Is avon’s anew hiding hyaluronic acid?

Gracie asks about Anew…I am trying to decipher an ingredient list for Avon’s new product ” Anew Clinical Derma-Full X3 Facial Filling Serum.” It is described as ” injectable-grade hyaluronic acid — the same proven facial-filing ingredient injected by dermatologists–is now available in an at-home topical serum & cream.” The sodium hylauronate (hyaluronic acid ?) is 8th. After reading your “How to read an ingredient list” article, it doesn’t look like the hyaluronic acid is a main player in the ingredient list…unless it is disguised as another name?

The Right Brain is high on hyaluronic acid:

Hyaluronic Acid (and it’s neutralized form, sodium hyaluronate) is a highly effective moisturizer. It binds water to the skin when delivered from leave on products. Because this compound is so effective it doesn’t take a lot to be beneficial so the fact that it’s the 8th ingredient on the list doesn’t bother us all that much. There’s something else that bothers us a lot more!

Arguing about Avon’s Anew

Our gripe with this product is the statement you quoted above:

” injectable-grade hyaluronic acid — the same proven facial-filing ingredient injected by dermatologists–is now available in an at-home topical serum & cream”

This claim implies that the hyaluronic acid in Anew delivers a similar benefit to an injection treatment. This is obviously not true. Injectable fillers plump up wrinkles from the inside out by filling them in with hyaluronic acid or other polymers. Topical creams and lotions have a superficial moisturizing but they do not penetrate the skin and do not have any long lasting effect on wrinkles. So Anew may be a very good moisturizer (which is important) but Avon should not be comparing their topical cream with hyaluronic acid to the injectable version as a ploy to get you to buy it. (As a side note, you may want to read this previous about injectable wrinkle fillers like Restylane causing arthritis.)

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Anew may be great for your skin but in our opinion Avon is presenting their product in a very misleading light. We think they could have much more honest (and just as compelling) if they had said something like the “Anew contains hyaluronic acid one of the most powerful, and most natural, moisturizing agents on the entire planet.” Shame on you Avon!

Have you ever had injections to fill in wrinkles? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know if it worked better than wrinkle creams.