Strangest Skin Care Ingredients!

Who does not want to find a little magic to slow down that aging process? Nothing new- everybody wants to look forever young. Many women reach to Botox, some speak open about it and some do it secretly. We still don´t really know about the dangers though and not everybody can afford it (I am scared it has long term side effects AND I can´t afford it). So it is only natural to find the next best thing. Skin care brands try constantly to find new ingredients that work just as good and might be the magic that we need. The craziest ingredients get packed into our skin care because...oh well maybe it works...or it just sounds really intriguing? The 3 craziest skin care ingredients that I have tried are: diamonds, gold and truffles. But do they really work?

DIAMOND POWDER

The Forever Flawless Diamond Infused Eye Serum truly contains diamond powder! Can you believe it? For an outrageous $399 you can actually get yourself a nice pair of diamond earrings... I admit: the serum feels really nice. It is a light weight gel and smells very fresh and feels hydrating. However: after using the complete bottle up for many weeks, I did not feel, that I looked younger or saw any other drastic changes! (Read my full review here). Good to know: diamond powder is not toxic claims the EWG (Environmental Working Group). Furthermore I did not find any independent clinical trial or study that really proofs that diamond powder is effective. I highly doubt it is worth its price tag.

24K GOLD

The Isa Professional Xanadu Serum contains 24K Gold! Wow´sers! You can actually really see the tiny specks of gold glitter in it. It is a fresh smelling gel that quickly gets absorbed from your skin (Read my review here). However: is Gold really magic? I could not find any scientific evidence or clinical results for that and have not seen any major effects on my own skin. But: in high doses Gold can actually be toxic- although I doubt this serum contains enough to be toxic.

TRUFFLES

The Skin Co Truffle Therapy cream contains truffles! Not very easy to harvest those! Truffles are usually found under trees by raking the organic litter away with a 4-tine garden rake. The cream feels light weight like a lotion, yet hydrates just wonderfully. It smells clean and fresh, but with some "earthy" undertones- probably coming from the truffles. (Read my review here). Again: no independent clinical study available and you are left with just the claims from the brand. After using the bottle up, I did not see any major improvements on my skin.

My overall verdict:

There is no evidence for any of these ingredients that they truly work and will make you look younger or reduce wrinkles. We just want to believe- or hope that these might work. And skin care brands are not too shy to include any kind of ingredients and make their own claims.

From my personal experience (and yes: independent clinical trials for these ingredients are made!)  the best anti-aging ingredients currently available are:

• Retinol or Retin A, better know as Tretinoin 
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Vitamin C serum (see also: how to make your own Vitamin C serum!)
• AHA/BHA exfoliator (Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid or Salicylic Acid -either as an exfoliator, as a toner, a leave on treatment or as a chemical peel)

What´s the craziest skin care ingredient that you have tried?

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