Overview
The anti-wrinkle cream Meaningful Beauty is the result of a collaboration between the model Cindy Crawford and Jean-Louis Sebagh, a French doctor. Legend has it that Cindy fell in love with the cream while shooting in France, but that it was too unstable to travel all the way to America with her. After entering semi-retirement, Cindy missed using the Meaningful Beauty cream and partnered with Dr. Sebagh and Guthy Renker in order to develop a more stable version suitable for shipping. This way, Cindy Crawford and women everywhere could experience the effects of Meaningful Beauty skincare for themselves. Nice story.
The key active ingredient in Meaningful Beauty is a "rare" French melon extract that is claimed to act as a powerful antioxidant. This is also what made the original versions of this product so unstable for shipping. Dr. Sebagh claims that he noticed one type of melon that always appeared to stay firmer than the others. After experimenting with it, he found that the potent antioxidant known as superoxide dismutase could be extracted from the melon. It is not uncommon to extract antioxidants from various fruits. Citrus fruits, for example, are a leading source of antioxidants found in many skin care products, as are grapes. Antioxidants protect against cell oxidization, which can be a leading cause of skin cell death.
Product Details
Meaningful Beauty currently manufactures an extensive range of skin and beauty care products. Ideally, users are directed to purchase all these products and construct a full Meaningful Beauty skin care regimen. Products available include moisturizers, face masks, eye creams, neck creams and cleansers. In theory, all products rely heavily on the superoxide dismutase melon extract that's heavily hyped as their active ingredient.
The full list of ingredients found in the Meaningful Beauty moisturizer cream is as follows: Octinoxate 5.0%, Avobenzone 3.0%, Water (Aqua), Glycerin, Ascorbyl Methylsilanol Pectinate, Propylene Glycol, Glyceryl Stearate, Acacia Senegal Extract, Achillea Millefolium Extract, Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi Leaf Extract, Cucumis Melo (Melon) Fruit Extract, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Cholesterol, Lecithin, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Caprylic/ Capric Triglyceride, Glycol Stearate, PEG-6 Stearate, PEG-32 Stearate, PEG-75 Stearate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Alcohol Denat., Sodium Hydroxide, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance (Parfum), Benzoic Acid, Chlorphenesin, Methylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Propylparaben.
The Good
- Product comes with a 60 day money back guarantee.
- Product claims to possess a unique active ingredient.
- Official website offers a free gift with purchase.
The Bad
- Although the “rare” French melon extract is highly touted, it appears pretty far down on the ingredient list.
- Multi-step beauty care regimen could be expensive and time consuming.
- No user testimonials offered on official website.
- Product does not seem to be available in stores.
The Bottom Line
We like the Meaningful Beauty origin story. After all, you’d think that Cindy Crawford would know a thing or two about skin care. But once you get past the great story, we’re not sure if Meaningful Beauty products really hold up to scrutiny. We’d definitely want to know more about the mysterious French melon. Looking at a sample ingredient list, we see a lot of other ingredients before we see the heavily hyped Cucumis Melo (Melon) Fruit Extract, which implies that it is not included in any significant quantity.