I have a theory that most people don’t much like their knees, elbows or even their hands. And I would further suggest that they aren’t going to spend nearly a 100 bucks on a potion designed for their despised body parts. If I am right then Stemulation Rescue Repair Hand & Body Treatment (1.7oz/$96 in the TIA shop), made for hands, feet, elbows and knees, faces a challenge. This is a pity because it is a good product and, over time, I have learned to love it (and my extremities)

I have been testing my free sample of Stemulation Rescue Repair on my hands (I would like to have younger looking knees, but can’t seem to bring myself to pamper then with a $96 cream). After only a couple of days, my hands started to look better and four weeks later the skin is looking a lot plumper and feels firm.

The blurb on the box proclaims peptides, but I can’t see any when I look through the ingredients list. Nor can I see any stem cells, which are supposed to be the core technology behind Stemulation.

Lactic acid is a dominant ingredient and Rescue Repair cautions wearing sunscreen after application and says, a little ominously, that “contact of the product with the skin must of limited frequency and duration”. I’ve been using it daily, followed by sunscreen.

Stemulation Rescue Repair has some interesting botanicals. Cyperus Esculentus is a kind of sedge, the roots have a similar composition to olives in that they are high in fatty acids.  This is a potent antioxidant (source). An added bonus as we head in to humid summer is that researchers have found it to be a good mosquito repellent. Silybum, or milk thistle, is a favorite of mine as it is an antioxidant and it has components that are said to strengthen cell walls, stimulate enzymes that make toxins less harmful to the body. And pinus pinaster can strengthen capillaries, repair collagen and help the bodies defense against the sun’s rays. Antioxidants also come in the form of niacinamide, coffee and tea extracts.

Rescue Repair, like Stemulation’s serum (I have just started to test this as well and it has both human conditioned media and apple stem cells) is a lightish brown color and has a slightly pasty texture (almost as if there was a little clay in it, which I think there is not). I don’t like the container much – a pot that I believe has an airless pump that dispenses the product on to a flat surface from which it must be scooped up. It’s kind of messy.

Overall, Stemulation has made me love my hands quite a bit more. When I first came to review this product, I thought perhaps not quite enough to spend this much on a second Rescue Repair. But, now, I am won over. I will be investing in another pot (even the design is growing on me).

Ingredients: Water, aloe leaf juice, lactic acid, beta-glucan, saccharide isomerate, cyperus esculentus tuber extract, hydrolyzed pepper fruit extract, shea butter, isopropyl palmitate, stearyl alcohol, cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, glyceryl stearate, PEG-100 stearate, pentylene glycol, hydrolyzed soybean fiber, sodium lactate, niacinamide, panthenol, coffee seed extact, camellia sinensis leaf extract, grape seed extract, vaccinium myrtillus fruit/leaf extract, silybum marianum extract, pinus pinaster bark/bud extract, ginkgo biloba leaf extract, tocopherol, ascorbyl  palmitate, sodium stearoyl lactate, xanthan gum, fragrance, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, phenoxyethanol.