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Jenny Mu

Skin Deep - Gold Face Cream - A Costly Leap of Faith - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • People who sell creams with visible gold flecks talk about the ability of those flecks to warm the skin and make it conducive to other ingredients. People who sell gold in nano form — that is, in microscopic particles suspended in a liquid mixture known as a colloid — look down on this crowd, saying that gold can confer benefits only when it is broken down small enough to penetrate the skin.
  • But is it true that gold has therapeutic qualities? That depends if you ask someone who is selling it suspended in cream or someone who went to medical school. Dermatologists speak with one voice, saying that gold cannot help you, but it absolutely can hurt you, causing inflammatory reactions like contact dermatitis (which may be what happened to me). In high doses, gold can be toxic, but these products probably don’t contain enough of it to make that happen, doctors say.
  • At best, they do nothing, and at worst, they can give you irritation of the skin,”
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  • “intensive medical searches on this very ingredient” and found that “there are absolutely no scientific studies that show that gold has any effect in firming or revitalizing the skin, nor that it reduces wrinkles or gives skin a plumped, golden glow.”
  • “Colloidal gold does help to maintain your skin’s elasticity and firmness,” she said. “Gold itself is known to have very soothing benefits to it.”
  • a line of products that contain colloidal platinum — including a cream that costs $1,000 an ounce
  • outlined a number of benefits: gold, she said, is hypoallergenic, stimulates blood circulation, reduces sunspots and acts as an antioxidant.
  • “The gold actually acts like a small charger, because it’s metal and we have electricity in our bodies,” she said. “Whenever gold comes into contact with our bodies, it gives a boost of activity, which is good for restoring the lost elasticity properties of the tissue.”
  • Cosmetics makers also habitually cite the use of gold in medicine, where it is given to patients with rheumatoid arthritis and has been used — only experimentally — as a possible cancer treatment. Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, a professor and cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic, said that while gold nanoparticles show promise, they are “highly toxic when injected in high doses in mice.” And the size of the nanoparticles matters a lot, he said, adding that it was unclear if the particles in the gold face creams were the right size to penetrate the skin.
  • “As a scientist, I am very skeptical unless I see research,”
  • Ms. Genovese pointed out that people keep buying her company’s gold line because they perceive that it works.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      Gold nanoparticles do have a lot of applications in research, but in skincare??
    • Jenny Mu
       
      Clearly, there are no benefits in gold face creams.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      This just goes to show that these cosmetic companies are just using whatever material is more expensive in their face creams so they can jack up the price. First gold, then platinum...
    • Jenny Mu
       
      This seems like a load of nonsense, but maybe this warrants further research.....
    • Jenny Mu
       
      placebo effect?
Jenny Mu

eBay Guides - What is Arbutin The most common skin lightener. - 1 views

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    really helpful guide to arbutin, the most common skin lightener
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    I think that talking about skin lightening, which is really important in old ladies with dark spots, could be a good blog post. I think this site is really helpful in terms of explaining things thoroughly but in an easyish to understand way too. It appears that because theres a glucose attached to the molecule of arbutin, it makes it much more effective. This kind of relates to chemistry so thats good :D
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    ooh its good that it explains the mechanics of it since usually people just put stuff on their face w/o knowing how it works. i'll cover this one.
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    Wait this is a great article because it really explains the detailed structure of arbutin as well as how it works to lighten skin. The alpha vs beta aspect could also potentially be interesting to expand upon.
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    From what I understand by reading it, the glucose added onto the hydroquinone makes it safer. There was also a mention of 'anti-cancer activity' on melanoma cells. This can definitely be expanded upon since it is something so different from everything else researched.
Amanda Jara

Soap and Saponification - Chemistry - 4 views

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    We can relate this post on hydrolysis and what we just did this past chapter with solutions.
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    maybe we can also look at how different soaps utilize this technology
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    The chemistry behind soaps could be a really interesting topic. I know in AP Chemistry we were talking about how some soaps just remove the oils on your skin, but it is also really important for soaps to moisturize your skin as well as clean it so that your skin doesn't get really dry.
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    Sorry I just realized that that last comment wasn't totally related to the article but it is another aspect of soaps that we could look into. It could also be interesting to compare the ingredients of different soaps and see if the differences really affect their performance.
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    It's not related to this article but it is related to what we're learning in class/cosmetics - I smell a possible blog post.
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    Going off of what Katie said about soaps removing the oils on you skin, I know some people who have really sensitive skin and actually break out into rashes after using certain soaps. Maybe we can look why that happens, (is it the removal of oils, or the addition of chemicals that are supposed to help moisturize the skin). From there we can probably find the ingredient that leads to such effects.
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    That's a good idea - the "or." Perhaps it is actually both? And these ingredients that supposedly help moisturize your skin, how are they passing testing if they dry it out? Things to look into.
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    It looks like a this topic could really tie in with the last topic in advanced chem in terms of polar and non-polar molecules. Yay connections :)
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    Maybe we can go even further and see if it is the different combinations of ingredients that causes reactions. Perhaps it may be the case that one ingredient may be harmless if it is alone, but when combined with something else, it can change its properties.
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    I'm in the process of writing a blog post on soaps, and iin my research, I basically found that soaps are made from fats and salts, which make the non polar and polar, and so that lets them bind to non polar things like grease and polar things like water, and they lets them wash stuff away. Thats a way we can relate this to the stuff we're learning in class :)
Andrew Kang

Topical simvastatin shown to accelerate wound healing in diabetes - 3 views

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    maybe we should look at the chemistry behind simvastatin - how it can penetrate the skin? after that it's a lot of biology 
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    Really interesting article although this seems to be straying a little from cosmetics. It also might be hard to relate this back to what we are discussing in class. Looking at cosmetics that also help heal people's bodies could be a possible blog post.
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    Yeah that's what I was worried about. And good idea!
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    I like the idea of just looking at how it penetrates the skin, and I think we can relate it back to cosmetics through that because a lot of cosmetic products need to find effective ways to get their ingredients to penetrate the skin, because otherwise, they wouldn't really work. just an idea
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    Kind of going off of what Katie said about cosmetics healing the body, you can always find the foundation commercials advertising regenerating ingredients that "take years off your face." it can be a different angle to discuss instead of usual topic of how facial cosmetics cause premature aging.
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    People often forget that cosmetics also encompasses things that benefit your health as well. I made one blog post already about how anti-aging creams work but I never looked at foundation and other products.
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    That could be a really cool blog post Andrew- makeup that is actually beneficial to your skin. I know there are some concealers that not only cover acne but actually contain ingredients that help heal it! I'm sure there are lots of other products like that.
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    A lot of commercials say that their product will help clear skin, but how many actually do? And what do they use to do it?
Jenny Mu

Beauty Antioxidants: Facial Attraction | Nutritional Outlook - 0 views

  • And while these are all products that are topically applied—a concept consumers are familiar and comfortable with—more consumers are coming around to the idea that the same ingredients that are found in lotions and potions might also be able to influence outward appearance when incorporated in the diet.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      Which way is better? topical treatments or oral ingestion
  • “There is human clinical evidence that these yellow carotenoids act like internal sunscreen to protect and improve skin health,” he says, referring to a 2007 study that tested the oral and topical effects of lutein and zeaxanthin over 12 weeks. (P Palombo et al., “Beneficial long-term effects of combined oral/topical antioxidant treatment with the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin on human skin: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study,” Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, vol. 20, no. 4 (2007):199-210.) “Statistically significant, favorable effects were seen on three skin function outcomes, including hydration, photoprotection, and lipid damage,” says Bhattacharya. “Higher oral doses of zeaxanthin were shown to provide effective protection against sunburn, which could help reduce the risks of skin cancer, premature aging, and wrinkling.”
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    • Jenny Mu
       
      What inside them is acting like an internal sunscreen? Chemically, how does it work?
  • Pycnogenol is one of the few antioxidants shown to effectively neutralize all oxygen radical species. It says this is especially important to the skin, as even low-to-moderate UV exposure generates oxygen radicals in the dermis.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      Neutralization of oxygen radical species. Once again, we should look into the chemical process of how this happens. The transfer of electrons etc.
Amanda Jara

Skin Deep - Gold Face Cream - A Costly Leap of Faith - NYTimes.com - 2 views

    • Amanda Jara
       
      we can look up other common ingredients that cause allergic reactions...ie arbutin
    • Katie Rigdon
       
      I think allergies could be a really interesting topic to add to our blog because, like Jenny said, we are kind of all over the place and I think we need some topics so skin allergies (to things in cosmetics) could be one of them!
    • Jenny Mu
       
      But we also have to keep the topic focused on chemistry, and allergies could really easily go into biology or something like that. but there is a chemistry side to allergies too, so maybe that could work
    • Andrew Kang
       
      The article kept stressing the benefits of colloidal gold as opposed to gold in flakes or just applied to the skin. Perhaps we could look at nanochemistry in cosmetics - it was nanoparticles that gave the colloidal cream its advantage and with anything you apply to your skin perhaps there is consideration given to the substance on the molecular scale for its efficacy.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      But we should also consider the element itself. Whether in nanoparticles or in flakes, what scientific evidence is there that gold is good for the skin? Or is it just one big, expensive scam...
Katie Rigdon

Sunscreen - 2 views

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    Sunscreen (also known as sunblock) is a lotion, spray or other topical product that helps protect the skin from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and which reduces sunburn and other skin damage, ultimately leading to a lower risk of skin cancer.
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    This one helps further explain what I posted down there about para-amino benzoic acid, titanium oxide, and zinc oxide. It seems that para-amino benzoic acid is similar to oxybenzone, which this article says absorbs the UV rays, which is how it helps protect your skins. The metal oxides merely reflect them off. I think the mechanism by which sunscreens help protect is interesting
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    Yay! Looks like we're making some connections between blog posts!!! I'll be sure to tie mine into yours using that information!
Katie Rigdon

The Chemistry Behind Moisturizers - 1 views

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    Hey guys so the interesting aspect of this article is the part about emulsions. Emulsions are basically mixtures of water, oil, and surfactant (something that binds to both oil and water and therefore helps them combine). This topic is interesting in terms of moisturizers because your skin needs oil to moisturizer it but just putting oil on our skin is very messy. Emulsions allow for neat and tidy moisturizers for our skin!
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    So bringing back an old article, do you guys think we could relate this to what we're learning in class by looking at the process of mixing water, oil, and surfactant. Because water and oil naturally repel, do you guys think that getting them to mix together would be an endothermic reaction, because thats not how they want to be? Just a random thought :D
Katie Rigdon

The Insect Repellent DEET | Pesticides | US EPA - 2 views

  • After completing a comprehensive re-assessment of DEET, EPA concluded that, as long as consumers follow label directions and take proper precautions, insect repellents containing DEET do not present a health concern. Human exposure is expected to be brief, and long-term exposure is not expected. Based on extensive toxicity testing, the Agency believes that the normal use of DEET does not present a health concern to the general population. EPA completed this review and issued its reregistration decision (called a RED) in 1998. (More about REDs)
  • Read and follow all directions and precautions on this product label. Do not apply over cuts, wounds, or irritated skin. Do not apply to hands or near eyes and mouth of young children. Do not allow young children to apply this product. Use just enough repellent to cover exposed skin and/or clothing. Do not use under clothing. Avoid over-application of this product. After returning indoors, wash treated skin with soap and water. Wash treated clothing before wearing it again. Use of this product may cause skin reactions in rare cases. The following additional statements will appear on the labels of all aerosol and pump spray formulation labels: Do not spray in enclosed areas. To apply to face, spray on hands first and then rub on face. Do not spray directly onto face.
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    It's a good thing insect repellent is not harmful, since I know, at least personally, that it is essential during summer months. This can be another example of the media and paranoid consumers over-exaggerating the truth about certain products.
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    I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I remember one time I sprayed bug spray with deet all over my legs, and some of it got on my toes, and my nail polish started to dissolve and come off like it does when I use nail polish remover... Maybe there is some chemical relationship between deet and acetone, perhaps the structure or something else that causes both to be able to take off nail polish. Then again, this isn't the most relevant/pertinent of questions. Just an interesting thought I had.
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    that's definitely relevant - jenny! and if there is a relationship between deet and acetone, what does it simply about the safety of deet? acetone isn't exactly a child-friendly chemical.
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    That would be a really interesting topic. I'm going to do some research right now!
Katie Rigdon

Cosmetic Chemistry Lab Uses New Pentapharm Peptide In Potent Anti-Aging Eye Serum - 0 views

    • Katie Rigdon
       
      Anticoagulants, antifibrinolytics and haemostatics are three more topics to pursue under teh larger topic of anti-aging cosmetics
  • anticoagulants, antifibrinolytics and haemostatics.
  • Syn-Coll,
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  • Syn-Coll stimulates the collagen synthesis in human fibroblasts. Skin aging and chronic UV exposure particularly, leads to degenerative changes in skin. The degenerative changes in skin are characterized by distinct alterations in the composition of the dermal extra cellular matrix.
  • Tissue growth factor is known as the key element in the synthesis of collagen and binds to a particular sequence in the TSP molecule. This sequence is known as ARG-PHE-LYS.
  • As a molecule able to activate TGF, Syn-Coll is considered to be an ideal aqueous based peptide. It contains a unique sequence designed to mimic the human body's own mechanism to product collagen via TGF. Accordingly, Syn-Coll actively compensates for any collagen deficit, thus making the skin look younger and rejuvenated.
  • The results of the Syn-Coll clinical studies are astounding. After 84 days of twice-daily application, a panel of 60 volunteers experienced 2.5% Syn-Coll parameters average relief (Rz) and maximum relief (Rt) significantly decreased by -12%: -22 μm and -36 μm respectively (p= 0.05) characterizing smoothing and anti wrinkle effects.
    • Katie Rigdon
       
      Looks like this ingredient actually works!
Amanda Jara

The Health (and Beauty) Dangers of Common Soap & A Top-Recommended Alternative - 1 views

  • These are some of the most common health symptoms that studies have linked to ingredients found in common commercial soaps and commercial personal care products:
  • Today, 75% of liquid soaps and over 30% of bar soaps in the US are antibacterial, all containing the synthetic chemical triclosan.
  • Has been shown to kill your skin cells
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  • Dries your skin
  • Can aggravate skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis Does nothing to prevent most illnesses, since colds, flues and more are typically viral (and antibacterial only kills bacteria, not viruses) Dioxin, a highly carcinogenic may be formed during the manufacturing process of triclosan, making it a likely contaminant.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      It seems as though there was one of the email chains going around in the nineties that said that SLS was a carcinogen, Snopes did an article on it,where they found that the myth was false Even though SLS is not a carcinogen we can see if it has other health effects
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    I don't know if we could actually take anything from this site, but it's a really good place start looking into. It seems that triclosan and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate are big issues that can be further researched. They are very likely to be found in other body cleansing cosmetics.
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    I definitely agree that Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a pretty big issue, you always see products boasting that they are "Sulfate free!" and what not. I believe I actually tweeted about SLES a while back, but never expanded upon it. But I think we should do more research into what makes that compound so dangerous and why its bad to be in personal products
Jenny Mu

Nanomaterials and Hormone Disrupters in Sunscreens | EWG's Skin Deep® | 2012 ... - 1 views

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    This site gives a really good overview of the top ingredients in sunscreens, and their pros and cons. 
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    Katie - I think this would help with your blog post
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    So it seems that the biggest concerns with sunscreens and their components is that some of the components, like mineral formulations like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, or oxybenzone, are small enough to penetrate the skin and be toxic!
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    Like you mentioned before, toxicity is something interesting we could look into. Toxicity with regard to both us as humans, and our environment, like the aquatic life that would come into contact with some of the chemicals in these sunscreens. Katie, maybe you should add this to your blog post :)
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    I definitely will add this! Looks like some really helpful information that people should know about.
Katie Rigdon

CCMR - Ask A Scientist! - 2 views

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    The radiation that comes from the sun, known as the solar spectrum, contains the visible sunlight that we see as well as invisible components of "light." The different parts of the solar spectrum have different wavelengths. Some of the solar spectrum is blocked by the earth's atmosphere, including the ozone layer that people are concerned about losing.
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    I thought this article was really interesting as it talks about how different sunscreens differ from each other based on the frequencies of light they absorb.
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    I think I will write my next blog post on this topic so I am going to post a few more links and let me know what you guys think!
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    relating it to chemistry, it would be interesting to look at the different chemical compounds and which one help deflect which uv rays. I think this site mentions para-amino benzoic acids, zinc oxide, and titanium oxide.
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    everyone knows that there's chemistry behind sunscreen but it'd be cool to finally to see HOW the chemistry works! good idea
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    Yeah! It's also kind of interesting because there are two different types of sunscreen: chemical and physical. I can talk about the differences there too!
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    I wonder if the sunscreens that created the thick, white 'goo' is stronger and more efficient than the transparent sunscreens used today. Most bottles of sunscreen say to reapply within a certain number of hours, so it can be interesting to see how older formulas of sunscreen compare to those most commonly used today.
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    That's a really good point, Amanda. Those thick white sunscreens that just show up on your skin opaquely probably helps to protect your skin just by blocking out the sun... Nowadays, since no one wants to have gross, whitish stuff on their face, sunblock has become clear so that you can't see it. I think they protect you from the sun by either absorbing the rays, like with oxybenzones, or reflecting the sun in tiny particles of metal oxides. Changing sunscreen to be transparent was probably for aesthetic reasons, but which way is better for sun protection? Is just straight up blocking out the sun with an opaque covering better or are these new, fancier ways better...
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    The Nanomaterials article above mentions something about using smaller particles between 20-200nanometers which make the lotions nearly clear. Because of this, I would hypothesize that it is not as effective. In addition, continuing with this topic, (despite this being from the above article) the nanoparticles seem to have a negative effect on the aquatic life and their environments.
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    hmmm interesting that you say that we could tie in environmental effects into one of our blog posts maybe? Perhaps about the chemical compounds in our personal products, and how they affect the environment? I think sunscreen is a big one, because a lot of the time, people just go into the water right after they put it on, so it can come off into the water and affect aquatic life. Good idea
Jenny Mu

INGREDIENTS: Figuring out what's "hypo-allergenic" and "non-comedogenic" - 0 views

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    This is an easy to read, interesting blog post about the usage of worlds like "hypo-allergenic" and "non-comedogenic" on cosmetics, and what it actually means chemically for products to be labelled with those words. This kind of addresses what we were talking about on the simvastatin article, about cosmetics that can help clear skin Things that are non-comedogenic do not necessarily clear skin, but they do not cause acne. We could start there, looking at chemical compounds in cosmetics that can cause acne and that don't cause acne and then look into how to treat it.  
Amanda Jara

Skin Deep - Gold Face Cream - A Costly Leap of Faith - NYTimes.com - 0 views

    • Amanda Jara
       
      Contradicting what the dermatologist said about gold not having any affect on skin. Ballard, a marketing executive talks about all the benefits.  Is there any scientific data or research to back her claims?
Jenny Mu

Is your face cream good enough? - Times Of India - 0 views

  • For example, creams with ceramide, peptides, AHA and BHA are effective.
    • Jenny Mu
       
      This article states that "creams with ceramide, peptides, AHA, and BHA are effective." in helping the cream get absorbed by the skin we should look more into those and figure out chemically what is making these compounds so essential to good skin care.
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    This article also mentions AHAs, which might be our next topic for a blog post
Jenny Mu

Shiseido introduces the most expensive skin cream for anniversary - Long Island Spa Tre... - 1 views

  • The NPD group apparently reported that 86% of women asked admit to using makeup with skincare benefits with the thought that consumers are getting more “bang for their buck.”
    • Jenny Mu
       
       I was just wondering, what justifies the extreme prices of these skincare products. What materials or chemical processes are needed to produce them, and do they really have any effect? Personally, if I was paying $13,300, I would expect it to do a lot more than just moisturize or reduce fine lines.
  • For around $13,300,
Amanda Jara

http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/files/Arbutin.pdf - 1 views

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    Looking even from the abstract, we can get some info on abutin - the chemical in the gold mask that cause irritation
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    I think the allergic reaction to the arbutin was only specific for that one person who wrote the article. From this review article, it seems as though arbutin is used in a variety of skin lightening products, because it reduces the melanin production, which causes dark spots and what not.
Jenny Mu

Deet! - 2 views

katie, I think you forgot to bookmark the link or something, because I can't get to the page :(

chemistry cosmetic skin deet bugspray

Katie Rigdon

Allergies and Cosmetics - 2 views

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    Interesting article about causes of skin allergies from WebMD. Looks like fragrances can play a big part in allergies and it also looks like there are some things that you can do to prevent these allergic reactions.
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    Interesting - but we have to be careful not to stray into the biology of allergies when explaining why they occur.
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