October 31, 2008
Posted by marta
A few weeks ago, Claire posted a useful roundup of the best online stores for skincare and beauty products. I have since come across Foreman, which sells men’s grooming products. It more than passes muster on a number of levels: it has a smart, clean design, is easy to navigate, nicely written tips and (a deal breaker for me) it conscientously lists the ingredients so that you know exactly what you are buying.
The president and CEO contacted me the other day and offered a nice exclusive for Truth In Aging readers: three free samples of Jack Black’s Eye Balm Age Minimizing Gel. They are for the first three of you that post a comment convincing us that you are up for writing a reader review once you’ve had chance to try it out. Read more...
October 7, 2008
Posted by marta
I have just been introduced to a new skincare brand that I really like the look of. Terralina was started by two women (who happen to be cousins by marriage) three years ago because they were frustrated by quality of so many cosmetic products. Luxury brands are all too often full of wasteful and harmful chemicals, while natural products can be insipid and ineffective. Terralina proves it doesn’t have to be like that: its potions are substantial and rich, the ingredients 98.5% natural and well-chosen, the packaging is made from post-consumer recycled materials.
They have given me samples from the range and I shall be trying out the moisturizer and body lotion (and will post a review in a few weeks), Copley has made off with the cleanser and that leaves another body lotion (pictured above) and a toner for readers who would like to review them. Post a comment to persuade us that your review will be forthcoming and candid. But first let me tell you a little more about the products. Read more...
September 23, 2008
Posted by marta
I’ve just come across a new men’s skincare range made here in New York by Italians Cristina Lanza and Davide Carbone. The small, well-thought through range of men’s essentials is called Gessato, which is the name of the chalk stripe in men’s suiting material. It sums up the products and the clean black and white packaging succinctly: classic with a twist (think Paul Smith).
Davide has sent me a very generous package of Gessato products. The active ingredients tend to be natural. The Eye Treatment, for example, has eleutherococcus senticosus (ginseng), rice, sesame and wheat. As an aside, eleutherococcus senticosus isn’t actually ginseng, although it does have similar properties in that it is antioxidant and mildly anti-inflammatory. Read more...
July 26, 2008
Posted by marta
I must confess that my first sensation when I looked M LAB Anti-aging Treatment Cream ($260) was of being overwhelmed. Every ingredient known to cosmetic pharmacology seems to have been crammed into this jar. I doggedly counted around 70 ingredients (yes, you read that right: seven zero), which rather struck me as 60 too many. I tend to operate on the less is more principle when it comes to potions – give me a couple of good ingredients in concentrations that might actually work and leave out as much crap as possible. Yet, M LAB has a good reputation, so I decided to give it a bit more thought.
M LAB claims that Anti-Aging Treatment Cream is 68% active ingredients. Run of the mill creams could be as low as 10% and even many good ones don’t climb much about the 30% mark. Nevertheless, with 70 ingredients, the concentrations of each of them individually must be miniscule. So miniscule that they can’t possibly achieve anything. The important thing, claims M LAB, is that they all act together synergistically. In other words, the sum is greater than the parts. Read more...
April 21, 2008
Posted by marta
My husband is an enthusiastic cheerleader when it comes to Truth In Aging, but an extremely unwilling accomplice. Nevertheless, I am so enamored by Mychelle For Men Smooth that I have ordered a bottle and will apply it to him in his sleep if necessary.
Of course, my excitement is in large part due to the fact that a decent moisturizer for men is as hard to find as, well, a decent man. Menscience and Jack Black are worth checking out, but I haven’t found much else. Until, that is, I stumbled across Smooth. It is worth a quick parenthesis to mention that I was on the Mychelle site trying to find out if and why they were reformulating products – they claim to be adding in more organic ingredients, but also ominously warn of price increases. Read more...
