I can be a real SUCKER for beauty products; especially if they claim to make you look younger.

The older I am getting the more desperate I am becoming.

In the Economist magazine “Medieval noblewomen swallowed arsenic and dabbed on bats’ blood to improve their complexions; 18th-century Americans prized the warm urine of young boys to erase their freckles … The pain has not stopped the passion  from creating a $160 billion-a-year global industry … and … Americans spend more each year on beauty than they do on education (The beauty business).”

I am not that desperate to put urine on my face, but I would probably save lots of money by just getting a cosmetic and plastic surgery once rather than spending my money on different beauty products every few weeks or so – it’s just trial and error thing.

I have used and tried many products, by word of mouth by my friends or neighbors or beauty consultants and etc., but I really didn’t see significant difference to continue using the product – I haven’t said “wow, I found youth in a bottle” yet.

Yes, there are many products I am happy with, but in not in LOVE with.

Alright, back to the beauty stuff …

Youthful Essence

I have tried Susan Lucci’s Youthful Essence — basically, it a microdermabrasion home-kit skin care like Neutrogena and Lorel’s, but bit more expensive.

First of all, Youthful Essence is delivered to you automatically to your home every 90 days, but the funds are withdrawn from your checking account or credit card every month – amount of $35 (including shipping/handling charge).

I was really excited to use it for the first two weeks (honestly, my face felt like a baby’s butt on the first day), but I didn’t see any real difference in two weeks of usage.

My darkened skin (from scars) areas didn’t lighten up or “disappeared,” my wrinkles didn’t smooth away or diminished the look of wrinkles, and etc.

Susan Lucci claimed in the “Youthful Essence website “Polish away the years … you’re going to love the results!”  Youthful Essence

Well, not so much Lucci!

It’s really easy to fall for her advertisements and video comments because she looks so dang good – she hasn’t changed at all!  Of course, being really desperate doesn’t allow you to make rational choices either!

Basically all the pros and cons are similar all across the board –

Pros:
1)    Money back guarantee from official website
2)    Skin feels softer and smoother
3)    Disappearance of fine lines

Cons:
1)    Resurfacing cream crystals are hard to wash off
2)    Price
3)    Smell is not that great
4)    Have to join the club
5)    Can irritate real sensitive skin
6)    Complicated application procedure (use it every day for 3-5 days in a row, skip a week, and every day new facial areas are washed only)
7)    Some discoloration may occur
8)    Poor customer service – many claimed to have difficult time returning their products
9)    After returning it successfully some found additional charges from youthfulessence company – which took additional weeks to clear out

Even though there are more cons than pros here there are more number of people who are happy with the product than disappointed – average rating of 3 stars out of 5.

Sucan Lucci

My wonderful husband told me after I returned Lucci’s products, with tremendous disappointments, that Lucci gets the best of the best: i.e. personal trainers, weekly/monthly salons and spas, professional beauty treatments, and she doesn’t have to chase after three kids, driving the kids to different activities, cleaning up the house, cooking for the family, and etc.

After he assured me how beautiful I was I started to think “dang, he is right!”

She doesn’t have to all the things we have to do, and if I had less stress and all the money in the world to “take care of myself” than I would look real good to!

The beauty business.  The Economist.  May 22, 2003.  Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1795852 on February 26, 2009.

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