In the never ending search for the foundation of youth it seems that these days women are willing to try just about anything to make those dreaded fine lines wrinkles and age spots go away. Some products tout all kinds of unusual ingredients from bits of gold to a vinotherapy to sea algae.
Well, a new brand it joining the ranks of the sea algae set and is already set to be a top seller at the skincare and makeup candyland known as Sephora. Algenist — features a star ingredient, alguronic acid, discovered by scientists in San Francisco while researching microalgae.
Algenist moisturizers, serum and eye balm have just launched at Sephora.com and will go on sale in the company’s stores this week. “When we saw it, we thought it was so unique, such innovation, something our clients could really understand,” Allison Slater VP of Marketing for Sephora said of the line to the NY Times. “The whole story about this being an unexpected discovery.” “Think about how algae can live anywhere, live in the coldest of places, or the harshest of places, and think about translating that to skin care,” she said.
Though Dermatologists might not share the same enthusiasm as Sephora’s marketing team, they agree a story about a product’s genesis can be just as important for generating sales as the product’s demonstrable efficacy. Think of Crème de la Mer, which, just like Algenist, contains sea matter, and also has a scientific back story. For Le Mer is was an aerospace physicist trying to find something to heal his scars from a bad lab accident when doctors and dermatologists wrote off any cures.
The patent-pending alguronic acid in Algenist is a “single, purified, highly bioactive compound,” said Tony Day, the vice president for research and development at Solazyme the parent company of Algenist, and therefore delivers “much higher activity to the skin” than products using only a microalgae extract.
After a series of scientific testing on the products, Dr’s concluded that statistical significance was found in both lab tests and clinical studies on groups of potential women. And, according to the company, a study of 30 women showed that after 10 days of using the Algenist serum, they had a 25 percent decrease in wrinkles as shown by silicone replicas of their faces.
Sephora is introducing the line in 800 locations in 8 countries all at one time, and this rollout is also coordinated with QVC. “It was a brand nobody has ever heard of,” said Allen Burke, the senior adviser for beauty strategy and development at QVC. Products range from $65-$95
1 comment