FROM THE FRONT | Origins Plantscription Anti-Aging Serum set to launch

AND THE company is singing from the rooftops about it, using no less superlative a term than milestone.

Why? Because the organization has apparently discovered a new must-have ingredient, from leaf and bark extract of the African Anogeissus tree. Sustainably harvested in Ghana, it’s the star ingredient in the Origins Plantscription anti-aging serum.

Origins claims this star ingredient has the same effect on skin as retinoic acid, the vitamin A derivative we’ve all been going bonkers over in recent years. Apparently, this extract works by stimulating production of a protein that forms the elastic fibers in the skin to strengthen it. By speeding up cell turnover (which is what retinoic acid does), it also helps to ease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Other active ingredients include siegesbeckia, rosemary extract, peptides and vitamin C.

You’re supposed to get the benefits of an injection without the side effects after. That said, I’ve yet to come across a cream or beauty product that lives up to such claims. Injections, for one, are placed much deeper than the surface, where creams are applied and only partially absorbed. Second, to have a prescription-strength OTC product, you usually have to, well, have a prescription. Perhaps this newly discovered ingredient is Origins’s secret weapon, though, helping them to circumnavigate the process of getting a cream approved with OTC benefits but without prescription ingredients.

According to Jane Lauder, the general manager of Origins, “Our customers said they wanted anti-aging, but in a natural, healthy way, not through procedures or injections.”

Plantscription launches February, 2011, after five years of research and development, testing and clinical trials to back up the product’s claims. U.S. Origins stores like Macy’s, Dillard’s, Bon-Ton and Belk will sell 30-mL vials at $55 retail.

Read the original post here, written by www.beautywoome.com's Jessica for Smarter Beauty Blog.

SPA WATCH | Verta Spa London to Paris

 

THE NEWLY opened Hotel Verta in London’s Battersea, right next to the Heliport, by luxury hotel chain von Essen, boasts a brand new sparkly spa (rain showers, heated loungers, atmospheric hydrotherapy pool) and is open to the public – so if you’re in that part of town, it’s worth a visit. The staff is extremely friendly and willing to help. The spa is partnered with French beauty brand Anne Sémonin, and this is where I went to experience the Verta spa’s signature and tailor-made treatment, the two-hour London To Paris with Anne Sémonin (£200).

THE TREATMENT

My therapist Wendy, a former beauty school teacher, was extremely experienced and knowledgeable in all things beauty, and I was full of questions to begin with (What to do with ingrown hairs from waxing? Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate. What can I do about the small milia below my eyes? Use a quality eye make-up remover.) But I soon wound down as she got started on the black sea salt all-over-body scrub. This involved donning the little black paper panties, lying face down and turning over for application and then showering off. My skin felt extremely soft after the scrub.

Then a hot bubbling seaweed back treatment – Wendy dolloped the seaweed mix onto a sheet of foil, which I lay back onto; the sensation was warm and the bubbles like a mild massage. In the meantime, Wendy massaged both my feet and scalp. Next up was the facial, which, after cleansing, consisted of a mineral mask and a fantastic lymphatic drainage facial massage – Wendy gently pressed points on my face, neck and scalp with her fingers.

Finally some Oligoanne Serum for my dehydrated skin and Wendy’s hero product, which she uses night and day instead of a moisturiser, the 100% Active Serum to finish off.

THE RESULT

Two hours is a fantastic length of time to really slip into a relaxed, slumberous state. I loved the bubbling seaweed back treatment, the heat was so soothing and the lymphatic drainage facial massage was a real pleasure. My skin was soft from the body scrub and my face, with the freshly applied 100% Active Serum, was deliciously dewy and stayed that way all evening. This is definitely a product I would welcome into my life!

London To Paris with Anne Sémonin (£200)

Check out Spa Verta and Anne Sémonin for more information.

Written by Julia Rebaudo for beautywoome.com. Check out Julia's blog at Planet707.

SPONSORED POST | Olay Big British Beauty Poll

IF YOU'RE longing after a skincare serum – the beauty industry's product du jour – but can't stomach the hefty price tag many seem to carry, Olay is offering customers free 7ml samples of the Regenerist 3 Point Super Serum right now. Simply enter your address at this link so they can post it to you. There are 500,000 free samples through October 20^th, which sound respectively like a lot and a long time but keep in mnd that Olay is seriously popular, consistently lauded by readers and editors alike. We predict those samples will be gone long before the 20^th. So order that sample ASAP.

But that's not the only thing Olay wants to gift you this month. After you request a sample of the Super Serum, simple click on this link to take the Big British Beauty Poll by Olay.

Think Big Beauty doesn't listen to your needs (92% of women said as much in a recent survey*)? Olay doesn't think that makes sense either so they're giving you the chance to tell them what's most important for your skincare instead of the other way around. Olay's created this beauty census of sorts to give you a voice on everything from clinically proven beauty products; to top skincare concerns; to beauty buying habits; right through to discovering the nation’s most iconic beauty of all time.

It's simple: 21 questions, 4 minutes, better future beauty products and the chance to win one of 10 £1,000 prizes.

*Total responses 742 with 685 agreeing = 92%.  Survey conducted on www.supersavvyme.comin May 2010.