Worth its weight in gold? The £260 facial
THERE was a time when wearing diamonds and gold meant investing in expensive jewellery. But for today’s super-rich, it comes in the form of a faddish beauty treatment.
Britain’s wealthiest are spending up to £29,000 a year on facial masks and other treatments which have precious metals and gems as ingredients, a BBC2 documentary reveals.
However, experts have rubbished claims about the benefits of the potions, saying there is no evidence they improve the skin.
In the first episode of The Super-Rich And Us, broadcast last night, presenter Jacques Peretti visited a branch of the Oro Gold beauty clinic in London and was given a treatment where a mask containing real gold flakes was laid over his face. Oro Gold puts 24- carat flakes in all of its products.
A beauty therapist told the programme that clients can have up to 12 treatments a month. With a 60minute appointment costing £256, or a bulk purchase of six coming in at £1,200, such a schedule could cost £28,800 a year.
A pack of 12 ‘Deep Tissue Rejuvenating Masks’, with ingredients including gold and sea algae, costs £1,398 from the company’s website. It claims it will ‘ give your skin a boost of vitamins, minerals and long lost vital ingredients to help you look and feel radiant’.
Other products include a ‘ 24K Cryogenic Diamond Mask’, selling for £1,000 a pot and with ingredi- ents including diamond dust, which it claims will ‘add shine and gently moisturise while reducing the appearance of wrinkles’.
But Dr Adam Friedmann, a consultant dermatologist at the Harley Street Dermatology Clinic, said: ‘It sounds like a good way of spending money for nothing. The reality is that gold and diamonds are completely unreactive, so the benefit of using gold and diamonds over other things is pretty much zero.
‘It just sounds like a clever bit of gimmickry with no conceivable medical benefit.’
Beauty therapist Lisa Harris said: ‘It’s impossible for gold to pene- trate the skin, it’s the other ingredients which are good for the skin. Diamonds won’t penetrate either, again it’s the other ingredients.’
Oro Gold said last night: ‘Gold and diamonds are being rediscovered today in modern skin care and their inclusion can be found in the world’s most luxurious brands.’