Lately, Instagram is serving me a steady stream of anti-aging content.  From antioxidant packed smoothie powders to sleep-enhancing devices and every retinol serum ever created, I am wondering what I Googled to wind up here.

So when Instagram began tossing out the Cindy Crawford-backed skincare brand, Meaningful Beauty, I thought, “Why not?”  If it’s good enough for a super model, it’s good enough for me.  Or is it?

First off, let’s state the obvious, no serum, cream, or gel that you rub on your face is going to give you skin like Cindy Crawford.  A super model is a woman with access to resources that you and I simply cannot attain.  For all I know, she has a chorus of angels who prays over her fine lines every morning asking them to relax.  So the goal cannot be to look a Richard Avedon photo, it can only be to have the best skin possible for you.

Okay, moving on…

If you’ve ever been up at 2:00AM on a Friday night, you’ve probably seen the Meaningful Beauty infomercials.  So I won’t rehash the marketing regarding rare melons from the South of France with magical powers to turn back the hands of time because that late night dreck is only meant to take advantage of us at our most vulnerable moments while we’re tipsy, eating junk food or feeding a crying baby or fighting the insomnia that so often comes in the welcome to female-adulthood prize package.  Instead, let’s just talk about ingredients.

Meaningful Beauty’s products contain melon leaf stem cells, plant extracts, peptides, retinol and hyaluronic acid.  The brand claims that these ingredients plump and firm skin to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and pores.  Most dermatologists will tell you that “plant stem cells” do not regenerate human cells, but can help with inflammation and provide anti-oxidant benefits.  So take any claims about products that rebuild cells with a grain of salt.

Because I like to try products, I bought the Meaningful Beauty 5-piece kit at Ulta.  Sampling a few products allowed me to give more of the line a try.  Also, if I’m trying a serum and they recommend a cleanser or moisturizer, it never hurts to try them as a group if that’s how they’re designed to work.

The Skin Softening Cleanser went in the trash the third day.  I didn’t find that it removed makeup residue very well, and on my combination skin, it still felt oily after use.  But if you have dry skin or post-menopausal skin, this might be a product worth sampling.

The Eye Cream was the next product that I tossed. I should have a burial ground for all the eye cream that has promised to reduce my dark circles.  This cream was too heavy for me, and within four days, I had whiteheads all around my under-eye area.  Not ideal.

The kit also included a day cream and a night cream.  For my skin, the night cream was too heavy.  But again, if you have dry skin or aging skin, this could very well give your skin the drink of water it needs.

As for the day cream, I appreciated the SPF 30.  I also found the lightness of the moisturizer kept my skin hydrated but didn’t result in a midday oil slick.

The one product I loved was the Meaningful Beauty Youth Activating Melon Serum. The serum is pretty thick, almost like a thick jelly, so I used it sparingly.  I started using it during a particularly dry season when my skin was damaged by acne.  I found that the blemishes seemed to heal faster and the pores were less inflamed.  I also liked that it kept my skin feeling hydrated, so I didn’t wake up with that tight, parched feeling.

Overall, the MB products were mostly a miss for me.  But despite the four in front of my age, I don’t think I’m the brand’s target demo.    I liked the serum, it seemed gentle but packed with good ingredients.  I would buy the serum again.  And I will likely buy the wrinkle treatment capsules to see how they do on my forehead lines.

Bottom Line: If you are concerned about aging skin and aren’t sure where to turn, this brand might be a place to start.  But if you’re buying it in the hopes that it will end your skin woes and give you the micro-fine pores of a supermodel, your expectations are too high.

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