Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Serum
Buy now Expert Review
Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Serum is a popular product that has been on the market for quite some time. Recently, Lancôme states that this serum has newly tested efficacy. We found a whopping twelve claims on the Lancôme’s website. Let’s take a closer look at the evidence behind them.
Cosmetic Claims
Although Lancôme says that they base the claims on clinical product testing, we could not find any publically available information about these studies. When we approached Lancôme to share this information with the public, there was no response.
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For all skin types
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Fast-acting anti-aging skin serum that instantly makes skin feel hydrated, smooth and soft
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Revealing more radiant skin in as little as seven-days
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Targets the key signs of youth in just seven-days:
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a) Tone
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b) Elasticity
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c) Smoothness
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d) Firmness
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Helps to accelerate skin surface recovery and strengthen the moisture barrier
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85% of women felt skin appeared more radiant after one week
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94% of women felt skin appeared smoother after two weeks
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89% of women agreed skin felt softer after four weeks
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90% of women agreed skin appeared healthy-looking in an 8 week study
Legend
Ok great. So if i put things here it works
Ingredient review and safety:
Next, we looked at the ingredients of this popular serum. Lancôme states that the product is good for all skin types. However, it contains Alcohol Denat. high on the ingredient list, which may irritate some users with dry or sensitive skin. We cannot support the “good for all skin types” claim without a clinical study showing its tolerance. Lancôme relates most of the other claims to a specific time frame (e.g. seven days, instantly), or to a percentage of users trying the product. To confirm if they hold true, these claims would need to be supported with a clinical study. Claim “Helps to accelerate skin surface recovery and strengthen the moisture barrier” could be partially supported based on the number of skin conditioning ingredients present in the product (e.g. Bifida ferment lysate and glycerin).
Water, Bifida Ferment Lysate, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Dimethicone, Hydroxyethylpiperazine Ethane Sulfonic Acid, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Adenosine, Faex Extract/Yeast Extract/Extrait De Levure, Peg-20 Methyl Glucose Sesquistearate, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Salicyloyl Phytosphingosine, Ammonium Polyacryldimethyltauramide/Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Limonene, Xanthan Gum, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium Edta, Octyldodecanol, Citronellol, Fragrance.
Allergen free?
Limonene
Citronellol
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
Preservative free?
Sodium Benzoate
Phenoxyethanol
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
EU restricted ingredient free?
Sodium Hydroxide
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
This serum contains two ingredients that are potential fragrance allergens/dermal sensitizers (Limonene and Citronellol). IFRA recommends restriction of Limonene and limiting Citronellol to a maximum of 13% for eye creams and 3.2% for facial moisturizers. Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Serum also contains two preservatives: Sodium Benzoate and Phenoxyethanol. Sodium Benzoate is mainly used as a preservative in cosmetics which also has a fragrance function. CIR recognizes Sodium Benzoate as safe in concentrations of up to 5%. EU limits its use to 0.5%. Phenoxyethanol is a preservative that is considered safe to use in concentrations of up to 1%. We also found Sodium Hydroxide on the ingredient list. It is a limited ingredient used to stabilize the pH of cosmetics. It has shown to cause skin irritation at concentrations of 0.5% and higher and be corrosive at concentrations above 2%.
Finally, there is one ingredient under the name “Fragrance”. This ingredient can contain any combination of hundreds of chemicals. Most of these components will not have been tested for toxicity. We asked Lancôme if the “Fragrance” contains any of the known fragrance allergens, or ingredients from the restricted list in the EU- but they declined to comment. Although “Fragrance” is last on the list (meaning it has the least amount among all ingredients listed), caution is needed as some controversial ingredients may be undeclared under the “Fragrance”. It would be helpful to see how the product was generally tolerated in the clinical study.
Conclusions
As Lancôme declined to share any information with the public, we could not review any clinical evidence. Therefore, we reviewed the performance claims based on the ingredients listed (ingredient-based reasoning).
The overall Cosmetics Evidence Score for Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Serum is poor 1.7.
Pros
- Ingredients suggest that it might help to accelerate skin surface recovery and strengthen the moisture barrier.
Cons
- Lancôme’s team is unwilling to share with the consumer any evidence of clinical studies that support claims made about this product
- Listed ingredients contain Citronellol and Geraniol, and other (undeclared) fragrance, preservatives, and Sodium Hydroxide-all which can be irritating to some individuals and are often limited to maximum concentrations. We could not confirm if the preservatives listed here follow the common safety guidelines and to what extent.