Michael says: I liked very much your review of Ren products and thought to myself, “What would they say about my products?” Then answered myself, “Why not ask?” So, I am putting myself and my products up on the block. Would you be willing to tell me and your readers what you think of our ingredients, copy, etc?
The Right Brain responds:
Michael thanks so much for contacting us about your line of Emily Skin Soother products. Since you were brave enough to offer your products up for our review, the least we can do is give you our honest feedback. Below you’ll find a few statements taken from your website followed by our comments. So take a deep breath, here we go!
The Pros and Cons of Emily Skin Soothers
Emily: Our original creation, Baby and Adult Skin Soother was created because of our daughter’s baby eczema. It was born of a father’s love and concern.
Beauty Brains: Wow! You have to find that statement touching unless you’re a cold hearted bee-yatch like a certain lobe of the Beauty Brains. (Just kidding, LB!) Seriously though, we like they way Michael summarized his philosophy in an email to us:
“I am not trying to scare consumers, I am trying to reach out to people who have a similar mind set and concern. I do not think such statements will make someone who does not care suddenly worry about these ingredients. This type of statement is more a pledge to those people who are concerned that we will not use such ‘suspected’ ingredients because we can easily make a quality product without them.”
This is a much better rationale than companies who say “don’t use this because it causes cancer.”
Emily: It was created to soothe and beautify any type of dry and itchy skin condition.
Beauty Brains: While olive oil and beeswax will soothe dry skin, “soothing itching” is technically a drug claim and shouldn’t be made by a cosmetic product.
Emily: It is made of the bare, essential ingredients of the highest quality. We use olive oil, beeswax, and three herbs.”
Beauty Brains: While we don’t question the quality of your ingredients, let’s not to confuse naturalness with efficacy. There’s a reason that skin moisturizers contain silicones and mineral derived oil – these ingredients are better moisture barriers. You may not like these “unnatural ingredients” but they DO perform!
Emily: Skin Soothers products are natural and effective…powered by Chinese Herbs.
Beauty Brains: While we accept that olive oil and beeswax are good for skin because they provide emolliency and moisture retention, we’d like to know how the herbal blend “powers” the product. Do the herbs have proven benefits or are they just known for their folkloric uses?
Emily: We do not add anything unnecessary, so our products do not have colorants, added fragrance, preservative or any unpronounceable nasties.
Beauty Brains: Ok, Michael, be careful with this one. First of all, you’re implying your herbs are “necessary” without any proof of efficacy (see above). Second, you’re promoting fear of chemicals with your remark about “unpronounceable nasties.” Not everything with a scientific name is bad for you. For example, the official names for the herbs in your product are “Potentillae Chinensis” and “Mentha Haplocalyx.” Those names don’t exactly roll off your tongue, but that doesn’t mean they’re harmful!
Emily: Our herbs …are from an American company that batch tests all of its herbs for contaminants, heavy-metals, and pesticides and does not use sulfur preservatives.
Beauty Brains: We’re not sure how much of a danger this represents, but we give them credit for at least trying to support their claims about having pure products. Not all companies are this thorough.
Emily: A 2 oz jar costs $14.00.
Beauty Brains: We’re used to expensive products, but $14 bucks for 2 ounces of olive oil and beeswax seems a bit high!
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Compared to other companies we’ve seen, Emily Skin Soothers has a refreshingly realistic approach to marketing an “all natural” product. While we nit-picked a few technical points above, overall we respect the honest way they offer as pure a product as possible without making exaggerated claims. And most importantly, they DON’T try to scare you into buying something you don’t need.
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Dear Right Brain–
Thank you very much for your review of our Emily Skin Soothers product and content.
As to claims, thank you for pointing out my error. I will make changes to our copy due to your comments. I did ask a lawyer to give us feedback and he did not point this out, and I was under the impression that ‘soothe’ was not a medical claim. So, thank you.
I agree with you that certain chemical ingredients can perform jobs well. I just prefer not to use them on myself or my daughter. I choose to use natural ingredients which I find do the job quite well and I personally feel more comfortable with.
As to effectiveness of the herbs, I know what you are implying. No, we have not yet done double-blind studies on our formulations. We are a young company and as you know, research studies are prohibitively expensive. If someone were to come along and offer to take our product and test it (not on animals=more expensive) for effectiveness I would be happy to offer it up. And yes, the effectiveness of the herbs we use are based on their “folkloric uses”. That said, my own world-view is that 3000 to 5000 years of research and development and clinical (“folkloric”) use, handed down through classic texts to the present day, is valid substantiation of effectiveness–and I look forward to research that will further confirm this.
I created this product soley for my daughter. When later I used it with patients I began to receive incredible feedback in the form of testimonials. It was at that point that we decided to launch the company and offer the products to the general public.
Now I know that in the mind of scientists, testimonials do not provide sufficient proof because of the significant possibility for a placebo effect. But, I take great pride in the positive feedback and testimonials we have received from parents who have used the product with great success on children. As you know, a very young child does not exhibit a placebo effect, so if a product diminishes their symptoms–that is signicant “proof” of effectiveness to me.
My own philosophy is to use as few ingredients as possible to get the job done, so I am unapologetically biased against products with huge lists of ingredients that I do not recognize or know about. That is my own bias and world view and I recognize that. I try to make products that have very few and very simple ingredients. They are not JUST “2 oz. of olive oil and beeswax”, but they are close. They are based on formulas from traditional chinese herbalism and pared down to make them extremely simple–a product I feel comfortable putting on my own daughter, my wife and myself.
Please put your scientist’s brain on hold and try that bar of soap I sent you and tell me if your skin does not feel better than when you use big brand soaps….
Though we differ in our perspectives, I do thank you for your honest critique and the daily info and insight that you provide on thebeautybrains.com. Sincerely,
Mike Arsenault
Emily Skin Soothers, Inc
Thanks to both Mike and the BB’s for providing this case study in evaluating a product’s ingredients AND its promotional literature. A GREAT opportunity for us to see both sides of the story.
I doubt that someone like Dr. Perricone would have the guts to submit himself to such scrutiny! Well done!
To whom it may concern at Beauty Brains. I have been trying to do some research on Arbonne as a friend of mine just gave me a kit to give to my wife. She has started to use it and we are both appalled by the price for these things. Obviously most of the cost is going to perpetrate the Amway like distribution system. Your site has some great information on making decisions on these types of products. One the things I was curious about was their “patent pending claim” I know that you have not found an application. But it seems there is one and I found it using google patent search. Here is the link. http://www.google.com/patents?id=nIqfAAAAEBAJ&dq=Daily+Skin+Care+Regimen
The application lists all the ingredients to the anti aging products. The patent is for the “system” not the individual products” I would love to get you take on their products based on the submitted ingredient lists. Thanks
This is incredibly interesting. I worry that it apparently has no preservatives… it must surely have an extremely limited shelf life? I am coming round to natural products more and more, but I don’t hate chemical ingredients. I mean, what would I do without silicone in my haircare? The horror!
Curious,
How do you know the patent you refer to is related to Arbonne? There is nothing in it that would indicate any affiliation with the company. Just wondering.
But as far as this patent goes, you have to understand that if you’ve got a good enough lawyer, you can pretty much patent anything. This patent is full of unsubstantiated claims about ingredients like vitamin C, vitamin E, copper, etc. No where in this patent do they actually provide any proof that this skin care system will give you any better effects over other products. The formulas listed in the patent are not really different from anyone else’s formulas so there is nothing unique offered. The only unique thing is that you are supposed to follow their 10-step approach. But no proof is offered (beyond a theoretical discussion) that using these products and follow the 10-steps will actually provide any noticeable benefit.
The formulas in this patent will work perfectly fine but they are not special or worth paying more for.
Multilevel marketing operations like Arbonne all follow a basic formula: start with mediocre products, overcharge people, get people to convert their friends and family to sales people, and the ones who are at the top rake in all the money. It’s a sales system that can’t possibly work (and doesn’t) for all but a tiny few.
Legitimate products are sold to consumers through stores or online and don’t require you to become a sales person to buy them. If the products were truly special, you wouldn’t need an MLM system to market them.
Hi Joy–
Regarding your question about preservatives, this very site – Beauty Brains – did a great post on preservatives in cosmetics a few days ago. Here is the link:
http://thebeautybrains.com/2008/04/25/7-reseasons-there-arent-more-preservative-free-cosmetics/
In our Emily Skin Soothers products we can get away with not having preservatives because of reason #4 which explains:
“4….
It is possible to make preservative free cosmetics. You can use special packaging or make them anhydrous (water-free). Unfortunately, both of these options can double, triple, or quadruple the cost for manufacturing.
Our Emily Skin Soother products are anhydrous, they do not contain water. Which means we use more of the ingredients listed on the label, which does raise the cost of manufacturing, but is worth it to us. Thanks for your question.
Left Brain,
Thanks for the speedy response. A couple of things point to Arbonne:
1-Candace R Keefe is listed in the application as one of the “inventors”. She is also listed on Arbonne’s website as Sr. Vice President, Product Development and Field Events.
http://www.arbonne.com/company/info/team.asp
Also the applications refers to “Bio-Hydria” which is a registered mark with Arbonne.
It also refers extensively to “nanospheres” which are used extensively in it’s marketing material.
The steps listed also are in lock step with the instructions given with the anti-aging sample kit.
Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…
I agreed with you whole heartedly about MLMs. They are set up to appeal to three things we could do with less of in this world: insecurity, fear and greed.
Thanks again
I am surprised that noone seems to notice that you are just out to make a buck like the MLM people. How much are you pulling in on your advertising now? When people find products or an avenue to share ideas and thoughts (which is what your blog is all about) that works for them, why is it somehow negative if they want to share those products or thoughts? Is a MLM person somehow deceiving people in the fact that they are out to make a living selling something (they believe in) just like large companies that sell the cheap stuff? You are out to educate consumers? Really? Aren’t you just out to make a buck too? It is incredible the kind of junk that you allow on this blog under the guise of helping to inform consumers on the evils of “expensive” beauty products. Isn’t judging whether something is expensive or not expensive based entirely on relativity? My face and body never looked or felt as nice to me when I continued to use the cheap stuff and buy into your “scientific” information that those products your blog espouses are just as good as the products sold by MLM companies such as Arbonne. Folks, please have faith in yourself and believe this;The proof is in your mirror. Noone is stealing money out of your pocket when you purchase “expensive” beauty products. You make that choice yourself. Grow up people and trust your own instincts. If you like it, feel confident in your choice to buy it. If you do not like a product simply do not buy it. There is not another human being on this planet that can force anyone to purchase anything.
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