SKIN CARE People pay top dollar for pricey products

Dermatologist-turned-entrepreneur offers a luxury line of wrinkle-reducers.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- You have to figure that any company with the nerve to charge $195 for an ounce of skin cream is based in New York. Or maybe Paris.
But Z. Bigatti, the latest luxury line of wrinkle-reducers, comes from St. Paul. A generic business park, to be exact.
In her expansive office, dermatologist Jennifer Biglow dreams up $124 face masks and $65 cleansers that she claims are worth every penny. But, then, she doesn't like to think about money.
"I just wanted to make something that would really work for my patients," said the doctor, who quit her practice, Dermatology Consultants in St. Paul and Burnsville, Minn., to focus on her growing business. Z. Bigatti, which got its start in pharmacies and doctor's offices, is now sold at high-end spas and stores worldwide.
Spa helps sales
Just a few months ago, Saks Fifth Avenue in Minneapolis created the first Z. Bigatti spa, devoting 180 square feet of its cosmetics department to a dramatic marble display space and treatment room where shoppers are invited to a free half-hour facial. Sales have been so strong, the store's general manager, Ann Massey, said Saks is considering Z. Bigatti spas in other cities.
Meanwhile, Biglow is developing a hair-care line and putting the finishing touches on her first men's collection, due out this fall. A lip product and night cream are set to hit stores later this month.
Marketing genius? Biglow said she just wanted to offer people the best possible skin-care product. She uses hydroxy-acids to exfoliate and moisturize, antioxidants to repair damage and vitamins to make skin look younger. The formulation is costly.
Her original product, the 2-ounce, $150 Re-Storation Skin Treatment, contains 50 ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration requires cosmetic product labels to list ingredients but not quantities. Water is the first one listed, followed by mysterious sounding things like Squalane and PEG-100 Stearate. Eventually, the list gets to grape seed and green tea extracts.
Some controversy
Not all of her colleagues are impressed.
"Many active ingredients are dirt cheap, and you don't know how much is in there," said Barbara Gilchrest, chairwoman of dermatology at Boston University School of Medicine. "It makes me sad that people spend huge amounts of money for things which I suspect do absolutely nothing."
Skin-care products are not tested to ensure that they do what a manufacturer promises. By law, companies cannot make claims about cures, but nothing stops them from saying a cream will "minimize" age spots or "reduce" wrinkles. As long as the ingredients aren't harmful, the products are not scrutinized.
The only cosmetic ingredient scientifically proven and approved by the FDA to have positive effects on the skin is Retin-A, which none of the Z. Bigatti products contains. But that doesn't necessarily mean other ingredients don't work.
"Green tea may actually do certain things -- act as a sun block, reverse some cell damage," said Robin Ashinoff, chief of dermatology surgery with New York University School of Medicine. "But it hasn't been studied."
None of this seems to hurt Z. Bigatti's business. Even as the economy has faltered and sales of most luxury goods have suffered, the company has only grown. Consumers might cut back on travel, Biglow said, but they won't sacrifice their appearance.
Background
In the early 1990s, she began working with local pharmacies to mix compounds for her patients. She would combine hydroxy acid, Retin-A and other ingredients to treat fine lines and age spots.
They became so popular that Biglow, a University of Minnesota Medical School graduate, spent two years in a lab perfecting what would become Re-Storation Skin Treatment, an all-in-one product.
That still wasn't enough. Customers demanded a separate eye treatment. Biglow came out with the $115 Re-Storation Eye Return. It reduces puffiness and dark circles, she said, but so does the original skin cream. Then came the Deep Repair Serum for "intensive anti-aging," and a neck firming treatment called Swan, followed by a couple of dozen other products.
Biglow is her own best advertisement. At 46, her smooth skin glows. A bottled tan from Clarins helps, and she admits she used Botox until she trained herself not to frown and stopped needing it. Now, she relies on her own line -- including applying her $114 hydrating facial mask during long flights to keep her skin moisturized.