What abour La Mer? This is Paula Begoun's take on Creme de la Mer (she's a consumer advocate for cosmetics):"My favorite example of this type of claim is Estee Lauder Creme de la Mer. Quite a story accompanies this very costly little cream ($165 for 2 ounces)! It was created by Max Huber, a NASA aerospace physicist, supposedly to take care of burns he received in an accident... The reality is that this very basic, and I mean really basic, cream doesn't contain anything particularly extraordinary or unique, unless you want to believe that seaweed extract (sort of like seaweed tea) can somehow be worth this much money, or that it can in some way heal burns and scars. According to Susan Brawley, professor of plant biology at the University of Maine, "seaweed extract isn't a rare, exotic, or expensive ingredient. Seaweed extract is readily available and used in everything from cosmetics to food products and medical applications." Creme de la Mer contains mostly seaweed extract, mineral oil, petrolatum (similar to Vaseline), glycerin, waxlike thickening agents, plant oils, plant seeds, minerals, vitamins, more thickeners, and preservatives. How expensive can it be to stick some seaweed and vitamins in a cosmetic? According to the cosmetics chemists I've interviewed, it costs pennies, not hundreds of dollars..." http://www.cosmeticscop.com/skin-care-facts-crazy-things-cosmetics-salespeople-say.aspx?filter=itemtype%3acontent