2012 Beauty Breakthroughs

Photo by: David Cook

Yves Saint Laurent ForeverYouth Liberator line
It's counterintuitive but true: Eating too much sugar is believed to accelerate aging, but slathering it on our skin might have the opposite effect. Yves Saint Laurent researchers have pinpointed sugar molecules that are able to help older skin cells communicate and regenerate more like younger ones do-and they've figured out how to harness their potential in the form of ... more 

Photo by: David Cook

Yves Saint Laurent ForeverYouth Liberator line
It's counterintuitive but true: Eating too much sugar is believed to accelerate aging, but slathering it on our skin might have the opposite effect. Yves Saint Laurent researchers have pinpointed sugar molecules that are able to help older skin cells communicate and regenerate more like younger ones do-and they've figured out how to harness their potential in the form of creams and serums.

HOW IT WORKS: Glycans are complex saccharide chains that exist on the surface of cells and help with cellular communication, but our natural stores get depleted as we age, compromising the cells' ability to repair themselves. Scientists for Yves Saint Laurent have combined three glycans that lock on to skin cells and turn up the volume on messages to repair damaged areas of skin, letting them act significantly younger than they are. In company-sponsored clinical studies on subjects over 50, all experienced a noticeable reduction in wrinkles after applying the serum on their face and neck twice a day for just one month.

WHAT AN EXPERT SAYS: "Glycans are part of the system the body uses to maintain skin, and the innovation here is that this formula tricks the skin into thinking it has the glycans the body isn't making anymore," says Ranella Hirsch, a dermatologist in Boston. "This is a big advancement in the way glycobiology is applied to the skin and represents a novel approach to the less