We did the research. Here is what we found.
This is where we research the products, treatments, and trends aimed at women as we age and report what we find. We look at what a product claims to do, its ingredients, what the research says, what it costs, and whether it lives up to the claims. Sometimes the answer is simply no, and we say so.
Research Bulletins
One Article, Thirty Years
Alpha lipoic acid, the antioxidant supplement, taken by the Investigator, LR, sixty-two, every day for something close to thirty years on the strength of a single article she read in the late nineteen-nineties. The article said the supplement stops the body oxidizing from the inside out. The question is whether three decades of faithful use is evidence that it worked, or evidence of something else worth naming.
Approved with conditions No. 4 · Locked 2026-09-06Collagen in the Coffee
Hydrolyzed collagen peptides, the powder half the women Blanche knows now stir into their morning coffee, taken by Blanche daily for the better part of a year, mostly for her skin and quietly for her nails. The claim is that a protein you swallow can improve the skin you wear, which sounds, on its face, like a category error. The interesting part is that the category error is not quite what happens.
Approved with conditions No. 3 · Locked 2026-09-05The Salmon in the Serum
Medicube's PDRN Pink Peptide Serum, the Korean serum built around the salmon-DNA molecule that skincare spent this year talking about, tested by the Investigator, LR, sixty-two, on her own face in ordinary nightly use. The question is not whether it worked. It did. The question is what actually did the work, the celebrated molecule on the front of the bottle or the quieter chemistry further down the list. The serum costs twenty-two dollars, which quietly changes the stakes of the whole question.
Approved with conditions No. 2 · Locked 2026-08-13Nia's Creams
Green Cream against Neutrogena's retinol, two creams tied to Dr. Nia Terezakis, the New Orleans dermatologist who helped make one of them and championed the ingredient in both. A test of strength, and a test of what gets used.
Approved with conditions No. 1 · Locked 2026-08-13Three Body Oils, One Question
OSEA Undaria Algae Body Oil against Beauty From Bees Body Serum and Trader Joe's 100% Jojoba Oil, tested on mature skin in ordinary use. The question is whether the expensive one earns it.
Approved