Face cream a jab-free answer to Botox

Before (left) and after - NZ Herald journalist Phoebe Falconer tries out Freezeframe. Photos / Greg Bowker

It has been dubbed budget Botox in a bottle and it's about to hit the shelves in New Zealand.

If sales in Australia are anything to go by, needle-free Freezeframe may not sit around long.

Since the brush-on, wrinkle-relaxing cream was launched across the Tasman seven months ago, it has become the top-selling cosmetic in Myer department stores.

Farmers has sewn up a deal to sell the product exclusively in New Zealand for three months, before distribution is widened to pharmacies. It plans a big push. From today shoppers will see Freezeframe "before" and "after" posters of a scowling woman made creaseless.

While it's hard not to put some of the disappearing wrinkles in the advertising down to an exaggerated frown, the product created a buzz when it was demonstrated at an industry launch in Auckland last week. Samples were provided for trial, and in some cases on-the-spot results were dramatic. In other women only a mild tautening was evident around the targeted eye area.

Experts say Freezeframe cannot possibly mimic the effect of Botox because it is not injected direct into muscle. For some women, though, that is part of the appeal. At $119 the cost is also about a third of what big Botox providers such as Caci medi-spas charge for a "frown area" treatment.

The Weekend Herald put the product through its paces this week with its own trial on staff member Phoebe Falconer. We followed the directions carefully, brushing it on to a makeup-free face and allowing it to dry for a few minutes without getting too expressive.

Phoebe's first impressions were favourable (see sidebar). "Even without my glasses, I can see a difference between the treated and untreated sides."

The Australian marketer behind Freezeframe, Sonia Amoroso, said it best suited women with a combination of noticeably deep-seated wrinkles and under-eye bags. It zapped puffiness and had a lifting effect on the brow. Some men bought the product, but it worked less well on their thicker, oilier skin.

Ms Amoroso said her product appealed to women as a Botox alternative, or because they disliked needles. What made it different from others, a "world first", was that it had both an instant result, lasting up to 12 hours, and a longer-term action if used regularly.

"Over time you're also reducing wrinkles," she claimed at the launch last week.

She was hazy about how her key ingredient, a trademarked complex dubbed Inhibox, provided Freezeframe's initial tautening, saying: "It's a bit of a scientific mystery why it works." Ingredients from "amino acids and mineral sources" were mentioned as muscle relaxants. The claimed longer-term effects were ascribed to wrinkle-relaxing peptides, including one her development team had isolated that she said was stronger than Argeriline, a peptide promoted in other skincare ranges.

Dermatologists the Weekend Herald spoke to said there was no evidence of peer reviews or proven trials on Inhibox, which meant it was unlikely to have actual medical benefits.

With so little known about the product in New Zealand's medical community, it was difficult to measure whether there were any potential adverse effects.

Caci's clinical adviser, Jackie Smith, is sceptical about Freezeframe's reputed long-term benefits and its imagery. She said the photographs might give consumers exaggerated ideas about its long-term results, based on short-term ones.

Botox differed from cosmetics because it had been the subject of many independent scientific studies on its sustained effects.

"But I wouldn't want to put it down," Ms Smith said. "There's a place for these sort of things. They're great if you're going to a party and want to look good for a few hours."

People looking for a temporary effect might well be happy to try it, but she said that over the years she had heard many women rue how much they spent chasing promises.

- Janetta Mackay

NICE RESULT BUT WATCH OUT FOR THOSE FLAKES

Having one's face daubed with a substance that feels like wallpaper paste is not a run-of-the-mill occurrence in the Herald newsroom. But, when volunteers are called for to test a product that purports to enhance one's looks, it seems foolish to refuse.

At first, and in a warm studio, the coolness of the lotion is not unpleasant. Great care is taken not to get the product too near the eyes and eyelids, and the application is gentle and not excessive. Within seconds, there is a slight tingly, itchy feeling, the sort that could induce a swipe with a finger if such a thing were allowed. The tingling does not last, and as the paste dries, it fades altogether.

Instead, as the product dries, there is a noticeable feeling of tautness in the area under the eye, and beneath the eyelid.

A quick look in the mirror confirms that the crease beneath and beside the eye-bags has been reduced, and the sagging above the eye that one generally tries to ignore is no more.

And so, happily, it stays for an hour or so.

A mirror check then picks up a chalky rim around the outside of the treated area. This is removed easily with a damp cotton pad, which brings on that old itching slightly, but this quickly fades.

After two or three hours, the flaking is getting really annoying. A quick hand wipe over the face dislodges a shower of flakes, with the eyebrows particularly copious. Further more vigorous brushing is done in private.

After four or five hours, some of the tautness has faded, but there is a residual effect that lasts another couple of hours.

In spite of colleagues asking when the treatment would begin, the product appears to do what it claims. A little application practice is required to reduce the chalky residue. But as a pick-me-up after a hard night, or for a special occasion, Freezeframe has its place in the make-up box.

- Phoebe Falconer