renewed hope in a jar
Expert Review
philosophy advertises its renewed hope in a jar as their “best face moisturizer for a healthy-looking glow.” Let us inspect the scientific evidence behind their claims.
Cosmetic Claims
We found the following claims on the philosophy’s website:
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91% of women fell in love with the feel of their skin and would recommend it to a friend.
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100% showed a significant improvement in the texture of their skin. Here's what they saw:
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a) A refined texture with visibily smaller pores and the look of lines virtually lifted away
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b) A soft, dewy smoothness that is comforted by instant all-day hydration
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c) A re-energized healthy glow that lasts up to 3x longer
Legend
These claims refer to a clinical study where 52 women were asked to evaluate the moisturizer, after eight weeks of using it. philosophy relates all the claims to a percentage of users trying the product. To confirm if they hold true, these claims need to be supported with a clinical study. Unfortunately, we could not find any published results of this study to look at the science behind these claims. When we approached philosophy to share more details about the science behind this moisturizer, there was no response.
Ingredient review and safety:
Let’s have a look at the ingredients.
Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Glycolic Acid, Dimethicone, Polyacrylamide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Ceteareth-20, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer, Polysilicone-11, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Laureth-7, Citric Acid, Chlorphenesin, Mandelic Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Ethlhexyl Palmitate, Propanediol, Fragrance, Disodium Edta, Adenosine, Evodia Rutaecarpa Fruit Extract, Limonene, Yeast Extract, Magnesium Stearate, Opuntia Coccinellifera Flower Extract, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Caprylyl Glycol, BHT, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hyaluronic Acid, Silanetriol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sorbic Acid, Hexylene Glycol, Bismuth Oxychloride (Ci 77163).
Allergen free?
Limonene
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
Preservative free?
Chlorphenesin
Phenoxyethanol
Sorbic Acid
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
EU restricted ingredient free?
Polyacrylamide
Sodium Hydroxide
Maximum concentrations do not exceed use guidelines?
The ingredients listed contain Limonene, which is a fragrance allergen/skin sensitizer. IFRA recommends the restriction of Limonene. This moisturizer also contains preservatives Phenoxyethanol and Chlorphenesin, which are usually recommended to be limited to 1% and 0.3%. Furthermore, Sorbic Acid is a preservative that is generally recognized as safe by CIR when used in concentrations up to 5%. In the EU, if used as a preservative, it needs to be limited to 0.6% and higher for “other uses”.
High on the list are Polyacrylamide and Sodium Hydroxide, which are on a restricted ingredients list in Europe. Polyacrylamide is an ingredient that produces a thin coating on the skin and adds cohesion in a cosmetic product. Because of increased cancer risk with lifetime exposure in cosmetic products, the EU limits the residual acrylamide to <0.1 ppm in body care leave-on products. However, CIR limits for residual acrylamide are 50 times higher. Sodium Hydroxide has shown to cause skin irritation at concentrations of 0.5% and higher and be corrosive at concentrations above 2%. philosophy did not confirm if the concentration of these ingredients is following these common safety guidelines.
Conclusions
Evidence of a well-designed study, with results that support all claims for the renewed hope in a jar, would have given it a score of about 100.
The current formulation does not support any of the claims, giving it an overall very poor evidence score of 0.
Pros
- None immediately evident
Cons
- Philosophy’s team is unwilling to share with the consumer any evidence of clinical studies that would support the claims they make for this moisturizer.
- renewed hope in a jar contains a known fragrance allergen/skin sensitizers, parabens, and other limited ingredients-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.