important element in the skin. This formula could have been improved with the addition of known collagen boosters like Glucosamine Complex and Regenex.

In addition, even though Lancome High Resolution seems to contain some effective moisturizing agents, it does not seem to contain Hyaluronic Acid, which is one of the best skin hydrators available. Hyaluronic acid should be a standard ingredient in every anti-wrinkle formula, so the fact that Lancome High Resolution does not contain it concern us.

 Web Site Description

The web site for Lancome High Resolution is very similar to the sites for the company’s other products. It is very sleek and stylish, but especially since the company fails to disclose its exact ingredients, the site lacks substance. In addition, no free trial of Lancome High Resolution is offered, meaning that most consumers will have to spend hundreds of dollars on these formulas before seeing if they work.

 Positives

- Encouraging elastin production is an interesting approach to wrinkles

 Negatives

- No collagen boosters

- No Hyaluronic acid

- No free trial

 Conclusion

Although the Lancome name is synonymous with high-quality cosmetics, the company’s attempt at a wrinkle reducer does seem powerful enough. We’d like to know exactly what Fiberlastine contains and have the opportunity to view the research so that we can judge whether this formula actually increases elastin in the skin, and what effect this may have on your wrinkles.