Key Study Findings
The most concentrated formulas in active ingredients stand out significantly
According to the study’s lead researcher, two factors determine how well an anti-ageing cream works: what active ingredients it contains, and how much of each ingredient is in the formula.
This aligns with what I observe in clinical practice every week. Patients come in having used products that list impressive-sounding ingredients on the label—but at concentrations so low they couldn’t possibly produce clinical results.
An active ingredient is a molecule that creates a desirable change in the skin, such as an increase in firmness, hydration, or collagen production. The more active ingredients in the cream, the better the wrinkle reduction users typically see.
The study data proves this connection. Higher concentrations of active ingredients strongly correlate with stronger anti-ageing effects.
Yet many brands use very small amounts of these ingredients to keep costs down.
“In the cosmetics industry, most creams contain between 2% and 5% active ingredients in total,” explains Dr Marcus Bauer. “The rest is water, thickeners, preservatives and fragrance. Price differences often reflect marketing more than formulation quality.”
I’ve been telling my patients this for years. A €400 cream isn’t necessarily more effective than a €60 cream—it often just has better packaging and a larger marketing budget.
The top 5 formulas display active ingredient concentrations up to 4 times higher than the average of the 197 products studied.
Specialised brands perform better than mass-market brands
Niche brands performed better than mass-market brands across the study.
Less constrained by retail margins, these brands use higher concentrations of active ingredients in their formulations.
Cutometric measurements confirm this pattern. Specialised brands achieved 38% average wrinkle reduction compared to 22% for mass-market brands, under identical testing protocols.
“This 16-point difference is not negligible,” notes Professor Charlotte Weber. “In clinical terms, it’s the difference between some improvement and results you can actually see.”
That distinction matters to me. When patients ask whether they should expect visible results, I want to point them toward products where the clinical data supports a “yes.”
Niche brands such as SkinCeuticals, Rexaline, and Cellexia demonstrated superior wrinkle reduction measurements compared to mass-market products.
Two of the five highest-ranked products come from brands with limited public recognition, including the top-ranked formula in this study.
This finding didn’t surprise me. In dermatology, we often see smaller laboratories producing more concentrated formulations because they’re not trying to hit mass-market price points. They can invest in actives rather than advertising.
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