Insta-tox Botox

"I’ll take the botox cream, thank you." Always a sucker for trying something new, I attended a skincare demonstration party held by a friend.

You know you’ve been there. You want to be nice, you don’t have money to spend on ANYTHING, but you want to show support and buy SOMETHING. Okay, you may have more self-control than I do, but now I have botox cream, specifically the new Insta-tox essentials by Seriesse International, a temporary facial-firming wrinkle smoothing serum that targets areas of the face and lasts about seven hours.

So, in my renewed commitment to frugality, I was determined to use what I have (because I am AWFUL at returning things) so I overcame my fears of what this social experiment might do to my face and went to a friend’s (THANK YOU, Jo-Lynne, for the moral support) where we both applied a light layer as directed around the fine lines of our eyes, mouth, and forehead.

Now, you might wonder why we would do such a crazy thing but check it out: (WE’RE NOT ALONE)

According to Plastic Surgery Network:

Of the 8.79 million cosmetic procedures completed in the year 2003, about 7 million of them were minimally invasive, non-surgical procedures. The number one rank belongs to Botox injections. Since 2000, the number of Botox users rose almost 300%, and numbered 2.8 million. Trailing behind Botox in the non-invasive category were chemical peels and microdermabrasion (both with almost a million patients). Other popular choices for non-surgical procedures were laser hair removal and collagen injection with over half a million each.

This little tube of cream looked pretty economical at $30 versus injections and other costly age defying measures, but, you must be wondering, did it work?

Both Jo-Lynne and I applied it to one side of our face to see if we could notice a difference. The skin definitely plumped up a little after the required 3 minutes of keeping our faces still (a truly impossible task), giving our cheekbones some lift. But, either I didn’t apply enough or I just don’t have the right kind of wrinkles that are helped by this superficial treatment. See below (my left/your right is where the cream was applied around my eyes, forehead, and lips):

Overall, I would have to recommend you save your money on this particular product and stick with Dr. Jessica Wu’s 3 Easy Steps to Beautiful Skin:
(Click on the link to see her product suggestions for each step).

1: Use a Gentle Cleanser for Morning and Night.
2: Invest in a Moisturizing Sunscreen that Protects against UVA and UVB rays.
3. Use a Treatment Product Every Night, Specific to a Skin Issue You Want to Combat.

She also gives this clever tip:

"Curl your tongue upwards to touch the roof of your mouth, as far back
as you can reach. Then press upwards and hold for three seconds. Repeat
10 times."

"This workout," says Wu, "strengthens the deep muscles in your jaw and neck to help fight gravity and drooping."

Thank You, Dr. Wu.

To be fair, Seriesse does have some other great targeted skincare products you may want to try and let me know what you think!

FRUGAL BEAUTY TIP: (and note to self) Learn how to return.

Now, what are you doing to preserve that epidermal layer of yours?

Sarah blogs regularily at Genesis Moments and is a featured story teller at Story of My Life.