Tiny issue in comparison to most, but skin care...

[Kamchatka]

I was given some free face cream samples at work yesterday, so this morning I tried some serum or other. First time, so I had to read the instructions.

After wading through some crap about Walchivia extract or hermodiastic skin unification (see I can make up words too!) I found that you smear it on, the smear on your usual face cream.

I thought: if this is actually any use then bunging moisturiser on top of it immediately is going to upset the formula, ruining the carefully 'explained' effects of the serum. So...it can't, surely, be worth anything, from a scientific point of view. Never mind the made up words and long-winded phraseology.

I've felt this for a long while, but it bothers me that women are marketed random 'smeary stuff' so easily and widely, and it bothers me that they buy and/or covet the high end stuff when plainly they are being duped. Is there any sort of publicity or campaigning about this that anyone's aware of?

*in her 50s

I googled Randall Wicket but a whole load of stuff comes up about a cricketer.

Sometimes I amuse myself by going through the ingredients list on the box and try and identify which chemical corresponds to the magical wonder ingredient with the fancy name in the advert. 'Boswelox' (remember that?) turned out to be a very small amount of frankincense oil, more a fragrance than anything else.

Other trumpeted ingredients are essential oils (potentially irritating to skin as well as temper), various forms of synthetic/plant-derived grease, emulsifiers, sunscreens and preservatives. There's a well known night serum marketed as an anti-ageing product that contains sunscreen (methoxycinnamate). Sunscreen at night? Why?