Olay Regenerist 3-Piece Set
PHOTO: Drugstore.com

Which anti-wrinkle cream actually works? Fellow Makeup Moxies, this is a tough question with an even tougher answer. According to the January 2007 issue of Consumer Reports, there may be some anti-wrinkle creams that work better than others, but, on the whole, anti-wrinkle creams “on average [make] little difference in the skin’s appearance.”

Pitting luxury-priced brands against drugstore brands, Consumer Reports recruited 204 women between the ages of 30 and 70 — all with light skin, which is the type most susceptible to developing fine lines — to serve as test subjects. Each woman applied the test product on one side of her face as well as the laboratory’s standard moisturizer on the other side of her face (each were packaged so that she didn’t know which was which).

Over a period of 12-weeks, Consumer Reports researchers recorded any changes in wrinkle depth and skin roughness as well as each woman’s personal opinion of the products. In addition, independent “sensory panelists” examined “before,” “during,” and “after” photos of the crow’s-feet area of each subject. To preserve objectivity, however, the panelists were not told which photo was which.

My darlings, I hate to have to tell you how disappointing the results were. After evaluating the photo assessments and instrument measurements, Consumer Reports concluded that, on average, the test subjects showed only slight improvements. Furthermore, while some creams may have worked better for some women than others, “none came close to completely eliminating fine lines and wrinkles.”

Consumer Reports was careful not to give any product its bona fide seal of approval and divided its final rankings into three categories: “slightly more effective,” “average performance,” and “slightly less effective.”

Topping off the ratings at #1 in the “slightly more effective” category was — surprise! The 3-Piece Olay Regenerist Collection, which consists of the Enhancing Lotion, Perfecting Cream and Daily Regenerating Serum (approx. $19 each). Lancome Paris Renergie came in at #2 followed by RoC Retin-Ox+ at #3.

The rest of the rankings are as follows:

Category: “Average Performance”
4. Neutrogena Visibly Firm Night Cream with Active Copper
5. Avon Anew Alternative Intensive Age Treatment
6. L’Oreal Paris Dermo Expertise Wrinkle De-Crease With Boswelox Advanced Wrinkle Corrector and Dermo Smoother
7. StriVectin-SD Intensive Concentrate for Existing Stretch Marks

Category: Slightly Less Effective”
8. La Prairie Cellular
9. RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle

The moral of the story? Take care to prevent premature wrinkles since there’s no magic potion that will completely undo skin damage. That means you have to keep slathering on the sunscreen and drinking your 8 glasses of water a day.

I should also mention something extremely interesting in the Consumer Reports article. CR actually left the top-performing product out of its final rankings (the ones which I provided for you above). Without going into any details, CR briefly mentioned that the French cream, Diadermine Expert Rides 3D, actually produced the best results out of all the products. The product was deliberately left off the list, however, because it is not available in the U.S. — and, no, according to CR, it’s not available online, either.

Paris, anyone?

In the meantime, Drugstore.com is offering a great deal on a trial pack of the three Olay Regenerist Products tested by Consumer Reports. For less than the price of even just one of the products, you can get all three and try them out in this set: The Olay Regenerating Collection

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