For years women have sought the secret of eternal youth with endless potions and treatments to reverse the ravages of time. The UAE has seen women as young as 20 seeking Botox injections in the quest to turn back the clock and iron out wrinkles. UAE women are some of the biggest spenders on cosmetics and personal care, splashing out Dh1.5 billion (US$408 million) a year. Now a growing trend is emerging for a pain-free, quick-fix alternative to years of uncomfortable jabs.
In the search for better anti-wrinkle treatments, women are clearing shelves of potions which promise instant results in smoothing out lines. Just 10 days after launching in the Emirates, Boots' No 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum has become the pharmaceutical chain's best-selling product, outstripping sales of other essentials such as paracetamol, vitamins and toothpaste. Despite the product being marketed to the over-40s - and the median age of women in the UAE being about 25 - the Dh125 cream, which promises results in a fortnight, looks set to saturate the market as it has done in the UK, where one million bottles have sold in a month.
Another product called Tri-Atkiline Instant Deep Wrinkle Filler, which claims 83 per cent of users will see a difference, has also been flying off counters despite its no-frills, DIY-style packaging earning it the nickname "Polyfilla for the face". Della Pass, head of buying and merchandising for Boots Middle East, said even its manufacturers were surprised at the success of the intense serum in the UAE.
She said: "Demographically here, people are very young and as this is aimed at a more mature market, it was hard to tell how it would fare but obviously the news has spread." Scientists have long been cynical about whether anti-wrinkle potions, which can cost thousands of dirhams for a pot, live up to their claims of halting the ageing process. That has not stopped women snapping up anything that promises to preserve their looks while smoothing out their fine lines and crow's feet.
When Boots first launched the serum's sister product, No 7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum two years ago, an independent scientific study said it was proven to repair sun-damaged skin. That ensured sales in the UK rocketed with the cream sold on eBay for four times the store price. Its popularity was matched in the US and the UAE, where it was the top selling product in Boots' 21 outlets until it was toppled by the intense version.
Yesterday websites and chat rooms were abuzz with women discussing the benefits of the Dh125 intense serum. One user described shipping dozens of tubes from the UK before the cream became available here while another asked: "What night cream can you recommend for pre-wrinkles to try and delay the onset of them please? And yes, I know none of them really work. And yes, I do use sunscreen. And yes, this isn't nearly as important as Gaza."
The beneficial ingredients are said to be peptides to increase the skin's elasticity, white lupin extract to preserve collagen, silicone to brighten skin, antioxidants such as vitamin C, mulberry and ginseng to stop free radicals from damaging cells, amino acids to improve cell function and extract of alfalfa, seen as a source of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. In the study at Manchester University in the UK on the intense serum, women reported softer, smoother skin after the first use. After four weeks, skin was reported to be "younger-looking".
tyaqoob@thenational.ae
