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I love Glamglow and make no bones about it and I’ve seen the Glamglow Youthpotion floating around for some time. But being a Glamglow mask purist, I was hesitant to try out this relatively new ancillary.
At the time of writing this is half price from Look Fantastic, at £24 down from £48 so I’d highly suggest taking advantage of that once you’ve read this article. Also use the code TAKE5 which bizarrely today is giving an extra 10% off. This is not sponsored but that link is affiliated.
A decade of Glamglow
I used Glamglow since day one, 10 years ago when it came to our shores and when it was literally just the Glamglow Mud Mask. It was brought to the UK by Natalie Roche who I worked with on some coverage on its arrival. Natalie Roche continues to be a fabulous distributor and Natalie herself an inspiring figure in the industry.
She brought it over alongside Xen-Tan also my favourite tanning brand being a pasty Patsy. Glamglow eventually and deservedly ascended into the echelons of Estée Lauder acquisition in 2017.
But why do people go nuts for Glamglow? What is it that people love so much? Easy: Results. The products work and they do it in a fun way.
Youthmud, the flagship mask, immediately brightens the skin and it feels incredible; the Supermud pore treatment mask works; immediately afterwards you see a noticeable reduction in the gunk in your pores and it does it without stripping and damaging skin function.
Then there’s Thirstymud that I was very proud to publish as a UK exclusive back in 2014 and still to this day always have a pot in my cupboard or travel bag.
Glamglow Youthpotion Rejuvenating Peptide Serum
The Youthpotion launched in Summer of 2020, and unsurprisingly was robbed of its time in the sun as other news prevailed. The Youthpotion was Glamglow’s first serum and was a definite Lauderisation of the brand as it began to rapidly expand its product wardrobe. There was also some more Lauderisation that you’ll see as we go.
It’s based with water; propanediol – a safe and gentle emollient, and betaine – a gentle and effective hydrator. The rest is then a plethora of actives and botanicals including calming red algae extract (Porphyridium Cruentum) that I love when its included in useful amounts in my skincare.
Raspberry Stem Cells and experimenting with post-brow wax repair
The key ingredient is the red raspberry stem cells. This magic ingredient has been proven to repair UVB damage (sun burn damage) and act as a powerful anti-inflammatory that soothes skin and helps repair it. I was quite amazed what happened when I applied this after waxing my eyebrows – which for reference are big and need a lot of wax. Most skincare tends to leave me feeling a little prickly after waxing, so normally I apply an oil and have done with it for a while, but with Youthpotion was not the case.
On application, my tender brows immediately felt soothed and the redness quelled – not totally, but noticeably. So if that what it can do to relatively strong skin trauma such as waxing, then day to day, I have high hopes this will have long term skin benefits.
Botanicals and Ingredients from Clinique?
There’s then heaps of botanicals including chestnut, St. Paul’s Wort, barley, wheat, sweet-almond, centaury etc. But as I was reading this, I was getting enormous and unrelenting dejavu and when I got to Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, I twigged it.
With Glamglow Youthpotion, there are many shared ingredients between this and Clinique’s new Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Serum Review. This is beyond coincidental being that Clinique is Estée Lauder’s flagship, most successful and oldest skincare brand
Matching ingredients were the St. Paul’s Wort, Barley, Wheat, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/Vp Copolymer (thickener), Phenoxyethanol (preservative), Potassium Sorbate (preservative), Agireline (Acetyl Hexapeptide-8) and Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12 – the last two of which are part of Clinique’s patented CL1870 Complex.
So, I’ll make a bold assumption that Glamglow Youthpotion has been formulated in an affiliated laboratory and is another benefit of being part of the Lauder family brands; they share technology.
“It’s not Botox sweetie, it’s Paralox”
An Ab Fab nod for you there but the aforementioned Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 is an ingredient I love, it’s called Argireline and is a Botox substrate. There’s lots of research being done into boosting the absorption of this ingredient into the skin as the molecule is fairly big, but formulators are getting there; even discovering that propanediol aids it, which funnily enough, is part of the base of Youthpotion.
As you would expect/hope Argireline does have mild Botox effects when used long term by helping reduce surface movement and ‘dynamic folds’. It’s never going to have the same effect as direct injection of Botox into the muscle, but the evidence is promising. There’s a great article I’ve come accross called Preserv Skincare and the illustrations are gorgeous (I think it’s just a blog not skincare company but not 100% certain).
Full Ingredients
Water\Aqua\Eau, Propanediol, Betaine, Porphyridium Cruentum Extract, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Leaf Extract, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Caffeine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Castanea Sativa (Chestnut) Seed Extract, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12, Glycerin, Sigesbeckia Orientalis (St. Paul’s Wort) Extract, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Extract, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract\Extrait D’orge, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Acetyl Glucosamine, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Centaurium Erythraea (Centaury) Extract, Cetearyl Olivate, Squalane, Commiphora Mukul Resin Extract, Micrococcus Lysate, Lecithin, Dehydroxanthan Gum, Sorbitan Olivate, Decarboxy Carnosine HCL, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Butylene Glycol, Glyceryl Polymethacrylate, Peg-8, Fragrance (Parfum), Limonene, Tocopherol, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491), Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Red 33 (CI 17200), Yellow 6 (CI 15985).
Should you buy Glamglow Youthpotion? Is it worth it and does it work?
Behind all the fancy packaging, soft raspberry fragrance, dramatic red colouring and razzle-dazzle, I do think this is a solid skincare product worth looking at if you’re considering an anti-ageing or photo-age prevention serum.
It does a lot and I think it does it well, whilst having some fun and showing a little personality. Yes, many of the dermocosmetic brands like Cerave and Eucerin do good, well formulated and effective products; but they can be so unbelievably and inextricably boring. This is a fun product but it has some solid science and technologies behind it.
Is it worth it? At full RRP of £48, I’d say it’s a push but at gunpoint I’d say yes. But then considering it doesn’t seem to be blocked from offers on the likes of Look Fantastic – like many Lauder brands tend to be (La Mer, Clinique et al.) – then it should be very easy to pick up for less than that. I got it in the LF Boxing Day/January sale for half price + 10% for £21.60.
What I like
- Proven, effective ingredients
- Good fun
- Does what it says
- A great all-rounder
- Discounts often available
- Solid Lauder family formulation
What I don’t like
- Potentially pricey
- Inclusion of fragrance
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