August 12, 2009
Posted by copley
The news that Billy Mays had cocaine in his system at the time of his rather untimely death might explain his signature manic delivery. (And all that time, you thought it was the cleaning fumes!) When looking back at all the infomercials that made him a household name, Mays never got to grace the realm of grooming…which is unfortunate, since what a superb shaving specimen he would have made! His affinity for playing Mr. Fix-it never translated to the crowded beauty category in TV land.
As a rule of thumb, flashy commercials for cosmetics tend to come from multi-brand conglomerates with hefty advertising budgets and mass-market products. But the long-format cosmetic infomercial is a separate breed. It tugs on your heart strings with depictions of real people turning their lives around or amazes you with staggering beauty feats. Though sometimes staged by these same companies (Guthy-Renker being a regular), infomercials and direct response TV ads tend to be associated with oddball novelties, longstanding fixtures, and celebrity-endorsed newcomers. Read more...
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July 23, 2009
Posted by marta
Cleansing with castor oil seems to garnering cult status, with websites devoted to it and message boards clogged with comments and questions. For the uninitiated, the idea is to mix one part castor oil with two parts olive, sunflower or other oil, spend an inordinate amount of time massaging into your face and then wipe off with a facecloth soaked in hot water. My rosacea is breaking out at the very idea and, anyway, I’ve always thought castor oil was a laxative. It suddenly struck me that castor oil cleansing is something Gywneth Paltrow might do. Wickedly, I searched on “castor oil cleanse gwyneth paltrow” and found that she swigs half a cup of the stuff to detox! Close enough, I say. qgvi6h5kfb Read more...
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May 31, 2009
Posted by marta
A year ago I predicted that stem cells from fruits and vegetables would start to appear in anti-wrinkle potions. Capturing human stem cells is controversial and those from animals are somehow unappealing (and carry risk of infection). Enter vegetal stem cells. In particular, stem cells derived from apples have just started to appear in commercially available creams.
Of course, they don’t come from any old apple. No, these stem cells come from a very rare Swiss apple tree that we are told was cultivated over 300 hundred years ago for the long storage life of the fruit. So rare is it, that it was practically extinct. One day, a few trees were spotted somewhere in an isolated corner of the Alps. Scientists were all of a dither, seeing the possibilities immediately: stem cells could be extracted from this long living apple and be used to make other things live long – like my aging skin cells. Read more...
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March 23, 2009
Posted by marta
Posted by Marta
I strongly suspect that DDF Wrinkle Resist Plus Pore Minimizer ($85) sprang, so to speak, from the loins of the marketing department. I can picture the scene: the windowless meeting room, the whiteboard, the table a disheveled mess of Powerpoint-generated pie charts and half-drunk cans of diet sodas. “So to sum up,” one of DDF’s marketing’s finest says, “somehow we’ve got to get a product out there that people will buy even though no one has any money and there are trillions of products already out there”.
Marketing person 2: “So if everyone’s broke, how about one thing that can do everything. Cleanse, stop wrinkles, make tea….”
Marketing person 3: “There needs to be science though. Like one of those peptidy matrixyl thingies.”
Marketing person 4: Science is so last year. Everyone wants technology now. Read more...
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March 7, 2009
Posted by claire
Would you willingly pay for this to be splattered on your face?
Posted by claire
I recently came across an antioxidant that I’ve never heard of – but now that I have, I will surely never forget it: It’s called spermine. And, yup, you’ve guessed it – it’s normally found in seminal fluid.
Talk about adding a whole ‘nother level to those frat-house quips of “Vitamin J facials.” (If you don’t get it. GOOD. Don’t ask.)
Apparently spermine has made its way into skin care formulations; specifically, it’s the keynote ingredient for the Norwegian skin care line Skin Science.
According to their website, spermine is “the only antioxidant that is capable of penetrating the horny layer of the skin (i.e. stratum corneum)” … and once there is “20-30 times stronger than vitamin E and offers numerous benefits including delayed cell ageing and UV protection.” Read more...
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