I see a lot of these so called ‘wrinkle reducer’ creams around and the Aura Vie cream in particular caught my attention. I see ads for it all over the place and I wonder how many people order the product and if they have any positive results.
After one quick look at the product sales page I’d say it’s unlikely to work as far as reducing wrinkles goes. Well, I guess that’s not totally true. If you have very dry skin, wrinkles looks more prominent. If you then use a moisturizing cream, which AuraVie no doubt is, then your wrinkles will appear less pronounced and so they will be ‘reduced’. That’s the whole thing about marketing really, it’s all in the wording. So applying a little moisturizer will most likely make you look a little fresher but it’s not actually doing anything to get rid of your wrinkles. It’s just a temporary improvement which can be gained from applying any cheap moisturizer you can find at the supermarket.
Of course I could be wrong and Aura Vie could be the fountain of youth. It’s interesting if you look at the before and after photos on their website. I’m not going to republish them here because I don’t want to breach any copyright laws and I’m not going to link to them either because they don’t deserve a link. But if you find their website you’ll see the odd looking before and after photos. The before photos are of some poor barefaced woman looking like she just got our of bed. The after photos are taken once full makeup has been applied and either in better lighting or with a decent amount of Photoshopping. It’s hardly a before and after shot of just applying the cream.
Here is what Aura Vie claims to do:
- lift, tone and tighten tired skin
- promotes skin cell rejuvenation
- diminish dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles
- increase collagen production and skin elasticity
- decrease age spots and sagging skin
That’s quite the miracle cream when you think about it. I’d be surprised if it can do half of which they claim and as I said, their testimonial before and after photos only demonstrate how good their makeup artist is.
Let’s look at the decrease age spots claim as an example of why I think this cream is rubbish. I live in France, the home of cosmetics, where you can find thousands of different creams in your local pharmacy, all of which claim to do different things. These products are really the crème de la crème of creams (pun intended). I went to the dermatologist to ask about reducing or removing the age spots on my hands. I was thinking about getting laser treatment but she suggested a cream treatment from the pharmacy. I was surprised a cream would actually work for age spots but I bought the cream and used it for a couple of months. So what was the result of using a dermatologist recommended anti age spot cream? The result was no improvement whatsoever. I was completely surprised as to why it was recommended when it clearly didn’t work. I later had laser treatment and am now free of age spots on my hands. In my opinion, the only way to get rid of age spots is by laser treatment and no cream is going to work. But again, maybe AuraVie is the miracle cream I have been looking for and maybe my dermatologist didn’t know about it at that time. Maybe I will call her and see if she now recommends it for removing age spots.
I think most of the Aura Vie claims are bogus and their ‘free trial’ offer isn’t exactly reassuring. Still, people love to try anti-wrinkle creams (me included) and I’m sure this sells very well but I wonder how many loyal customers they’ll end up with.
I purchased this product on 2/10/12 as part of the “Risk free 10 day trial period for $4.95″. I did not receive my product for over 2 weeks (It arrived on 2/29/12) and by then I had already been charged the full price of $97.88 for the product (posted to my bank acct on 2/28/12). I admit that I did not see this disclaimer during the initial purchase as it was in very small print in light gray at the very bottom of the screen well below the button you click on to execute your order (Hmmmm…… I wonder why that is). I tried the product on 3/1 and 3/2 and was horrified when I broke out with the worst acne I have seen since high school on every surface that the product touched. I tried to call customer service, but could not reach them until monday as they are only available Mon-Fri during business hours (but they will still hold you to that 10 day trial period even though they are unavailable 2 days out of the week to take your calls about returning their product). I was on hold for over 10 minutes before being connected to the most immature, condescending, inflammatory, disrespectful customer service representative I have ever spoken with. He proceeded to talk over me and never let me finish a sentence and even went so far as to place me on hold so I could “Calm down” when I raised my voice to try to get a word in. When I requested to speak to a supervisor he informed me that he was the supervisor (Really!?! this is who you have representing your customer service department for such a “great” product?) and then he proceeded to argue with me about when I received my order stating that his records indicated that I had received it on the 2/13/12 (Since it was not a certified letter with a signature receipt and he did not personally hand the package to me I fail to see how he feels justified and arguing this point with me, after all it is not as if the USPS has never made a mistake before). I told him I would be happy to send the product back so that they could see that I had barely used it (It is not as if I am trying to get a free 30 day supply for free or something) but I was ultimately informed by him that I was outside of my 10 day trial period and that he was justified in keeping my money no matter what and that he had decided not to try to work with me because I had been so unreasonable and then he hung up on me before I could get the address to which I could return this “great” product. I cannot believe that a company that feels that they are peddling a product worth nearly $100/month would hire someone with such horrible interpersonal skills to represent them, Also, if this product is so wonderful, why do the feel compelled to restrict everything to such a short time frame and be so unflexible about returns? (Most companies give you at least 30 days to try something). I have serious doubts about the ethical conduct of this business and would advise anyone considering purchasing this product to look elsewhere.