Seven questions to ask before buying anti ageing skincare
We sell an anti ageing serum, and this list is written so that you can point it at us. If a page cannot survive these seven questions, that is useful to know before the money leaves rather than after.
Is the promise about how skin looks, or about changing skin
Looks, appears and feels are appearance words, and a cosmetic is allowed them because they describe the surface. Removes, reverses, repairs and restores are claims about changing your skin, which is what medicines do and what they are approved for. A serum using the second set is either overreaching or should have been approved as something else.
Is there a number attached to the outcome
A span of years, a percentage of anything, a count of days to a permanent result. Numbers about the product are facts you can check by opening the box. Numbers about your face are claims that need evidence in hand before they are made, and they are the single most reliable warning sign on a page.
Can I read the ingredient list
Not understand every word, read it. Is it published in full, in order, where you can find it without asking. A company that publishes five ingredients and explains what each is doing is behaving differently from one that lists a proprietary complex and a photograph of a laboratory.
What happens when I stop
Ask it plainly, because the honest answer for every surface serum on the market is that the effect fades. Anything hinting otherwise is selling a permanent change it cannot make. Knowing it is upkeep is not a reason to avoid it, it is a reason to buy something you will not mind repurchasing.
Are the reviews real, and are they theirs
A supplier listing quoted on a brand site is not that brand being reviewed. A wall of five stars with no name, no date and no detail is worth nothing. An empty review section is a better sign than an invented one, which is why some pages have none at all.
Where does it ship from, and where does it go back to
Within New Zealand means days rather than weeks, and a return address you can actually post to. This matters most on a first order, which is exactly when a long trial period is worth more than a discount.
Is the routine one I will still be doing in three months
The best product used twice loses to an ordinary one used nightly. Look at the number of steps and the time it takes and be honest about your evenings. This question decides the outcome more than the formula does, and nobody selling a nine step system will raise it with you.