Meaningful Beauty Review

Overview

Meaningful Beauty claims to have come to fruition through collaboration between Cindy Crawford, Guthy-Renker and Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh. Cindy had been seeing Dr. Sebagh, a European cosmetic physician, for her own skin care. However, after having children and not traveling to Europe often enough to take advantage of the doctor's skin care regularly, she asked him to begin shipping his products to her in the United States. At the time, so the story goes, this was impossible due to the fragile nature of Dr. Sebagh's key ingredient – a melon extract – that couldn't be bottled.

The site goes on to say that over time and with much research and development, a viable method of transport was discovered. Once this skin care product was "stable" a partnership was formed with Guthy Renker to make the it affordable, and thus, Meaningful Beauty was created. While this is certainly a colorful background on this product, we were eager to see any bona fide research or certifiable scientific data and statistics that substantiate the claims made by the manufacturer on the website.

Product Details

The site refers to a key ingredient -- an antioxidant extract from a melon found in France. The antioxidant, known as superoxide dismutase, is found in a rare French melon that seemed to always stay fresher and firmer than all the other varieties of melon. By extracting this substance, the site suggests that this enzyme can help prevent the release of the free radicals tha age your skin. Oxidization is a leading cause of cell death, and many antioxidants are extracted from fruits and other plants.

All of the products in the Meaningful Beauty line feature this French melon extract as a supposed key active ingredient. The products also contain coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid and minerals that claim to have a prositive effect on the skin. Meaningful Beauty is a multi-part skin care system, and all of the products have been formulated to be used together for best results. The system includes: Gentle cleanser, daytime moisturizer, nighttime moisturizer, eye cream, facial mask, and décolleté and neck cream.

The list of ingredients in the daytime moisturizer cream, which are typical of the Meaningful Beauty product line, 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

• You can buy directly online and the product can then be shipped to your door.
• Product has a celebrity spokes model and a very colorful development story.

The Bad

• We’d like to see more information on the real skin benefits that come from this “rare French melon,” which is incidentally the species cantaloupe charentaise, originating from France, although it can be grown relatively easily in gardens all over the world.
• We have to wonder how much of the consumer price goes to innovative product development versus compensation for a celebrity spokesperson like Cindy Crawford.
• Meaningful Beauty contains parabens – artificial preservatives – which have been linked to skin irritation and contact dermatitis for some individuals with allergies.
• No clinical research studies referred to that show the effectiveness of the product or support the claims made on the website.
• Oddly enough, the two named Active Ingredients are Octinoxate and Avobenzone, which are relatively common compounds used in a variety of cosmetics and sunscreens. The highly touted French melon extract is buried in the list of “other ingredients.”

The Bottom Line

The Meaningful Beauty line has a lot of competition out there that make similar claims. With supermodels and actresses endorsing a new product every month, it is hard to know what to believe. However, while there is nothing we found that suggests Meaningful Beauty isn’t safe or healthy to use, if you think twice, you might wonder if something as simple as a fruit extract will make your skin look like that of one of the world's top supermodels. We were also a bit perplexed to see the highly touted french melon ingredient included in such small quantities on Meaningful Beauty's ingredient list.