The ingredient list for most skin-care products reads like a complicated chemical cocktail that is indecipherable to the average person. Kilgore also gives occasional facials to spa customers so she can see how well new products really work.
Some products are hype, some work in a test tube and some just work.
Oxygen, for instance, is applied at Bliss either as a cream infused with water to moisturize and oxygen gas to stimulate metabolism, or sprayed in a mist made up of liquid forms of vitamins A and E. Chanel, which funds its own scientific research center, offers Precision Age Delay Rejuventation Serum, which aims to prevent the breakdown of the skin's collagen layer to correct the appearance of lines. The center focuses on the clinical observation of healthy skin and does not develop actual cosmetic products. The research is divided between two categories and two facilities, explains Erwin Tschachler, the center's scientific director. Basic research on topics like the skin barrier and vascularization is done at the University of Vienna, and more clinical research on topics like the different skin properties of women of different racial backgrounds is done at the CE.R.I.E.S. facility in Paris. We provide the know-how for making Chanel cosmetics.