Spend a fortune on anti-wrinkle creams? Don’t bother, says a US study released this week. You can pay more than $100 an ounce for a wrinkle cream that promises to erase the years from your face, but spending a few bucks on a good sunscreen is probably a better investment, new research shows. Luxury-price products don’t work any better than drugstore brands, according to the study by Consumer Reports magazine, which ranked Olay Regenerist, priced at about US$19 ($28), as the most effective in reducing wrinkles.
Those “breakthrough” anti-wrinkle creams now dominating department store cosmetics counters don’t really work all that well, shows a Consumer Reports investigation that compares wrinkle creams. And neither do their less pricey drugstore counterparts.

It’s something most of us beauty junkies already know. Overall, no product made a significant difference to the skin’s appearance. Researchers found that, after 12 weeks, the top-rated products smoothed out some fine lines and wrinkles – but even the best performers reduced the average depth of wrinkles by less than 10%, a change barely visible to the naked eye.
As well as the Olay creams, the study claimed that Lancome Regenerie and RoC Retin-Ox+ were more effective than average. A spokeswoman for Consumer Reports said: “The tests revealed that, on average, [anti-wrinkle] products made little difference in the skin’s appearance, and there’s no correlation between price and effectiveness.”

Consumer Reports, published by nonprofit consumer research group Consumer Union, chose a sample of top-selling mass-market lines for its study. The products were purchased in retail stores for between US$19 and US$355. Each cream was tested by 17 to 23 women, aged between 30 and 70. The women were recruited and evaluated by a European laboratory specialising in cosmetic testing. Results varied among the women, the study said.
“People would love to believe that cheap products are the same as the more expensive ones, and I may pooh-pooh someone paying US$500 for a cream, but I do see the value of some of the luxury brands which are science-based,” Dr Tina Alster, a dermatologic laser surgeon from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC said.

At $57 for the cream, lotion, or serum, one of the cheapest — Olay Regenerist — performed slightly better than the rest, followed by Lancome Paris Renergie, at $176, and RoC Retin-Ox+, at $135. One of the worst performing products, La Prairie Cellular, was also one of the most expensive, at $335 for an ounce of day cream and 1.7 ounces of night cream.
Weinkle, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of South Florida and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology agrees that price has little to do with effectiveness when it comes to antiaging skin products. “Just because you pay more doesn’t mean you are getting more,” she says. “You really have to look at the ingredients.”
She adds that wearing a sunscreen every day will do more to prevent new wrinkles than any face cream on the market.
“Wrinkling comes from ultraviolet light, so you can use expensive wrinkle creams until the cows come home,” Weinkle says. “But they aren’t going to do much good if you don’t protect your face from sun damage.”

Tags: sunscreen, moisturizer, wrinkles, wrinkle cream

Yumiko Cheng Hei-Yi (鄭希怡), a popular Hong Kong singer/actress, accidentally lost her pants during an acrobatics on Saturday night’s Tung Wah Charity Show. The Canto-pop singer’s waldrobe malfunction was started when she is performing the stunt veteran action with choreographer Chin Ka-lok, she swung towards Chin, who tried to grab her legs but caught her trousers instead, pulling them down. She accidentally flashed her underwear to viewers, Cheng dropped into the safety net and pulled her pants up, whereupon Eric Tsang asked for a replay.
Yumiko was distraught afterwards and said all safety procedures had been taken. Immediately after the stunt, Yumiko left the stage with her co-performers and hurried to the backstage, where she reportedly burst into tears.

Right after the waldrobe malfunction incident, there were over many people from all over the world searching for the Yumiko Cheng’s video footage on the net, including Youtube. However, many of those footages have been removed at the request of TVB which broadcasted the show live. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received 29 complaints about the show, in which Cheng lost her trousers during a trapeze stunt, exposing her skimpy thong. TVB external affairs assistant controller Tsang Sing-ming said the Yumiko Cheng’s video clips were removed soon after the letter was sent to YouTube, but they had already been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. One clip had more than 400,000 hits. “It could be difficult when a website is not based in Hong Kong but we explained to them the segment belongs to a TVB production and had been uploaded without permission from copyright owner TVB,” said Mr Tsang. “We are glad to hear that YouTube responded so quickly. It was bad for Yumiko.”

But something good did come out of this as some donors - touched by Yumiko’s show of courage - made a HK$100,000 ($20,000) donation in her name to the show. This helped the organisers to exceed the initial target of HK$650,000.
At a press conference after the show, she said: ‘I’ve received many calls from friends, offering me support. I told them not to worry about me.

Clad in a skin-tight tank top and gold-coloured pants, Yumiko Cheng, looked composed on the elevated platform as she readied herself to be swung through the air by Kenny to Ka Lok. This was her second try after the first one failed when she lost her shoes during the stunt.
In 2004 almost similar waldrobe malfunction incident happened to Janet Jackson also created unprecedented global attention and this time Yumiko might not be as famous as Janet jackson but shes is certainly alot more prettier than she is!

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Tags: Yumiko Cheng, yumiko, waldrobe malfunction, video

Parents in Melbourne have been warned to check their children’s Christmas Gifts after it was revealed hundreds of hardcore pornographic images had been hidden in books, clothes and toys and clothes at some of Melbourne’s major shopping centres. Some children in Melbourne may be in for a nasty shock when they open their presents on Christmas morning.
It was revealed afrer the Melbourne police a man was arrested for allegedly slipping pornographic images of children into merchandise at four major shopping malls last month, reported the Herald Sun. Information technology expert Kenneth Palliser, 53, of Mitcham, allegedly slipped pornographic images of children into merchandise at four major shopping (Knox City, Doncaster, Forest Hill Chase and Eastland) complexes in the eastern suburbs between November 18 and 26.

He is suspected of printing the pornographic images from the Internet, laminating them, then cutting the prints into postcard size to ’several hundred’ of Christmas Gifts. While staff at the affected shops have made all efforts to check their merchandise, the police believe that many customers may have left with goods containing the images.
Det. Sen-Sgt Greg Heafield, of the Nunawading Criminal Investigation Unit, appealed to parents to check gifts thoroughly before wrapping them to avoid a shock on December 25. “Appropriate action was taken by the police at an early stage, but I’d encourage parents to look at the gifts first to ensure there is nothing in it that might alarm the child,” he said.
“The resulting arrest is pleasing, although the offence is horrific and has terrible overtones for parents,” he added.

Mr Palliser is facing five charges including contaminating goods and possessing child pornography. Police expect to charge him with up to 20 more offences. He is believed to have been working alone and is not thought to be part of any wider network of paedophiles, the police said.

Tags: Christmas Gift, shopping centre, Pornographic