Is Ginvera Green Tea Marvel Gel Marvelous?

Christina’s question: Any comments please on Ginvera Green Tea Marvel Gel?

The Right Brain’s cup of tea:

Before I can comment I have to answer this question: what IS Ginvera Green Tea Marvel Gel?

Very Ginvera

Ginvera Marketing Enterprise is a Kuala Lumpur based company that markets over 90 beauty care products in Malaysia and other parts of the Far East. Their Green Tea Marvel Gel was introduced in 1985 and is a popular blackhead treatment in that part of the world. The product appears to be a fairly straightforward alpha hydroxy acid treatment thickened with acrylic acid polymers (Carbomer.) Here are the ingredients:

Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract, Ginseng (Panax Ginseng) Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Powder, Germanium Velvet Deerhorn Extract, Lycium Extract, Angelica Archangelicae Extract, Carbomer, Alpha Hydroxy Acids, Methyl Paraben, Menthol, Cyclomethicone (and) Dimethicone, Fragrance, Delonised Water.

Marvelous marketing

Now for my comment – this product makes ridiculous claims. Here are two examples from Ginvera’s website:

1. Only Ginvera can remove deep layers of dead cells and blackheads.

2. Dermatologists say “blackheads, dead skin are the major cause of skin problems such as enlarged pores, acne, pigmentation, wrinkles, dry rough dull and aging skin.”

Come on! This maybe a perfectly fine acne treatment, but there’s no basis for a superiority claim like #1. And as far as #2 is concerned, the last time we checked, dermatologists do NOT attribute bad skin pigmentation and wrinkles to blackheads. Ginvera’s really gone overboard with claims that would not be permissible in mainstream markets like the US or EU. Nonetheless, a number of beauty blogs are raving about this product, so you might try it and find that you like it. But don’t spend a lot of money just because they tell you it’s a marvel.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Ginvera Green Tea Marvel Gel, like a zillion other alpha hydroxy acid products, may do a marvelous job of controlling acne. But the company only loses crediblity when it makes outrageous claims like the ones cited above.

What’s your favorite acne product? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.