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 BETTER THAN LOTS OF THINGS:
STRIVECTIN AND BEYOND
by Marilyn Green
Surely there is hardly a woman who hasn’t seen the slogan “Better Than Botox?” or heard the story of the piece of strange luck that led to the discovery that a maternity cream to help repair stretch marks did wonders against wrinkles. But not so many are aware of the expansion of the brand since then, with each new product being snapped up in the marketplace on the basis of the name for quality the company has established.
The “lucky accident” that led to unmarked samples being used on the faces of testers created a storm of interest in “the cult cream” and produced waiting lists in France before the startled creators could gear up to meet the supply. Both problems – stretch marks and wrinkles - deal with collagen and elastin and the company relies on peptides strings of amino acids that help skin cells produce more collagen. Clinical tests show that it reduces the actual length, depth, and volume of wrinkles, and non-clinical tests from women who tried it brought raves.
The company has retained its simple, medical-looking packaging – why not, when people are falling over one another still to buy it? Their subsequent products address the concerns of aging baby boomers who intend to live healthy, active, productive lives and are unwilling to experience  the social prejudice against an aging appearance that might hamper their plans. This group has no intention of looking old and the generations that came before them are profiting by their attitude. SrtiVectin’s array of products is not really for under 30s but an incredible boon for the rest of us, and even more beneficial as we move through the decades.
I used the products for a month: StriVectin-SD, StriVectin-SD Eye Cream, Idebenol, Sovage Instant Lip Plumper, the new Ultra-Concentrate for the Hands, the Self-Heating NanoExfoliant for the Hands and offered a friend in her 70s the use of their Hydro-Thermal Deep Wrinkle Serum.
StriVectin, used three times a day, just flat out took away every wrinkle or line except a much reduced line between nose and mouth – hardly visible now – and the forehead line I may never lose completely, since I have a habit of wrinkling my brow. My friends and colleagues congratulated me on finally getting plenty of rest – they were so wrong about that – and I score much higher on the construction worker whistle test in Manhattan.
 The Sovage Instant Lip Plumper REALLY works, in minutes, with a minimum of tingling. It lasts for hours and can be renewed three times a day (unless you are literally putting in a 24-hour day, you probably don’t need three applications). After a minute or two, you can add color gloss, lipliner, whatever, to the new contours.
Everyone knows that hands reveal age all too faithfully and in some cases exaggeratedly. Those of you who are trying to avoid invasive measures may be as thrilled as I was by the NE Self Heating Nano Exfoliant for the Hands, which goes a very long way to counter the appearance of aging hands. A month of use made mine very youthful looking, fresher and far softer and smoother.
The company has paid attention to all the main points of anti-aging, with a product called Lumedia that works very well on age spots, reducing mine to the vanishing point and a friend – male – who had much more noticeable ones has had at least a 50% reduction and ordered his own Lumedia to continue the process. The company says it also works on freckles, but we couldn’t find anyone to try out the claim.
 That was not a problem with dark circles under the eyes. I increasingly look like a raccoon in the morning and the circles are no longer disappearing by noon. Having heard horror stories about cosmetic surgeons removing spoonfuls of concealer from under the eyes, I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. But four weeks later I don’t NEED concealer under the eyes and even my morning puffiness seems to have disappeared. The miracle worker is Hylexin, and it caused the same sort of stir StriVectin did, selling out in many stores within two weeks of its release. This is an important discovery for men, since market research showed that one out of two men are concerned with serious dark circles under their eyes. It works by flushing out the discoloration due to leakage of capillaries and  oxidation that creates the bruise-like serious eye circles
In addition, these accomplices to keeping a youthful appearance launched an Eye Cream last year that is really StriVectin-SD, minus the aromatic oils that irritate some sensitive skin and plus soothing agents for the eye area. It lightens ordinary dark circles – the ones that appear in the morning and eventually smooth out, more or less, and reduces wrinkles around the eyes. Actually, I found that it maintained the change I experienced with Hylexin and took away the tendency to sag around the eye area.
Finally, it’s never too late for the StriVectin people. Very deep wrinkles respond to the StriVectin-Hs Hydrothermal Deep Wrinkle Serum if the ordinary (well, no, it really isn’t ordinary at all) StriVectin-SD doesn’t produce sufficient results. The penetration and change it produces is remarkable and the psychological value unlimited. After a month my friend moved on to StriVectin-SD. “I don’t think I need the big guns any more,” she told me.
StriVectin-SD is $135, Lumedia is $90 and Hylexin $95.
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