If you saw a serum for $130, what benefits do you think it would offer?
For me, I would honestly expect it to deliver every single possible skin anti-aging benefit under the sun. Does the $130 Beverly Hills MD Lift + Firm Booster do that?
Short answer: no. Long answer: it includes a couple cool ingredients.
Hydrating Serums: Are They Necessary?
A brief intro to hydration serums/boosters is essential before diving into a review for a pricey one. There are two schools of thought here:
You don’t need a dedicated hydration step because so many moisturizers and other serums have hyaluronic acid in them already.
Having a hydration step is a great addition to your skincare routine because it brings another source of water for your skin to drink up.
I fall more into the latter school of thought because I enjoy giving as much moisture and water to my skin as I can. Any step, I will take the opportunity. Especially because the size of hyaluronic acid molecules can have different hydration benefits, based on their skin penetration abilities.
Some of my favorite hydration serums have been:
If you don’t believe in hydration serums, there’s no point in investing in a $130 one. It simply wouldn’t be worth it. But if you’re curious about this booster, read on…
Beverly Hills MD Lift + Firm Booster Review
When I received this gifted product in PR, I was definitely impressed by the packaging. It’s sort of like a pen, instead of a traditional tube. You squeeze a rubber part of the tube to dispense a small amount of the product.
Novel? Yes. Functional? Questionable. It’s a little hard to unscrew the cap and then squeeze it when my hands are already slippery from previous steps.
Benefits of This Hydrating Booster
11 types of hyaluronic acid
The number one thing that stuck out to me about this booster was the different types of hyaluronic acid. They say there are 11 different molecular weights of hyaluronic acid in this formulation, from 3 different ingredients:
Hymagic: an ingredient from Bloomage Biotechnology, featuring sodium hyaluronate, sodium acetylated hyaluronate (chemically modified to let it penetrate skin deeper), sodium hyaluronate crosspolymer (hyaluronic acid in a 3D structure to improve skin hydration), and hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate (basically smaller pieces).
HyaClear 7: 7 molecular weights (3K to 2.3M Da) of hyaluronic acid from TRI-K Industries.
“Hyaluronic Acid HABT”: I honestly could not find anything about this ingredient, except for the usage of it in the Beverly Hills MD website… That’s kinda sus, but beauty brands are allowed to give ingredients whatever marketing name they want. So this is probably an instance of that.
From all of the hyaluronic acid-based ingredients, i definitely wondered how much overlap there was between the 2 ingredients in terms of molecular weight. There very well may be 11 different types, but there could also just be 7-9 (if the Hymagic ones overlap with the HyaClear 7 ones), which is also an impressive amount.
I just dislike it when brands oversell things.
And don’t get me wrong: I fully support using multiple molecular weights of hyaluronic acid for a plumping and hydrating effect. Different sizes will be able to penetrate the skin differentially, therefore enabling your skin to see different benefits.
But just how many sizes do you need? The jury is still out.
Big skincare claims
I love a hydrating serum because it keeps your skin supple and helps slow down the signs of aging. But this booster takes it one step further and makes large claims:
Help target the “look of the 4 biggest “age-giveaways”: Marionette lines, sagging cheeks, smile lines, and vertical lip wrinkles.”
Maybe it does, but I honestly did not see a difference in my fine lines or larger lines I have on my face. And the plumping that hyaluronic acid products would help create are temporary.
Is It Worth It?
The ingredient list of this hydrating booster leaves much to be desired. It focuses on hydration, which is great and exactly what the product is for.
But it lacks any oomph or that extra added benefit.
Every ingredient in the list is something you could find in another product. Other than your functional ingredients, it’s your typical aloe juice, glycerin, pentylene glycol. Your humectants are fully there. But what else…?
And $130 for 1 ounce? Highway robbery.
Yes, packaging is expensive. Yes, the hyaluronic acid ingredients are probably pricey too.
But the majority of this is the “premium” or “medical-grade” markup.
So, it’s a no for me.
Get Your Hydration & Save Your Coin
If I were in the market for a new hydrating serum, I would not go for the Beverly Hills MD one. At $130 on their website or $58 on Amazon, there are much better alternatives at that price point or well below it. And I truly do not understand the pricing scheme there. The differences are insane.
If you want an expensive (but effective) hydration serum, go with the Allies of Skin.
If you want a cheap (but effective) hydration serum, go with the Inkey List.
The choice is yours!
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