Cindy Crawford’s cosmetics line Meaningful Beauty is popular for its anti-aging products. The brand claims to have served over five million customers, and sells products for both skin and hair.
But do Meaningful Beauty cosmetics contain research-backed anti-aging ingredients? Does the brand use any unhealthy ingredients? Why was the company that owns Meaningful Beauty sued? And is the brand better or worse than popular anti-aging brands like Hanacure?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in two of Meaningful Beauty's most popular anti-aging products (Youth Activating Melon Serum and Age Recovery Night Crème) to give our take on whether or not they're likely to be effective, and whether or not they're healthy.
We'll also give our pick for the healthiest between the two, explain why the owner of Meaningful Beauty was sued, and compare the brand to other popular anti-aging brands to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Contains inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy
- Brand owner sued over allegations of billing fraud
- We do not currently recommend Meaningful Beauty
Youth Activating Melon Serum Review
The ingredients in Meaningful Beauty Youth Activating Melon Serum, which is arguably the brand's most popular anti-aging serum, are shown below:
Cucumis melo cantalupensis callus extract is the scientific name for cantaloupe extract, and appears to be the ingredient referred to on the product page when the brand claims this serum is “powered by our exclusive Melon Leaf Stem Cell Technology.”
We cannot locate one single clinical study showing that cantaloupe extract has an anti-aging effect when applied to skin, nor does Meaningful Beauty currently cite any on their product page.
This formulation does contain some research-backed active ingredients for skin health.
Pancratium maritimum (sea daffodil) extract was shown to reduce the effects of pigmentation and dark spots on the skin in a 2021 clinical trial.
Glycerin was shown to have a synergistic effect with sea daffofil extract in the above-linked clinical trial, meaning both ingredients positively impact skin when used together.
Sodium hyaluronate is an anti-aging ingredient backed by significant medical research. As we documented in our review of Miami MD, clinical trials have shown this ingredient to reduce wrinkles and improve skin hydration.
While Youth Activating Melon Serum contains some reesarch-backed ingredients, it also contains two inactive ingredients we recommend avoiding.
Fragrance has been shown in medical research to be potentially neurotoxic.
Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative found to be toxic to human cells in a clinical trial published in the Experimental Eye Research journal.
Overall, we consider Meaningful Beauty Youth Activating Melon Serum likely to be effective for reducing visible signs of aging due to the inclusion of sodium hyaluronate.
This is the only ingredient in this formulation we consider effective for anti-aging, and we do not currently recommend this product due to the inclusion of fragrance and phenoxyethanol.
Why was Meaningful Beauty's Owner Sued?
Meaningful Beauty is owned by a larger corporation called Guthy-Renker that owns and manages a variety of other beauty brands including JLo Beauty.
According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, Guthy-Renker settled a lawsuit for $8.5 million in 2019 over claims of auto-renewal payments being issued without customer consent or agreement.
Guthy-Renker also settled a class-action lawsuit in 2017 for $15 million according to Top Class Actions. This lawsuit alleged similar auto-renewal malpractice.
The lawsuits that Guthy-Renker have settled involve their management of the brands ProActiv and Wen (a hair brand).
It does not appear that any lawsuit has been filed against Guthy-Renker in regard to their operation of Meaningful Beauty, so there is no evidence to indicate that Meaningful Beauty customers should be concerned.
Age Recovery Night Crème Review
The ingredients in Meaningful Beauty Age Recovery Night Crème, which is marketed as a hydrating and anti-aging serum, are shown below:
This cream does contain some research-backed anti-aging and skin-hydrating ingredients.
Retinol is one of the most well-studied anti-aging compounds. It's a form of vitamin A that's been shown in medical research to cause a "significant facial anti-aging effect" and to upregulate gene activity for collagen production.
Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn) oil was shown in a clinical trial published in the Antioxidants journal to have photoprotective properties, meaning it can minimize damage to skin from UV exposure.
Soluble collagen may have an anti-aging effect, but as we detailed in our Plexaderm reviews article, we've found significantly more research backing for hydrolyzed collagen which has a smaller molecular size and can more easily penetrate skin.
Orchid was described as an "anti-aging, and skin moisturizing agent" in a 2015 medical review.
There are more inactive ingredients in this formulation that we consider to be unhealthy than the Meaningful Beauty product we reviewed above.
Fragrance is included in this formulation, and we explained in the previous ingredient analysis section why we recommend avoiding fragranced cosmetic products.
Orange 4 and Red 40 are artificial dyes, the latter of which has been shown in clinical studies to be frequently contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals, and artificial dyes overall seem to have a high risk of toxicity according to the above-linked study.
Phenoxyethanol and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) are synthetic preservatives, the latter of which has been shown to cause tumors in animal studies.
Overall, we consider Age Recovery Night Crème likely to be effective for anti-aging and to be effective for hydrating the skin.
However, we don't currently recommend this product due to the inclusion of fragrance, artificial dye and two synthetic preservatives of note.
Of the two products reviewed, we consider Youth Activating Melon Serum to be healthier because it's free of artificial dye.
Meaningful Beauty vs. Popular Anti-Aging Brands
Here's how Meaningful Beauty compares to other popular anti-aging skincare brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
Hanacure
Anti-aging face mask contains active ingredients like green tea, which is clinically shown to delay signs of skin aging.
The two formulations we analyzed were entirely free of unhealthy ingredients.
Winner: Hanacure
Oliveda Skincare
Contains fragrance, but no other unhealthy inactive ingredients, as we documented in our Oliveda Skincare reviews article.
We give Oliveda the edge from a healthiness perspective.
Winner: Oliveda Skincare
CeraVe Vitamin C Serum
Similar potential efficacy to Meaningful Beauty.
From a health standpoint, CeraVe's serum is the winner because it's fragrance-free.
Winner: CeraVe Vitamin C Serum
Our Clean Skincare Pick
MindBodyGreen Best Skin+ is our top anti-aging skin supplement.
It contains orange extract which is clinically shown to increase skin moisturization, skin elasticity and skin radiance.
This supplement also contains astaxanthin which is clinically shown to cause "wrinkle formation reduction."
This supplement is free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Meaningful Beauty Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Youth Activating Melon Serum should have anti-aging effect
- Age Recovery Night Crème should hydrate the skin
- Age Recovery Night Crème should have anti-aging effect
- Positive average review rating on Amazon
Cons:
- Youth Activating Melon Serum contains fragrance
- Youth Activating Melon Serum contains synthetic preservatives
- Age Recovery Night Crème contains fragrance
- Age Recovery Night Crème contains synthetic preservatives
- Age Recovery Night Crème contains artificial dyes
- Company owner sued over allegations of auto-order fraud
- High threshold for free shipping from brand's website
- Products we reviewed don't appear to be clinically tested
