New Ingredients In Cosmetics And What They Can Do For You

Skincare, like fashion, is driven by trends. We may be doing the same basic things to our faces but, season to season, we're doing them with new technologies or techniques. Is a new ingredient or product line really right for our skin? Are we being sold something we actually need?

 Here are some of the beauty buzzwords you'll be hearing this fall.
Peptides: Chains of amino acids that, when applied topically, are thought to send a message to the dermis to produce more collagen.
Copper: Copper peptides have been proven to speed wound-healing and increase collagen synthesis.
GABA: Purported to mimic the effects of Botox, this inhibitory neurotransmitter can't penetrate the muscle (as a Botox injection does), so its relaxing effects will apply only to the most superficial muscles. The dermatologists we interviewed say there's too little research so far to prove it does even this much.
Soy isoflavones: Thought to work as an antioxidant, and there's also some evidence that it blocks the pathway of melanin, which could make it helpful in treating dark spots on the skin. The estrogen effect of soy may also help prevent collagen loss in postmenopausal women.
Green tea: The polyphenols that occur naturally in green tea leaves are thought to work as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
Vitamin C: This antioxidant is especially good at destroying free radicals caused by UV exposure. For this reason, it's thought to boost the effectiveness of sunscreen. It has also been shown to help stimulate collagen production. Vitamin C is unstable, so until now it's been hard to deliver it effectively in topical products. But new technology has helped create more stable, higher concentrations and better delivery systems.
Niacin: A nutrient essential for healthy skin and thought to help reverse sun-induced DNA damage, including hyperpigmentation.