Fountain of Youth?

For some reason, we as a society seem to constantly be in search of the fountain of youth. There are so many options out there, like botox, face lifts, and many other quick fixes to look younger. What ever happen to aging gracefully?

I am fortunate to be graced with great genes and so I look young for my age. I am also very good about keeping up a beauty routine. I wash my face every night and do my best to take care of my skin. However, I have been starting to see some of those fine lines around the eyes start to creep up. I guess I am no different from many women in the world, because I have recently been looking at different anti-aging products to help prevent those fine lines from inviting any more friends to the party that is my face. Because I do research for a living, I have difficulty purchasing many things without doing some research (Just ask Mr. Bear about my spreadsheets on digital cameras). But researching beauty and anti-aging products is different from researching digital cameras or TVs. There are a lot of anti-aging products out there and there are a lot of websites and consumer reviews. But what it all comes down to is that each person is different and each individual's skin has different needs. So how do you assess what is best for you? Research is important and can help, you can read reviews as to what works for different skin types. But a lot of it comes down to knowing your skin and trial and error.

I've currently been using Arbonne NutriMinC® RE9 product line. This is a product that is only available by direct sales and my friend had an Arbonne party and I bought the eye cream (retail $49) and night cream (retail $79) and actually became a consultant to utilize the consultant discount. The product worked pretty well and lasted quite a bit of time (over 3 months). I just ran out and was going to place another order in, but the price just seemed higher than what I really wanted to be spending. So I thought I should see if there was anything else out there that might be a better fit for my budget. After all, I wasn't absolutely set and in love with the Arbonne product as some other women are and there are still so many anti-aging products out there on the market. So I started to do a little research.

In my research, I've been hearing a lot of hype about Boots No. 7 Restore and Renew Beauty Serum. Apparently, this product is all the rave in Britain and it has just recently became available in the US sold at Target and CVS. When it first arrived to the US it was sold in limited quantities and quickly sold out. Women were scrambling to find it and buy it, it was being sold for more than it's retail price on ebay and amazon.com. So I wanted to find out what this hype was all about. What is it? From their website:

No7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum

Reveal younger looking, beautifully refined skin with this powerful blend of caring and skin restoring ingredients. Light and non-greasy, it glides on instantly softening and smoothing your skin. Then, with regular use, it works to renew your complexion, restoring radiance and helping to reduce the appearance of pores, fine lines and wrinkles in just 4 weeks. With No7 Time Resisting Night Cream concentrated levels of our unique antioxidant complex and skin-firming pro-retinol complex to boost and maintain skin's elasticity. Known in the UK as No7 Protect & Perfect, Britain's #1 anti-ageing sensation proven by independent scientists to really work.

Does it work? Well the reviews I have seen have all been really positive. So I went to Target to check it out. Target sells a No. 7 Anti-Ageing Essentials Skincare Pack which include the Restore & Renew Beauty Serum (retail $21.99), Time Resisting Night Cream (retail $19.99), and Time Resisting Day Cream (retail $19.99) all for $39.99 (a savings of over $20). All that was half the cost of the $80 night cream I was using, so I figured why not give it a try. If it works, I will use it again and save money in the long run by using a less expensive product, if it doesn't then I didn't waste a ton of money. Since it takes time and consistent use of a product to really see and changes, I will try it and report back after 4 weeks of use.

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