Brown Spots and Uneven Skin Tone: Olay Definity & the Fight Against Aging

Recently, I caught Olay's new TV commercial for a new line of anti-aging products called Definity. The dermatologist on the commercial said, "For decades, the war against anti-aging has focused mainly on lines and wrinkles. However, a recent study suggests that there may be a "new wrinkle" in the fight against aging: brown spots, dullness and uneven tone." This caught my attention because lack of facial luminosity and glow along with discoloration can pile on the years. But, what caught my attention next was the barely noticeable fine print on the bottom of the television screen saying something along the lines of, "Fights aging by moisturizing." To me, fine print screams deception or conditions of some kind, so I decided to do a little investigating of my own. My purpose in investigating wasn't to discredit the Olay line, but to figure out why and how this "moisturizing" fights signs of aging, and what it is made up of.

First, I wanted to know how the Olay Definity line works, so I checked out their website. From what I learned, the Definity line, "Helps reverse past damage", and, "Eight weeks later, your skin looks highly defined, luminous, more flawless." Reading into Olay's site more thoroughly, I found that, "Definity's exclusive Essential Glucosamine Complex hydrates intensely" using the main ingredients N-acetyl glucosamine and niacinamide. The site is actually excellent in that it gets into the science of how Definity can improve skin. One section of the site talks about brown spot breakthrough and how, "Definity reduces the appearance of age spots by 78 percent." While this sounded wonderful, yet again, there was fine print that read, "Vs. base moisturizer." Therefore, my preliminary conclusion is that while Olay truly may help decrease the appearance of age spots and uneven tone, it has not been tested against other products offering the same claims, and instead only your basic moisturizer. Armed with knowing the prized ingredients in Olay's Definity line, I conducted a search of my own on its main ingredients.

N-acetyl glucosamine & Niacinamide