Look, we all like nice things. There is nothing wrong with that. There’s also nothing wrong when you want to treat yourself to something nice. The world is a bummer right now, and it has been for a few years. There is no sign forthcoming that it’s going to stop being a bummer. 

The system that we have devised for how we can express our self-love and personal value is buying ourselves nice things. That is maybe not the best way of doing things, and there are a lot of forces in our society who are trying to reorient that outlet, but what can we say: right now, it’s what we’ve got.

So at Skin Actives Scientific, we get it! You want to express your self-value by buying yourself something nice. And by nice, we mean expensive and pretty. And there is nothing wrong with that. What’s expensive and what’s pretty is going to be different from person to person and we’re not here to “yuck your yum” as the kids are saying these days.

However, we always think that the products you buy should work for you. So if high-end skincare is what you are buying, maybe your money might be better spent on something else that’s nice.

In today’s blog we’re going to talk about some things you might find in high-end products and some Skin Actives replacements you can pick up to get effects that are as good or better! You may even save some money in the deal and then you can buy yourself something nice.

Treat Yourself…to What?

Here at Skin Actives we’re pretty obsessed with the concept of “label value”. To be clear, we’re not obsessed with implementing this concept, in fact, it really bugs us how many other companies make use of it. 

What is “label value”?

Often, this is when a company puts an active ingredient in a product at such a low density that it won’t actually have any kind of benefit for your skin. But our Founder, Dr. Hannah Sivak, points out another use for label value:

“They are there to ‘plump’ the ingredient list and help hide synthetic ingredients and fragrances. You may think that this (or another) product ‘smells expensive’. The fragrances used here may amount to one or two cents of a dollar, fragrances are cheap. We leave them out because some of them are allergenic, but you can add to your cream a drop (or half) of your favorite perfume.”

We asked Dr. Sivak to analyze the ingredient list from a top shelf product that used to be very popular. We can’t name it here for legal reasons, but we can tell you that it’s called “Magic Serum” and comes from a company that shares their name with a famous literary spider.

Here is what she had to say:

“What’s this? A pure label-value serum, to make you feel ‘rich’. Gold is expensive so you can be sure that it is present at parts per million. In any case, gold has no biochemical activity on your skin, so it will do nothing for you. Ruby and amethyst will do nothing either. Go and buy yourself a ruby ring with the money you will be saving by ‘hacking’ this silly serum.” 

Getting More For Less with Skin Actives

At Skin Actives Scientific, we don’t believe in label value, period. (Before anyone points out that we make a gold serum around Christmas time, we’d just like to remind you that we don’t claim any special activity from the gold, and that product is really just made for fun and gifting surrounding the holidays. And there is nothing wrong with having a little fun now and again!)

At Skin Actives it’s important to us that our actives come in strengths that will have a visible effect on the health of your skin. Health is beautiful after all! But we won’t belabor the point. The serum above lists for $80 for 1 oz at Sephora.com. Below, we’ll go through some Skin Actives products you can use instead. We believe that you’ll see better results and save money at the same time.

And keep in mind that these great products aren’t necessarily just one-for-replacements for just this Magic serum. Look at the active ingredients on each of these product’s pages and you’ll find substitutes for a wide variety of high-end products.

Let’s proceed.

Skin Actives’ Has You Seeing Double

Let’s start with magical serums. Here are a couple of products recommended by Hannah to replace that product.

“Add a hint of niacinamide to Hyaluronic Acid Serum.”

By a hint what we mean is: take some niacinamide powder from the vial between your fingers and sprinkle it gently over the mouth of your Hyaluronic Acid Serum. You can do this in the same manner you would add seasoning to a dish you are cooking. Replace the serum’s dropper cap and shake gently. This shouldn’t affect the texture of your serum at all.

How about replicating a magic-style cream from that same company?

“Get our Ultimate Moisturizing Cream. I suggest you leave the exfoliating function [of this cream] separate so that you can do exfoliation from time to time while using the humectant, antioxidant serum as often as you like. For exfoliation, you can use any of a number of Skin Actives products, just choose your favorite. I like the Glycolic Alpha Beta Exfoliant, but you may prefer the Vitamin C Serum 15%.”

So an ounce of magic cream on Sephora.com is going to set you back $65, while Skin Actives will cost you only $45. This a 31% discount, and if you order inside the United States, your order ships from Skin Actives for free automatically! Thanks Hannah!

If you enjoyed getting these tips from Hannah, she maintains a personal blog where she discusses issues from inside the skincare industry. You can follow her here!

Skin Actives' "Twins"

In the early days of Skin Actives Scientific, we built our reputation delivering you the kind of quality and activity that you’re paying for with the top-shelf brands, but at prices that are within reach for people of all income levels.

That’s something that we’re very proud of here at Skin Actives. Your skin is your largest organ, it’s the one everyone sees when they meet you! You should be able to afford to take care of it.

If you are looking to replace high-cost name-brand products with competitors that will work just as well if not better, here is a list of Skin Actives products Dr. Sivak specifically recommends:

• Skin Firming Serum 
• Advanced Ageless Collagen Serum with ROS BioNet and Apocynin
• Collagen Serum (classic)
• Vitamin C 20%
• Every Lipid Serum
• Tremella Gel

Right now Skin Actives is offering 10% off on any and all of the products highlighted in this blog. Stop by skinactives.com, load up your cart with your favorites, and enter Coupon Code: TWINSIES at checkout to save! This offer is for this weekend only, so don’t wait.

That’s all folks! Thanks for joining us here at the Skin Actives Scientific blog once again. See you next week when we’ll explore more scientific skincare topics in detail. Until then, stay hydrated! Have a great weekend!