Beauty Secrets Blog

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Kisha’s quandary: It depresses me to see your site be so negative, it seems like no product works out there and that we are so dependent on chemicals drugs and studies , which a lot of times are purposely rigged to have the drug companies make the most money. How in the word have we survived for so long without those drugs before????

The Left Brain’s reply:
Kisha, as I’ve said before, our mission is to educate our community about the truth behind cosmetic products. And the sad truth is, there are many products out there that do NOT do what they promise.

Bogus beauty buys

Some examples include the Pink Patch, Collyre Bleu Eye Drops, Airborne, Kinoki Detox Foot Pads, the Brava Breast Enhancement system, Clarins 3P Screen Mist, and a host of high-priced, over-promised anti-aging products like Perricone.

Many of the products that we’re asked about, like the ones I just mentioned, are dubious at best. I rarely see questions that have a clear cut, positive answer like “does Suave shampoo really get your hair clean.” So, since our community asks us about questionable products, the answers that the Right Brain and I give are often negative because many of these products are more about BS than beauty science. It’s unfortunate that you think it’s depressing to learn the truth about products that are trying to trick you. I think it’s much more depressing to wake up one morning and realize you spent a lot of your hard earned money on products that don’t deliver they benefit they promise.

Cosmetics that really work

However, just because I blog about a lot of bogus products, that doesn’t mean that NOTHING works. In fact, the world of cosmetics offers MANY products that are highly effective. The Right Brain and I have blogged about these in the past, but in case you haven’t seen them, here are 10 quick examples of cosmetics that really work:

1. Crest Teeth whitening strips
2. Secret Clinical Strength Antiperspirant
3. Avocado oil for soothing skin
4. Coconut and Palm oil hair strengthening products like Ojon
5. Hair dyes of all kinds
6. Silicone scar removal sheets
7. Skin lighteners like Meladerm
8. Fluoride tooth paste
9. Skin moisturizers
10. Hair relaxers

The Beauty Brains bottom line

In conclusion, I’m sorry that you feel our site is negative and depressing. But I’d rather tell you the straight truth about cosmetics and have you leave the Beauty Brains community than let you go on thinking that all the advertising you read about cosmetics is true. Hopefully you’ll continue reading so we can help you be a smarter shopper. Thanks for your question.

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Top Button is madly in love with light summer scarves. Especially this TDM Design Marino Water Scarf. Ahhh-mazing!

Dreading swimsuit season? Get your best beach bod with StyleBakery.com’s tips for finding the right swimsuit for your figure.

I’m Not Obsessed gives you a sneak peek at Barney’s Co-Op Surprise: Rogan Gregory for GO. International

Girlawhirl’sstocking up on fitflops for summer before they sell out again!

SheFindscomes to the rescue when you don’t know What to Wear to Meet the Parents.

Smarter Fashion gives you MORE great online coupon codes from top online stores in clothing & accessories. They will expire at the end of this month so no procrastinating!

The Beauty Brains tell us the story of Emily Skin Soother, a skin salve developed by a father for his infant daughter.

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Rebecca’s request: I’ve been introduced to Prevage by my beauty consultant as being a great product to prevent environmental damage to skin and even reversing some of the already existing. This product is a little pricey, so I’d like to know how true are the claims on their web page. Please advise.

The Right Brain proselytizes about Prevage:
Prevage is originally from a company called Allergan who markets the full-strength 1% active version (formally known as Prevage-MD). Elizabeth Arden’s version contains 0.5% (or half as much active ingredient). Arden has launched a line of idebenone-based products including an anti-aging face treatment for 1.7 fl. oz. for $150 as well as a similarly priced night cream and an eye treatment.

Prevage’s claim to fame is that its active ingredient is an antioxidant known as idebenone. Long time readers may remember that we blogged about this “miracle ingredient” before. But in case you missed our first post, here’s a quick recap.

What is Idebenone

Idebenone came out of research in the ’70 and ‘80s that showed a material known as Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) could improve heart failure, reduce free radical damage and slow down certain neurological conditions. CoQ10 is a vitamin-like material that not only helps control cellular energy production but is also a powerful antioxidant. The researchers modified the CoQ10 molecule to enhance its properties and one of modifications became idebenone. Today, several companies , including Elizabeth Arden and Priori Skin Care market idebenone-based products as next generation antioxidants.

Does Prevage work?

According to Arden’s website, they claim that idebenone is “ currently the most effective antioxidant for addressing the visible signs of aging, including fine lines, wrinkles, roughness and discoloration.” Interestingly, they qualify that claim with an “*” the reveals the comparison is to alpha lipoic acid, kinetin, vitamin C, vitamin E, and coenzyme Q10. There’s not mention of other powerful antioxidants like flavinoids and polyphenols found in natural materials like tea leaves and grape seeds. So it’s really hard to tell how idebenone stacks up against these competing technologies.

Furthermore, Arden boasts their clinical tests “show a significant decrease in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and an improvement in the look of firmness, tone, texture, and radiance.” But frankly, those are not particularly impressive claims – many products that are much cheaper are said to perform similarly.

According to one of our favorite sources, Smartskincare.com, there have not been “head to head” studies to determine if idebenone is better than CoQ10 for fighting wrinkles. They also say that if you are using proven anti-wrinkle agents (like retinoids) with good results, you may want to hold off on idebenone until more studies are conducted. They sum it up nicely by saying: “trying idebenone is a question of willingness to spend time and money on a treatment that could work in theory but is not yet backed by hard evidence.”

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Prevage appears to be another high-priced skin care line that promises youth-in-a-bottle without much proof.

Reference: Smart Skin Care

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

It’s that time of the week again to see how well the Beauty Brains community can figure out the science versus the nonsense. Head on over to the blog and enter your answer to this week’s beauty science or BS poll. We’ve picked 3 headlines ripped from the pages of our favorite science feeds and made one up. Can you figure out which of the following stories is FAKE?

Beauty Science or BS Headlines

1. Women in their 40s report more issues with their skin than any other group.

2. Data suggests the smell of rotten eggs can increase human lifespan.

3. Male interviewers are more biased in favor of attractive interviewees than female interviewers.

4. Eating tomatoes can protect skin from sun damage

Good luck and feel free to leave a comment below to say why you picked the way you did.

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

It’s been over two years since the Left Brain, Right Brain and Sarah Bellum began blogging about beauty science. Since then we’ve answered thousands of questions and had many, many many, thousands of visitors drop by our site. How many? Funny you should ask! For those of you geeky enough to care about such things, you can find a Sitemeter Counter at the bottom of our blog that tells you pretty much how many visitors we’ve had to date. It looks like this:

As you can tell, we’re getting dangerously close to breaking the 1,000,000 visitors mark! We are SO excited that we’ve able to share our scientific smarts with that many people! So, to celebrate the occasion we’re going to do something special: we’re giving a FREE COPY of The Beauty Brains book to someone who signs for our mailing list between now and the time we break the one million mark. (Don’t worry, if you’re already signed up, you have a chance to win too!) So if you want to win, and you haven’t signed up yet, do it now. By our calculations, we’ll reach the magic number in the next 2 or 3 days!

How to be eligible for the contest

All you have to do is sign up here:

And thanks to everyone who has been one of the “magic million” over these past 2 years. We love you all!

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Even though we lost half the data due to a recent software upgrade, we had a great response to the Beauty Brains quiz this week and 31% of you were actually able to sense the BS. This is slightly better than random chance. I might have to make the next one a little harder. Read on and see how you did.

People who wear glasses have been shown to be more introverted and geeky - FALSE

31% of you thought glasses wearers were geeks but science says otherwise. According to this study by psychologists from the University of Melbourne, there is no link between myopia and introversion. In fact, the study showed a slight correlation suggesting people with glasses are more agreeable. Maybe we should get a pair for the argumentative Right Brain.

Skin cells can tell whether you are a night person or morning person - TRUE

Not many were fooled by this one. Only 13% of you couldn’t believe this one. Scientists studying the effect of light on sleep discovered that each skin cell has its own internal clock. Someone who is a self-reported “morning person” actually has skin cells that match up to this personality. People with Seasonal Affect Disorder (a kind of winter depression) have skin cells that don’t match up with their personality.

You can reduce air pollution by not washing your hair - TRUE

22% of you thought this one was dirty but it’s not. Scientists from the University of Missouri found that unwashed hair absorbs around seven times more ozone than washed hair. Who knew Collin Farrel and the other Hollywood hotties with greasy hair were actually helping clean up smog in Los Angeles?

Women with college degrees are more likely to get married than those without - TRUE

34% of you thought this couldn’t be true but it is. Women with college degrees have a better chance of being married than those without. It turns out men really do like women with brains. In a reversal of trend, a review of census data found that in 2006, 61% of women aged 30-34 with degrees were married, while only 53% of those without post-high school degrees were. It warms my heart to know that Sarah still has a chance.

How did you do? Were you able to sniff out the beauty BS? Leave a comment and let us know.

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Hey Everyone,

Well, I’m back from my European trip. I had a fabulous time, saw lots of pretty statues, historically significant sites, and was able to fill all of the European Beauty Brains book orders. We still have some books from the first print run available so if you’re interested be sure to get your copy soon. We’re going to have to do a second printing and the original print runs will no longer be available (for all you collectors of rare works out there).

Ok, now that that is out of the way, my trip was incredible. I’d never been to Europe before and it was an amazing experience. My first stop was in London. We had a lot of orders from the UK so it made the most sense to go here. Besides, I really wanted to see London. The castles, the bridges, the royals. It was so exciting. I walked through Hyde Park, then along the Thames. Saw Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, and the Tower Bridge that I kept calling the London Bridge.

You can see all my pictures here.

I loved London and highly recommend going. However, be warned that the food isn’t great and everything costs about double what it does in the United States.

After a week of exploring London (which involved mostly shopping and going to late night clubs like Koko) I was off to Paris. I just had to see Paris being this close. I hopped on the Eurostar and was there 3 hours later.

I have to say it was wonderful!! I love Paris! I know some people haven’t had such lovely experiences but I believe that Paris is one of the most beautiful, romantic, interesting and fun cities I’ve ever been. I spent days visiting museums, seeing sites, shopping and eating in cafes. The nights were spent at chic restaurants, clubs, and some pubs. I had a wonderful time at a place called “An American Bar” where I finally got to talk with other English speakers. My French is super rusty (took it in high school) and while it was fun to say things in French, it’s so taxing for this Beauty Brain.

The people in France were great too. I don’t know how they got the reputation of being rude because I found everyone rather pleasant. There was a lot of smoking which I could do without, but people were polite. The food was incredible. One of the things that made me smile most was just walking the streets of Paris and seeing all the people just eating these long loafs of bread. It really happens. And there are lots of protests. Streets get closed, people are yelling, and the rest of the crowd just walks by. You just don’t see that here in the states.

If you ever get a chance to go out to Europe you must visit Paris and London. Again, you can see all my pictures here.

And if you want to send us pictures of famous places where you brought the Beauty Brains book, we’d love to have them and will post them on the blog.

Ok, back to work.

Toodles,

Sarah

PS. I do have to say, it’s nice to be back. Traveling is tiring.

Have you ever been to Europe? Where is your favorite place? And where is the best shopping? Leave a comment and let the Beauty Brains community know.

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Sonia says: I have natural black hair and for years I had dyed it light brown. Then one day went back to black. Now my question is how do I get it back to brown? I’ve tried several dyes and nothing has changed but my roots.

The Right Brain responds:
How do you get your hair from black back to brown? You need to bleach out the dark color before you can add the lighter brown shade. You should probably have this done in a salon, but if you do decide to do it at home, make sure you buy the right kind of hair dye. In case you didn’t know, there are 3 different types of hair colors. Here’s a quick description along with the pros and cons of each:

The 3 Types of Hair Colors

Temporary Color

This is basically a colorful gel or cream that coats your hair. It lasts 1, maybe 2, shampoos at best. Sometimes less if you’re sweaty! Manic Panic is a good example of this kind of product. And if you’re really feeling frisky, Betty Beauty even makes a temporary color for hair *ahem* down there.

Pros: You can go crazy and make your hair day-glo red, blue, yellow or orange!

Cons: You run the risk of looking like a clown, which is bad. But only for a day or so, which is good. Unless the circus is in town that day, which is bad.

Semi or Demi Permanent Color

These colors use ingredients known as “direct dyes.” They stain the hair and take several shampoos to wash out. The new Sunsilk Color Boost products use this type of dye.

Pros: Let’s you experiment with a touch of color without much commitment.

Cons: The colors usually aren’t very good and you can’t add lighter shades on top of darker hair.

Permanent (or Oxidative) Color

This is the most serious type of hair color. It typically involves bleaching your hair to remove your natural color, then adds in color molecules that are locked inside the hair shaft. It should last until your roots grow out but some fading from washing will occur. Examples include Garnier Nutrisse, Revlon Colorist, and pretty much any coloring treatment you get in a salon. Highlights are a version of oxidative color but may only involve the bleaching step.

Pros: When done properly, this kind of color looks fabulous and lasts for weeks even months.

Cons: The chemical process is damaging to your hair, you’re stuck with the color for weeks (even months), and you have to recolor when your roots grow out.

Statistics say that more than 60% of women color their hair. But that Betty Beauty product has got me wondering…how many women color their hair “down there?” Is that too scandalous? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know what you think!

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Here’s a news story that address the age-old question about using matching shampoo and conditioner.

FDA: Juicy Green Apple Conditioner Best Used With Juicy Green Apple Shampoo

WASHINGTON, DC—According to a warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration Monday, a generous amount of Suave Naturals Juicy Green Apple Conditioner should always be applied evenly and massaged into wet hair after washing with Suave Naturals Juicy Green Apple Shampoo.

“This is absolutely essential for optimal shine, shimmer, and texture,” said FDA spokeswoman Linda Mergens, who urged Americans to grab the product off the shelves and buy it after health officials discovered that the shampoo contains vitamin E, which is crucial for bringing out the natural beauty in hair. “Consumers should never under any circumstances mix Suave Naturals Juicy Green Apple Conditioner with Pert Plus, as it may impair luster.”

The FDA also warned that failure to use the product properly could result in hair not smelling like apples.

In case you couldn’t tell, the aforementioned FDA press release is a joke. We reprinted this story from The Onion, one of our favorite humorous websites, because we thought it was SO appropriate! The truth is, there’s very little technical reason to worry about matching shampoo and conditioner. You may want to match functional type (use moisturizing shampoo with moisturizing conditioner and volumizing shampoo with volumizing conditioner) but the brand doesn’t make THAT much difference.

–Mid Brain

Submitted by Beauty Brains Blog

Michael says: I liked very much your review of Ren products and thought to myself, “What would they say about my products?” Then answered myself, “Why not ask?” So, I am putting myself and my products up on the block. Would you be willing to tell me and your readers what you think of our ingredients, copy, etc?

The Right Brain responds:
Michael thanks so much for contacting us about your line of Emily Skin Soother products. Since you were brave enough to offer your products up for our review, the least we can do is give you our honest feedback. Below you’ll find a few statements taken from your website followed by our comments. So take a deep breath, here we go!

The Pros and Cons of Emily Skin Soothers

Emily: Our original creation, Baby and Adult Skin Soother was created because of our daughter’s baby eczema. It was born of a father’s love and concern.

Beauty Brains: Wow! You have to find that statement touching unless you’re a cold hearted bee-yatch like a certain lobe of the Beauty Brains. (Just kidding, LB!) Seriously though, we like they way Michael summarized his philosophy in an email to us:

“I am not trying to scare consumers, I am trying to reach out to people who have a similar mind set and concern. I do not think such statements will make someone who does not care suddenly worry about these ingredients. This type of statement is more a pledge to those people who are concerned that we will not use such ’suspected’ ingredients because we can easily make a quality product without them.”

This is a much better rationale than companies who say “don’t use this because it causes cancer.”

Emily: It was created to soothe and beautify any type of dry and itchy skin condition.

Beauty Brains: While olive oil and beeswax will soothe dry skin, “soothing itching” is technically a drug claim and shouldn’t be made by a cosmetic product.

Emily: It is made of the bare, essential ingredients of the highest quality. We use olive oil, beeswax, and three herbs.”

Beauty Brains: While we don’t question the quality of your ingredients, let’s not to confuse naturalness with efficacy. There’s a reason that skin moisturizers contain silicones and mineral derived oil – these ingredients are better moisture barriers. You may not like these “unnatural ingredients” but they DO perform!

Emily: Skin Soothers products are natural and effective…powered by Chinese Herbs.

Beauty Brains: While we accept that olive oil and beeswax are good for skin because they provide emolliency and moisture retention, we’d like to know how the herbal blend “powers” the product. Do the herbs have proven benefits or are they just known for their folkloric uses?

Emily: We do not add anything unnecessary, so our products do not have colorants, added fragrance, preservative or any unpronounceable nasties.

Beauty Brains: Ok, Michael, be careful with this one. First of all, you’re implying your herbs are “necessary” without any proof of efficacy (see above). Second, you’re promoting fear of chemicals with your remark about “unpronounceable nasties.” Not everything with a scientific name is bad for you. For example, the official names for the herbs in your product are “Potentillae Chinensis” and “Mentha Haplocalyx.” Those names don’t exactly roll off your tongue, but that doesn’t mean they’re harmful!

Emily: Our herbs …are from an American company that batch tests all of its herbs for contaminants, heavy-metals, and pesticides and does not use sulfur preservatives.

Beauty Brains: We’re not sure how much of a danger this represents, but we give them credit for at least trying to support their claims about having pure products. Not all companies are this thorough.

Emily: A 2 oz jar costs $14.00.

Beauty Brains: We’re used to expensive products, but $14 bucks for 2 ounces of olive oil and beeswax seems a bit high!

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Compared to other companies we’ve seen, Emily Skin Soothers has a refreshingly realistic approach to marketing an “all natural” product. While we nit-picked a few technical points above, overall we respect the honest way they offer as pure a product as possible without making exaggerated claims. And most importantly, they DON’T try to scare you into buying something you don’t need.