Product Watch: Our anti-aging pick of the month

MooGoo Anti-Ageing Cream, €25.30

Regardless of the label/ad/celebrity endorsement, there is no “facelift in a jar”. Happily, there is a checklist a cream fulfils when it can truly help skin to rehydrate, repair existent damage and produce new collagen and healthy cells. Broad-spectrum sun protection, a lack of fragrance/irritants and a mix of proven antioxidants, skin-repairers and cell-communicating ingredients (which “tell” damaged cells how to behave like healthy ones) are the checkpoints.

MooGoo Anti-Ageing Cream is a fantastic choice for sensitive or normal-to-dry skin. Don’t let the cutesy packaging fool you: the ingredients are potent and backed up by substantial research. The most prevalent (apart from water) is squalene, a proven antioxidant and emollient that is naturally present in skin’s own moisture barrier. Next up are soothing aloe vera, emollient rice oil and apricot kernel oil (which has similar properties to squalene).

Other great antioxidants include milk protein, vitamin E and vitamin C (a notoriously volatile ingredient that MooGoo stabilises with the practical pump-bottle). Pyrus malus, a cell-communicating ingredient, is present in the apple extract (though a little more of this would be welcome). I am most pleased about the high concentration of grapeseed oil, a potent antioxidant and wound-healer that can reduce free-radical damage. When combined with other antioxidants (as it is in this cream) this ingredient reduces the biomarkers in skin responsible for skin cancer. The formula is fragrance and irritant free. A broad-spectrum SPF would make this cream a contender for “Product of the Year”.

Check moogoo.ie for local stockists.