Dec 3

Dec 3 PRODUCT REVIEW: PAULA’S CHOICE HYALURONIC ACID BOOSTER - BEST HYALURONIC ACID SERUM, BEST HYDRATING SERUM

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This review was originally part of my blog article titled, Winter Moisturizers Part 2 – Some of the Best Face Creams for Dry Skin and All Skin Types in Cold Weather. You can catch the full piece here.

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I’m not the celebrity type. I learned a long, long time ago that everyone puts their pants on the same way — one leg at a time. I never recognize celebs when I’m out in the world, and when I do, honestly it just doesn’t phase me. Maybe it’s the Leo in me. When I do spot a celeb, I don’t care and certainly never stare.

I gotta admit there is one person, not exactly your average celebrity, that I would swoon over: Paula Begoun! Paula has certainly taught me a lot of what I know today.

Life is always moving, innovations keep coming, knowledge is never-ending. And intelligent resources for information on individual ingredients, products, and new and established brands is everything. Misinformation and marketing spin are all over the internet, so finding trusted, reliable sources is essential.

And this is where Paula Begoun plays such an important role for me. Rarely does a day go by, a review get written, or a blog come to life without the guidance of Paula and her team. They’ve assembled three outstanding sources for information that I regularly rely on.

The first is the Paula’s Choice Skincare website itself — and particularly the Expert Advice section of the site.

On the page, there are expertly sourced articles on just about anything to do with skin care, ingredients, and their benefits and interactions with the skin.

One of the things I love most about the product pages on Paula’s Choice Skincare is the way ingredients are explained in the product INCI’s. You’ll not only find a formula’s ingredients listed in descending order, but also the benefits of the ingredient to your skin. No one else does this at the level that Paula’s team does. It’s indefensible to me!

Nobody explains skin care and ingredients better than Paula herself!

Also part of the site is Paula’s Ingredient Dictionary, one of my go-to sources for in-depth ingredient information — along with COSDNA and INCI Decoder. It’s the first place I go when I come across an obscure ingredient in an INCI.

The third trove of information is Paula’s Beautypedia site. There are several thousand product reviews from hundreds of skincare brands, old and new. On Beautypedia, you’ll find dozens of new, in-depth reviews

On Beautypedia, you can also search by brand. Take Clinique, for example. There are in the neighborhood of 300 individual Clinique products reviewed on the Beautypedia site. Included along with star ratings and in-depth analyses are ingredient lists, pricing and product comparisons.

So, Paula is my muse! And several of the Paula’s Choice skincare products are OG’s, long-time faves; among them the C15 Super Booster and the 10% Niacinamide Booster. Paula’s 1% Retinol Booster was the first Retinol treatment I ever tried!

Paula’s Choice | Hyaluronic Acid Booster

Right up there as a skincare ingredient essential is Hyaluronic Acid. And, as was my experience with both Niacinamide and Retinol, the Paula’s Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster was my first dedicated serum of the tried-and-true humectant.

I have long been fascinated by how Hyaluronic Acid works in the skin and by the multiple forms of the active, among them Sodium Hyaluronate — the salt form of HA that’s the most compatible with the skin.

You’ll find some form of HA in just about every serious moisturizer, hydrating treatment and anti-aging serum. Every skinfluencer and skincare junkie has a dedicated HA serum.

As I said in last week’s blog, hydration is key to maintaining skin health. And a well-formulated Hyaluronic Acid serum is essential to any pro-skin health regimen.

It’s a fascinating ingredient; and while there are multiple humectants available for inclusion in skin care, including Beta Glucan, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Snow Mushroom and Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Hyaluronic Acid seems to be every formulator’s go-to.

Paula and her information-rich websites aren’t my only source for legit ingredient information. I do a lot of googling. But, again, there’s a lot of misinformation out there, so you have to be discerning.

That said, I recently found an excellent albeit wonky article on Hyaluronic Acid titled, Why Science Says Hyaluronic Acid Is the Holy Grail to Wrinkle-Free, Youthful Hydration.

This bit stood out to me, in particular:

“The benefits of hyaluronic acid on the skin has to do with its molecular weight and concentration. In this case, size matters! The molecular weight refers to its mass, or how big the HA molecule is. This is measured in something called unified atomic mass units — daltons, or kDa for short.
HA between 50 to 1,000 kDa is the most beneficial for skin, with about 130 kDa being the best, according to the most recent human studies. Anything higher won't make too much of a difference. Anything lower might cause inflammation. How did we get this number? When you look at studies, you'll see a pattern, but one of the most thorough studies looked at HA with different molecular weights, including 50, 130, 300, 800, and 2,000 kDa.
After one month, they found that treatment with 130 kDa HA was the most effective, increasing skin elasticity by 20 percent. Both the 50 and 130 kDa groups had significant improvement in wrinkle-depth and skin roughness after 60 days. All the other molecular weights still improved elasticity and skin hydration, just less so. You can read more about this molecular weight analysis from the original breakdown here.”

So, what makes the Paula’s Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster a personal favorite?

First, I love the texture! It’s not as watery as, say, the pricier option from Dr. Dennis Gross — the $68 Hyaluronic Marine Hydration Booster. But it’s also not as pulpy as the cheaper HA serums available today from The Ordinary and The Inkey List — which are $6.80 and $7.99 respectively.

Paula’s Hyaluronic Acid Booster “contains a specialized matrix of skin-smoothing hyaluronic acid, skin-replenishing ceramides, and panthenol that penetrates skin’s surface to help lock in moisture, keeping skin hydrated and ultimately moisturized.”

The first ingredients immediately after water are Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate and Hyaluronic Acid, followed by three skin-replenishing forms of plumping, replenishing ceramides.

It’s a terrific formula and relatively affordable at $36.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Paula’s Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster for $36 here.

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