A former beauty pageant winner from Guinea has taken a Swiss skin-care product company to court for allegedly ruined her once healthy complexion and ruining her modelling career.

25-year-old Mariama Diallo, who previously won Miss Guinea, Miss West Africa and participated in the Miss World pageant, had a successful modelling career until three years ago, when trying a new skincare product left her face full of blemishes and scars. She has been struggling to find work since 2018, as the healing process has been very slow and no company would hire her. Diallo has now taken the manufacturer of the product she claims ruined her career to court.

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Thai social media has been abuzz about a particular skin whitening cream after a number of online promoters published before and after photos which suggested that the cream worked a bit too well.

Skin whitening creams are big business in South-East Asia, with many brands competing to attract the millions of people obsessed with having a fairer complexion. One of the best ways to do that is social media promotion, only some so-called influencers often try too hard when pitching a product to their audience, as was recently the case with a whitening cream called Milk Lotion Whitening Skin. Before-and-after pictures doing the rounds online this past week showed some pretty dramatic changes, with users’ skin going from light brown to a macabre white.

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Deoco, a range of women’s beauty products that allegedly captures the coveted “young woman smell”, has become a huge hit in Japan, among both older women who want to smell younger and lonely men who crave the fragrance of a younger woman.

The story of this intriguing line of cosmetics began last year, when Japanese company Rohto Pharmaceutical announced that it had successfully isolated two fragrant chemical compounds, called Lactone C10 and C11, which younger women’s bodies seemed to produce in much larger quantities than those of older women. In a study that involved 500 women of all ages, from teens to adults in their 50s, Rohto’s scientists detected a “sweet aroma” that was stronger in younger women’s worn clothes. Subsequent research revealed that the scent came from two lactones, the levels of which were highest among teens, but dropped significantly in women over 35. After making the discovery and isolating the two compounds, Rohto quickly started working on Deoco, a line of body soaps and deodorants rich in Lactone C10 and C11.

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The simplest way to describe Chrom is as a nail polish for your teeth. It lets you color your chompers in 10 various colors, doesn’t smudge and lasts for up to 24 hours.

If you’re bored with your pearly whites, or just want them to match the color of your fingernails or your outfit, you can now use an innovative ‘tooth polish’ to paint them any way you like. The formula for Chrom was reportedly created by dentists and consists of a grain alcohol base and pigments similar to high-quality coloring. It doesn’t stain the teeth, it’s not permanent and it doesn’t have any taste so you can enjoy your favorite foods while looking freaky.

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A middle-aged woman from Harbin, China, was recently diagnosed with chemical cirrhosis that seemed to have been caused by her long-time habit of dyeing her hair every month.

Referred to only as Mrs. Chen by Chinese media, the 50-something woman allegedly started spotting white hairs on her scalp when she was in her 30s. There were only a few of them back then, so she could easily pluck them out, but after she turned 40-year-old, the white strands really started to show, particularly around her temples. Like many other women do around that age, Chen started dyeing her hair to conceal the sign of ageing. However, she claims that her white hair grew really fast, so in order o keep it from showing, she had her hair dyed at a salon every month for the last decade. She recently learned that her habit has taken a heavy toll on her liver.

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Some people would try anything in their desperate attempt to combat the natural effects of aging. One trend that’s been blowing up (pun intended) in recent years is Carboxy Therapy – pumping carbon dioxide under the skin to treat stretch marks, loose skin, cellulite or dark circles under the eyes.

So how does Carboxy therapy work, you ask? It’s quite simple really. Using a fine needle hooked up to a carbon dioxide tank, gas is slowly pumped under the skin. The procedure itself is reportedly not painful at all, with patience feeling nothing but a tingling sensation. Once under the skin, the CO2 causes a slight disruption in the red blood cells due to the sudden overflow of a gas that our bodies produce naturally as cellular waste. Blood vessels expand, improving circulation to the oxygen deprived area and leaving the skin looking healthier and more youthful. It works differently for various conditions. For example, CO2 destroys fat cells, which helps remove cellulite, while in the case of stretch marks, the increased blood flow improves collagen production.

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There was a time when freckles were considered unsightly, but they might just become the ‘in’ thing when this new cosmetic fake-freckle kit hits the market!

Called ‘Freck Yourself’, the kit comes with a set of 72 self-adhesive stencils and a rollerball containing skin-pigmenting formula. Users need to place the stencil on the spot where they want freckles, and then roll the formula all over it. The result is a sun-kissed look that is guaranteed to last for two days with one-time use, or up to six weeks with everyday use.

Freck Yourself is the brainchild of Los Angeles-based Remi Brixton, who always wanted to have freckles her whole life. “There is nothing more beautiful to me than bare skin and fresh freckles,” she said in a promotional video. “To me, they’re a mark of rebellious dreamers, wild adventures, and unapologetic beauty.”

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Developed by a Cambridge University affiliated laboratory, Esthechoc is being touted as the world’s first ‘beauty chocolate’. It’s a dark chocolate with 70 percent cocoa containing high levels of two powerful anti-oxidants which help reverse the skin’s natural ageing process.

A 7.5g piece of Esthechoc has as many cocoa flavanols as a 100g piece of regular chocolate, and the same amount of astaxanthin as 300g of wild salmon. These substances are believed to help improve blood circulation and increase blood supply to the skin, making it look healthier and younger. Cambridge-based bio-medical company Lycotec tested the chocolate on volunteers aged between 50 and 60, and recorded visible benefits in just three weeks.

“After 3-4 weeks of daily intake by 50-60 year old volunteers, the Beauty Chocolate was able to not only suppress markers of sub-clinical inflammatory damage in their blood, but also reverse their age-related depression of microcirculation and blood supply to such peripheral tissues as subcutaneous fat and skin,” Lycotec claims in a post on its website. “This consequently resulted in a significant boost of oxygen delivery to these tissues and restoration of their respiration – the essential physiological need in controlling and supporting skin health.”

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If you’re not fully satisfied with the shape and size of your nose, but aren’t convinced invasive rhinoplasty is the way to go, may be you should consider Nose Secret.

This Korean invention consists of “a pair of curved and comfortable splints that you place at the inside edge of each nostril to make your nose look narrower and straighter, instantly,” according to the official website. The splints create a gentle pressure, lifting the top part of the nose and narrowing the nostrils. This results in a “more refined appearance of the nose” and “better harmony of the facial features.”

The splints aren’t visible at all once inserted in the nostrils, but they also won’t produce any dramatic changes to the shape and size of your nose. Nose Secret seems to be designed for those who want a higher, sharper looking nose, which is highly coveted by some Asians. The website states that the product will help anyone looking for a ‘slim and wide nose’, ‘lift a blended nose tip’, ‘straighten a crooked nose’, and ‘enhance the beauty of ethnic noses (Asian, African American, Hispanic, etc)’.

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The Visha Hindu Parishad (VHP), a right-wing non-governmental organization in India, has recently launched a line of beauty products containing two very special ingredients – cow dung and gau mutra.

“The use of gau mutra in medicines and beauty products will help farmers and prevent them from selling cows. Ayurveda talks about use of cow dung to prevent pimples. But people are reluctant to use dung, which is why we are making beauty products out of it,” VHP leader Venkatesh Abdeo said. Just to be clear, gau mutra is not some miracle plant but plain old cow urine, which has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries.

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