What's so fucking special about Crème de La Mer? With dupes! (From Of Faces and Fingers)

I have a couple of longish review-type posts (remember when I used to write those regularly?) that are half finished, but real work has been preventing me from completing them. Soon that real work will be over, and I'll have time to post those in between desperate job searching.

In the meantime, check out this fantastic comparison between the exorbitantly priced Crème de La Mer and some other, rather basic, and much cheaper moisturizing creams. The upshot is that, unless you believe the plant extracts in La Mer actually do something (follow the link above to find out why they probably don't), all these products are similar. There are some decent moisturizing ingredients in La Mer, but they aren't exclusive or expensive. I've reviewed the Curel Intensive Healing Cream before, and it's a brand name version of the stuff that hospitals or pharmacies provide to diabetics in huge tubs. Effective, for sure, but very utilitarian and certainly not worth its weight in gold.

All about parabens (from Of Faces and Fingers)

This is a spectacularly useful post about the function and safety of parabens in cosmetics, in which the author collects information from a variety of sources and evaluates the reliability of those sources. For example, she provides a nice critique of the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which is the source of many of the OMG TOXIC POISON CANCER scares that come up in relation to makeup and skin care ingredients.

Here is a summary of the post's conclusions, but I highly recommend reading the entire thing. It's fascinating and informative.

So to sum up - my conclusion is based on several key points I've touched on over the 4 headings:

1. The bulk of scientific data shows that parabens are safe, and they are determined to be safe for us in almost all jurisdictions.  2. The scientific literature that fuelled the anti-paraben movement can't prove causation, and in any case the authors themselves say that they can't draw a link and further study is needed.  3. Your body breaks down parabens applied topically through urine and bile.  4. Parabens are used in tiny concentrations at less than 1% in cosmetics and skincare  5. Paraben alternatives are not necessarily safer, or more effective.  6. Parabens are broken down naturally in our environment.

I just really love smart, critical writing about cosmetics.