Does Madonna’s Favorite Product, Egyptian Magic Sk…

Tessa Talks Like An Egyptian:
Hello lovely Beauty Brains, I’ve come across this, ahem, ‘miracle cure’ all purpose skin & hair cream – Egyptian Magic, and would like to have you expert opinion on whether it’s worth having or a big waste of £20 (and I’m a student, so £20 is a big waste!)

Ingredients (from their website):
Olive oil
Bees wax
Honey
Bee pollen
Royal jelly
Bee propolis
Divine love.The Right Brain’s Honey Of A Response:
Hi right back at you, Tess, and thanks for the question. Also, thanks for listing the ingredients for us. We love it when our readers so some of their own research! But now, on to your answer:

Here is perhaps the most interesting “fact” about Egyptian Magic: According to Daily Candy, Madonna doesn’t leave home without it. And she’s not alone – the Magic website is filled with testimonials from people who swear this stuff works on everything from dog bites to dandruff.

What’s so amazing about this product that the “Queen Bee” of pop music and so many others are so faithful to it? We have no clue! From a technology perspective, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy here. Olive oil and beeswax are frequently used in cosmetic creams and lotions but they’ve never been shown to have any unusual healing properties.

Honey, while it can be a good (albeit sticky) humectant to bind moisture to skin, doesn’t work any better than a dozen other ingredients that have the same function.

And as far as pollen, royal jelly, and bee propolis are concerned – we can’t find any evidence that they have any special function either. In fact, according to Dr. Stephen Barrett over at Quackwatch, they can all cause allergic reactions! So they may actually be BAD for your skin!

Finally, we assume the “divine love” ingredient is just a joke.

Oh and by the way, these are the only ingredients that Magic lists but there must be more in the formula. At the very least you’d need borax or another emulsifier to make the oil and water mix. (Assuming there is water in the product – we can’t tell without seeing a sample or a full ingredient list.)

In any case, there doesn’t seem to be much science behind this product. Their website lists dozens of testimonials (including one from a doctor) but testimonials don’t really mean very much – for every one fan letter, they might have received 50 complaint letters saying it doesn’t work. There’s no indication of any scientific testing to prove that Magic really works.

The Brains‘ Bottom Line:
Is Egyptian Magic a big waste? Probably not completely, it could be a very nice moisturizing product. But, at 30 bucks for a 4 oz jar it’s not cheap. And based on the fact that there’s no apparent technology behind this product and no test data to prove it’s efficacy, the Beauty Brains have no choice but to assume that most of it’s appeal is based on marketing hype.