Recently, I was home on a free afternoon. I could either work on pulling weeds first, or do laundry and watch T.V. I decided to do the latter because who really gets up in the morning and say ” Oh boy! I get to pull weeds today!” While channel surfing I landed on one of the T.V shopping channels that had a popular skin care/cosmetic line doing a product demonstration. The program was on for about a half an hour and it said that it had awesome breakthroughs for aging skin. I have to admit that I was very skeptical about this, but like people who stare on the freeway at the remaining wreckage of a car accident I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. The person went on to say that people that are 30 needed to start the aging skin routine so that they can ward off wrinkles/discoloration/sagging for as long as possible. Good Grief! I am 32! Does this mean that I have lost out on two whole years of possible anti-aging? Will I look 2 years older than someone who uses it right on their 30th birthday? And I thought all I had to do was use sunscreen, avoid baking in the sun(which is not hard in Seattle) and use antioxidants along with the other things Paula recommends (which I know is all I really need but I was getting sucked into this presentation).

The person who represented this line continued to stress the importance of using each product in the routine and she said that she used them on a daily basis. I can understand why so many people are so hooked on this and proceed to purchase the kits that are on this program. The representative of this company had flawless beautiful skin, looked like a supermodel and talked about how all of her clients/friends in Hollywood swear by these products when they can afford much much more. They think ” If I use her products, I will have skin that looks like hers, marry a rich man, move to a nice neighborhood, and have beautiful friends that take my skincare/makeup advice” (well, maybe I exaggerated a bit.)I kept count of all of the products that she said that she personally used and it ended up being close to 25 different items just in skin care on a daily basis. I don’t know who has time for this! I would have to quit my job to take care of my skin if I was to do all the steps she does, and this is not something that my disability insurance covers!

They went on to show the “dramatic before and afters.” Honestly, the way the representative/esthetician/makeup artist, applies product to the person’s face rivals a boxer in the ring. She would be a worthy opponent for Oscar De La Hoya. Ever notice how they cut away during the time that we are waiting to see the dramatic “after?” Well, trust me, they are applying a lot more than just more of the product that they are hocking. They are applying the equivalent to exterior house paint to cover the bumps and bruises that the poor model endures while these people rush to apply products. This is so that they can show that even a busy person has time for 25 steps in the morning.

The buzzer of my dryer startled me back in to reality. Good thing that my load of laundry had finished as I had all I could take of horse thievery that I was watching. Now, if only the T.V shopping networks just had something that would pull weeds for me?

I don’t often get press releases. Most companies, actually 99% of all cosmetic companies, don’t want me to know they are launching a new product because they don’t want to risk a negative review (who does?) Given that most every skin-care product on the market can’t live up to a fraction of the claims on the label, why risk close scrutiny when the scrutinizer isn’t tied to advertising dollars? If you think about it, even the cosmetic companies don’t believe their own claims or a company like Lauder wouldn’t be selling over 300 antiwrinkle products from the numerous lines they own from Clinique to La Mer. If one product could live up to the claims on the label, what is the need for all the other products sold at the same counter or the new ones they will be launching next month or the month after with the same exaggerated claims? But I digress.

When I do get a press release I automatically assume the company really doesn’t know what I do (which is often the case and then once they find out we never hear from them again). That might be the case for this company who sent me the following press release:

“I thought you might be interested in this new underwater cellulite treatment: Regardless of weight, diet and exercise routine, 90-95% of women will be struggling with cellulite this bathing suit season and all year round. Cellulite Reduction Water Therapy, a new non-invasive treatment offered at The Medical Spa at Nova in Ashburn, Va., uses warm water under pressure to break down fatty deposits and increase blood flow, effectively reducing cellulite. This 60-minute treatment is a targeted underwater massage performed in a hydrotherapy tub. The result is the breaking up of fibrotic connective tissue. The underwater massage also assists and enhances the body’s microcirculation and lymphatic drainage system by disposing excess metabolic water fluid. Because the massage is gentle, it is suitable for fragile or brittle skin or skin with vascular problems.

First and foremost their numbers are meaningless, 90% to 95% of women? Where did they get that number from? The actual statistic is that 85% of women have cellulite but not almost every woman born (isn’t 95% of women close to everybody?) worries about cellulite, but that’s a minor point. Second, there is no research showing this method of massage or any massage method is effective for dealing with cellulite. If you could get rid of cellulite with any cosmetic method who would have cellulite? No one, right? But that is clearly not the case, at least based on the number of letters I receive from women battling cellulite.

The other point is that fat has nothing to do with cellulite, though the idea of breaking down fat with massage is nice, if that was all it took to lose weight who would be overweight? It is important to realize that normal weight women, thin women, and extremely thin women can all have cellulite, ergo the statistic that a vast majority of women have cellulite. Blood flow doesn’t affect fat or the appearance of cellulite either; again there isn’t a shred of research supporting this nonsense. What is most ludicrous is the notion that fibrotic connective tissue is the problem. Fibrotic tissue or Fibrosis is the formation of scar-like, hardened formations in skin tissue. There is no research indicating that the healthy skin on 85% of women’s thighs is fibrotic.

Given the almost universal complaint  of cellulite from women of all weight and sizes, a hormonal issue is believed to be the cause of this condition. Since women are genetically predisposed to have babies, as a result their skin is structured to expand to accommodate a growing fetus. The skin’s laxity doesn’t keep fat in place allowing it to poke through weak areas of connective tissues fascia and collagen.

Once again, someone is ready, willing, and able to sell women some kind of “snake oil” promising to rid them of their beauty woes, when all they can deliver is a way to throw money down the drain. Well, that and the disappointment that comes when the consumer realizes her cellulite is still there!  

As you can imagine, Paula and I do a lot of reading about the goings-on in the cosmetics industry. Not a lot of what occurs genuinely surprises us, but sometimes an article comes along that just makes us shake our heads and let out a “they’ve-got-to-be-kidding” chuckle. Here’s the latest antic that reminded us that there is no end in sight to how much cosmetic companies think consumers are willing to pay for skin-care products with a premium positioning (meaning really, really expensive products!):

Shiseido is aiming to become the top Asian cosmetic company in the next three years. Their sales by 2011 are expected to top $8 billion, with almost half of that revenue coming from outside the United States market (Shiseido has more clout overseas, though there is very little about their skin-care that’s worth the hype or money). One of the ways in which the company decided to streamline their product range is to go from offering consumers 27 sub-brands to 21. That isn’t my definition of streamlining, but on some level 21 is better then 27. You’d think Shiseido would instead be more interested in creating some truly unique, beneficial formulas rather than doing what they usually do which is recycling the same base formula into various lines such as Bio-Performance, Benefiance, and The Skincare. But I digress. What really takes the cake (actually, the whole bakery) is the company decision to add a high-end line to their already overpriced Cle de Peau brand. Yes, cosmetics fans, you read that correctly. Shiseido-owned Cle de Peau, which sells moisturizers for $500, cleansers for $60+ and toners for $80+, is crafting an even higher-end line of products to complement their existing, wildly overpriced collection.

Can you imagine the discussion between a loyal Cle de Peau customer and the line representative? It might go something like this:

Customer to Cle de Peau salesperson: So the $500 moisturizer I’ve been using isn’t as good as your new Cle de Peau Ultra Extreme Moisture, which costs $1,200 for the same size?
Cle de Peau salesperson: I wouldn’t describe it that way; They are two very different products with completely different functions.
Customer:  But the ingredient lists are nearly identical. They’re both moisturizers making anti-wrinkle, skin-firming, and lifting claims. So why does one cost over  twice as much as the other?
Cle de Peau salesperson: The extra cost means fewer wrinkles and our studies show that using Ultra Extreme Moisture eliminates the need for a face-lift! It’s all because of our rare seaweed, which many deep-sea divers gave their lives for off the coast of Japan’s most fertile sea. You won’t find it in any other product; this cream must be applied at night only, when skin is most receptive to rejuvenation and repair.
Customer: OK, but if that’s true, why are the ingredient lists so similar?
Cle de Peau salesperson: It’s not the ingredients themselves but they way they are blended that counts most.
Customer: So my $500 Cle de Peau moisturizer doesn’t have the same “blend” as the more expensive moisturizer?
Cle de Peau salesperson: Correct. And the Ultra Extreme Moisture has the rare Japanese seaweed. Think of all those deceased divers who left behind wives and children! At least they’ll get a lifetime supply of this cream and won’t ever have to worry about wrinkles…and a portion of the proceeds from this moisturizer goes to support the Miracle Cosmetic Divers Association, too.

OK, the conversation wouldn’t be quite that dramatic but come on! Are women really going to go for the concept of one of the priciest skin-care lines offering a collection of even more expensive products? You know Cle de Peau’s idea of ‘high-end’ means whatever they produce is going to carry record-breaking prices. If they succeed with this, other lines may follow suit! We might see such new items as:

Estee Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Premium Luxuriant Plus Cream
Lancome Absolue Anti-Gravity Monumental Lifting with alpha-omega peptides
Chanel Ultraluxe Dermal Densifying Wrinkle Obliterator

You think I’m kidding? Well, if this Cle de Peau high end concept helps Shiseido achieve their three year financial goals, you can bet the only ones with smiles on their faces will be the cosmetic industry executives! Consumers looking for the fountain of youth in a jar will merely come up dry.

A very attractive, young, pert, blonde receptionist who had just heard me do an interview on the radio station where she worked asked me on my way out, “Should a 25-year-old start using anti-aging products?” I thought, what does she want to do, revert to birth? But I knew what she meant and I responded by saying, “the only thing you really need is a great sunscreen, and be sure to never get a tan, and you will do fine; the rest is just skin care, important but not as relevant in any way in comparison to being sun smart.” She sat up and in a 20-something kind of way, said “But I love the sun and I love getting tan, I just don’t want to wrinkle.” I said, “Well then, you might as well buy a lottery ticket, because you probably believe you will win that windfall as well! False hope springs eternal; the reality you live in isn’t how skin works.”

Okay, I was in a mood. I usually just smile and walk away, but it’s getting worse out there, not better and my frustration is at an all-time high. If I believed in conspiracy theories I would say the media is in bed with the cosmetics industry, but alas it isn’t theory, it’s fact. Every time I do a talk show I’m always asked if I’m going to be critical of any of their advertisers, of if I’m going to say anything that might be of legal concern (sort of like Oprah Winfrey saying she didn’t want to eat hamburger). Advertisers are in control of what I say on TV or radio, and even to some extent in print (fashion magazines are a foregone conclusion; they treat me as if I don’t exist or simply don’t know what I’m talking about).

Reporters all over the world ask me what works, but the answer assumes that something must work to get rid of wrinkles. The endless press releases from mainstream cosmetics companies, physician-owned cosmetic companies, and spas and salons of all kinds have created the ultimate, anti-wrinkle products, you just have to find the ones that aren’t lying to you (somehow we know everyone can’t be telling the truth, but the notion that everyone is lying to one degree or another is something most women just won’t believe) and the one in front of you at the moment (especially if you’re feeling vulnerable) or that’s endorsed by a celebrity or has an attractive ad wins every time.

Women seemingly never tire of a product promising it can firm the skin, erase wrinkles, restore youth, fight aging, and on and on. There are literally thousands and thousands of anti-aging products perpetually using the same nebulous yet miraculous claims that often stop just short of lying (or blatantly lie). In some ways it is beyond belief how many products are launched every month, year after year. But because women keep believing the claims from the endless assault of anti-aging/anti-wrinkle products, I guess for me, it’s job security!

I hate watching infomercials or any cosmetic advertising for that matter. I can barely tolerate listening to what the salespeople behind cosmetics counters have to say; it just makes me cringe and my skin crawl. The utter nonsense that is spewed to unsuspecting women is beyond my tolerance level. I just get so frustrated, my blood boils, I start grousing, and that can eventually turn into a rant, and well, that just isn’t pretty.

Such was the case last night when I was watching the latest spate of infomercials from Dr. Murad. He was explaining why his acne line doesn’t include benzoyl peroxide. Is he serious that there is a rationale for ignoring a basic skin care protocol for acne? Did he miss the research published in the Lancet, December 2004, pages 2188-2195, stating that benzoyl peroxide is the most effective treatment for acne, especially in comparison to oral antibiotics (such as tetracycline), topical antibiotics (such as erythromycin), or combination treatments? Another nice benefit over and above a significant reduction in breakouts: the study noted that benzoyl peroxide was also the most cost-effective treatment.

Dr. Murad’s explanation for not using benzoyl peroxide was that it can be drying and irritating. Well, so can watching infomercials for some people, but not for everyone. As a matter of fact, you would be far more able to easily tolerate benzoyl peroxide if the product didn’t contain irritating ingredients such as alcohol or menthol, lime, lemon, or peppermint, or you used gentle cleansers along with it. While Murad is worrying about benzoyl peroxide (at the very least he should offer it as an alternative, something most any reputable doctor would do) he isn’t worried about the irritating ingredients he does use in his acne products including menthol, citrus extracts, alcohol, and lavender.

I won’t even get into the pandering he does with his anti-wrinkle products categorized by hormonal, environmental, and genetic aging. Or maybe I’ll get into that the next time I’m in a blogging mood…

Anti-wrinkle. There I said it. Well, to be completely direct and clear, what I’m talking about is that I can barely say the word without faltering or hesitating with a roll of my eyes and an exhausted gasp. Now here’s a term that has been used to death for decades with no learning curve. Ironically, the best and worst formulations all make the same claims. How galling and infuriating.

If a product claims it gets rid of wrinkles we want to believe it, and while there are no products that get rid of wrinkles, as I have written extensively over the past 10 years there are lots of products that can make an impressive change in the appearance of wrinkles. In fact, if you keep using them, you’ll see a big difference (think sunscreens, moisturizers or toners loaded with antioxidants, cell-communicating ingredients, and skin identical ingredients, and exfoliants such as AHA and BHA). So here’s the issue: if my products have the same “anti-wrinkle” benefits as the products I rate highly because the formulas are similar (or if I may brag a bit, often better) why can’t I utter the same word (anti-wrinkle) and get the attention of women the same way other companies do? I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked what anti-wrinkle products I sell (or why I don’t sell products making anti-wrinkle claims). Sigh.

For me to use the term anti-wrinkle to describe my products just hits me below the belt and takes my breath away. Is the term misleading, the way the industry uses it suggesting miracles and the fountain of youth? Absolutely. But without question, well formulated products can reduce lines and make skin look younger, there I said it, anti-wrinkle products do exist.

Back to my point, what am I willing to say or rather what am I not willing to say about my products? This struggle is a problem for my company, particularly my Product Development Manager, Kate, who frequently lectures me about this point. She insists that the ingredients we use in our moisturizers meet my standard for improving the appearance of skin, improving skin cell function, enhancing barrier function, restoring substances to skin that it needs to reduce damage, and yes, fighting wrinkles and make skin look better, which includes looking less wrinkled. What to do? For now, that’s a good question, we are talking about this extensively of late and may make some changes. In the meantime, your feedback is welcomed.

A few months back headlines in the British news mentioned that an ad for mascara in a popular fashion magazine wasn’t a picture of the model wearing the advertised mascara but, horrors of horrors, she was really wearing false eyelashes. When a U.S. reporter called to ask for my opinion about this revelation my immediate reaction was, you’ve got to be kidding. I thought this can’t be the first time anyone noticed this! In the 30 years I’ve been part of the cosmetics industry I’m fairly certain I have never seen an ad for mascara where the model wasn’t wearing false eyelashes (at least individual false lashes, meticulously placed).

What I found jaw-dropping is that these reporters and editors thought this was newsworthy. How can this possibly be considered news of any kind? Have these reporters (all women) never really looked at an ad for a cosmetic that closely before? Are we so easily fooled by something this obvious? Talk about missing the elephant in the room! Next thing you know the news will be reporting on the revelation that pictures in magazines are extensively retouched via sophisticated computer programs or that the makeup on the model is rarely, if ever, the product or products being advertised. And any model over age 35 without a trace of visible wrinkles? Give me a break!

Respectfully, I know that on some level we know these ads are phony, but the desire to believe otherwise, to want the fantasy that a mere purchase of a mascara, foundation, or anti-wrinkle cream can truly alter our everyday appearance to the sublime is overwhelming for most women. That’s where our hope turns us into gullible, susceptible innocents at the mercy of the cosmetics industry. We’re ready to believe whatever they tell or show us. And don’t think you aren’t influenced, because you are. Those ads generate humongous sales or companies wouldn’t endlessly spend millions of dollars every month on myriad ads in major fashion magazines and on television to get your attention.

If you want to avoid getting sucked in the next time you pick up a fashion magazine or see an ad on television, here are the basics to remember:

1. Models and celebrities in fashion advertising are already gorgeous, with perfect skin and features. They can be enhanced but they started out with the bar already set above us mere mortals. Every model has been further transformed by talented makeup artists, hairstylists, stylists, and lighting experts.
2. Even after all the coifing, styling, makeup, posing, and the thousands of pictures taken so the best one can be selected, the picture is still extensively touched up to remove or drastically soften any flaws. I’ll never forget the time a model told me that she doesn’t look as good in real life as she does in pictures.
3. The women in hair dye ads do not get that color from the dye being advertised. Those highlights and flowing tresses took experts a great deal of time to achieve. The look was accomplished in a salon after hours of processing and styling, not in the model’s bathroom!
4. The women in the ads for shampoos and conditioners did not get their hair to look that way because of any shampoo or conditioner. It took lots of highlights, blow drying, flat ironing, curlers, styling products, and on and on to achieve the look that finally gets photographed for the ad.
5. Regardless of the claims asserted and the claims about what studies show, if it sounds too good to be true, it isn’t true. All cosmetic companies hire labs to create studies that prove their claims. My favorite example is ProActiv. Their results are stilted and embellished. The research on acne treatment does not support what they claim is true for their products (even Jessica Simpson on her own reality show said Accutane is what cured her acne!).
6. Wrinkle creams don’t replace plastic surgery, Botox, dermal injections, lasers, or light treatments, regardless of the name brand or who is selling the product (and it’s often a doctor who performs the real deal procedures, which is incredibly disingenuous).

There are many products out there that can make a noticeable difference in your appearance. But trying to live up to the images used to sell these products—expecting your results will be the same—is the stuff dreams are made of!

For those of you who know Paula’s work, and given I’m Paula’s Customer Service manager, you may think that sounds blasphemous. Well, that was my stance a few years back. Being both African American and Caucasian, I have naturally tan skin that rarely burns so, I figured there was no need for sunscreen. Interestingly enough, I actually got this idea from my mother who is Caucasian even though she herself wore sunscreen due to having a fair complexion.

Of course along with others, I enjoyed many days outdoors without a care or thought about how the sun was affecting my skin. Who could blame me? Since the damage is silent and for the most case invisible (unless you get a burn), it seems as if nothing is happening.

When I began working for Paula’s Choice, I found that while people with a darker complexion may have a lower risk of sunburn and skin cancer, they are in no way immune to the damage caused by the sun. I also found out that sun exposure is a huge contributor to wrinkles and those pesky little brown spots and ashy skin tone women of color like me don’t like.

Unfortunately, I didn’t just read about these things, I actually began to see them happening (even though I was now using sunscreen, some damage had already been done from my years of neglect). My skin started to look a little blotchy, uneven and didn’t seem to feel as soft. The dead give away though; you got it, those darn brown spots which I had always thought were just age spots anyway. While the first noticeable one above my lip wasn’t bad (I actually even thought of it as little Marilyn Monroe-ish), they seemed to be creeping up all over now and not just on my face. I began to notice a few on my chest and forearms.

Flash backs of baby oil and water bottles came to mind along with full days out in the sun, just lying there soaking it all up. What the heck had I been thinking? Actually I wasn’t thinking and that is the difference between then and now. There is information available and there are products that can help address damage that has already been done as well as products that will help prevent future damage. Trust me, sunscreen is a part of my routine now 365 days a year, rain or shine without fail. It has just become a habit and a good one that I share with the rest of my family (especially my teenage girls) and my skin definitely looks the better for it. Paula often comments on how beautiful my skin looks.

So if you’re feeling the way I used to, the whole ”I don’t really need sunscreen” thing,  think again because everything you do comes to light one day and unless you are going for that uneven, weathered, freckly look, then I suggest you get your hands on a good broad spectrum product and start applying liberally!

As Paula’s assistant and co-writer, I see many reader emails that show up in her Inbox. Without question, many of them have to do with the fear that comes from potentially ominous information about common cosmetic ingredients. People want to know if sunscreen actives cause cancer, if sodium lauryl sulfate seeps through the brain to cause neurological disorders, and if parabens are conspiring to wipe out the human race. Questions about parabens come up most often; reading the links people send us, you’d swear this group of preservatives was responsible for everything from the common cold to the Iraq war and threats of global warming!

What’s particularly frustrating is that the facts are often left out. A snippet of bad press about a cosmetic ingredient can quickly snowball into mass confusion, with people approaching their personal care products the same way they’d approach a haunted house–with great trepidation.

Paula and I work diligently to not only examine the source(s) leading people to fear the unknown about their cosmetics, but also what the body of research states about these ingredients. Almost without exception, what is presented as fact is either false or one-sided. What’s known about most cosmetic ingredients people have begun to view suspiciously is that they are safe as used. There is no cause for alarm, but an All is Well headline doesn’t grab much attention. In the case of preservatives, it is considerably scarier to think of what might happen if they were not in many of the cosmetic products we use daily. The unchecked growth of microbes in such products could cause some serious health problems—but that fact is almost always left out of any “reporting” or press release about the alleged evils of common cosmetic ingredients.

Did You Know? 

• In the United States, all of the parabens have GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status at usage levels of 0.1% per paraben (a common amount per paraben used in cosmetics)
• Parabens need a water medium to function best
• Parabens are used in over 22,000 products 
• Parabens are derived from raspberries 

Over the years my team and my readers have repeatedly asked me to create a blog. Given that I write thousands of pages of content filled with my reviews, opinions, research, outlook, and conclusions, a blog in many respects seemed unnecessary to me. I reasoned that I write enough material already, and worried about overwhelming my audience (and myself). Despite my concerns, I was continually told that a blog would be the perfect format for me to say all the things I hold back saying in my books, my Paulaschoice.com Web site, my Beauty Bulletins, and my new subscriber-based Web site Beautypedia.com (a continually updated, searchable database of thousands of my product reviews-there’s always more and more products to review). So finally, after much resistance, here is my new blog, there is always more to say about the cosmetic industry. This is also a place where you are invited to share you thoughts and critiques with me as well.

You may be wondering what will be different about my blog in comparison to everything else I write and honestly, I’ve wondered the same thing! I am being encouraged to just let it all pour out here on my blog. The objective is to not hold back but instead share the things that drive me up the wall about new products, the bogus or sham studies I come across, the crazy experiences I have at the cosmetic counters or behind the scenes at TV shows, the physicians who sell their souls to get in on the sales of antiwrinkle products, and the overall insanity of the cosmetics industry. Because of what I do and who I know I am privy to a lot of insider secrets. I can at times become vitriolic about egregious violations of a consumer’s trust. Believe it or not, I oftentimes don’t write all these details because I already get a lot of condemnation for being too negative. Well, the gloves are off and I’m ready to share and have a great time doing it! I won’t violate anyone’s trust or confidence, but whenever I can let you in on the unvarnished truth, I will! You’ll also be hearing from several key members of my staff as we build a community of perspectives and shared experiences on this blog. Happy reading, and please don’t forget to leave your comments!