Enhancing the Product: Vivian Valenty

Vivian Valenty, Ph.D. and president of VB Cosmetics is a chemist. She may not have the secret to the Fountain of Youth, but she has something extremely potent to make a woman in her 60s look twenty years younger, and she shares the products that helped her with the rest of the world.

Dr. Valenty was working for General Electric when she created her first product in her spare time, a UV topcoat for nails she developed in response to one of the client's of her husband's consulting firm. They wanted a product that would revolutionize the nail industry, she said. She was able to retain the patent and developed 20 other products in the nail industry until one day her husband suggested that she create something for herself.

Valenty had acne and he told her it was distracting during meetings when her fingers were all over her face. It wasn't that I wasn't doing anything, she says. I was using advanced products from stores, but nothing worked. I began reading up on skincare and on the causes of acne and I put together a product used twice daily Vanishing Point in two potencies that really took care of it for me. To maintain her excellent skin she still uses the gentler version Vanishing Point 5 - but she no longer has acne.

She did notice, though, that at age 49, when she looked in the mirror she saw evidence of bags, crow's feet and smile lines. I want to live to be 100, she said. And I want to look good while I do.

She founded Arizona-based VB Cosmetics and sells her products directly to spas and salons; more recently, customer demand persuaded her to place her Abrione line of skincare products for sale on her web site. Within her full and intriguing line of about 150 products, including an assortment of Chakra Masques, Valenty is particularly proud of her Cell Enhancer Hydrogel Moisturizer, and her pride was very well justified by my experience.

I put into the cell enhancer multiple ingredients that are helpful in wound healing, she said, which is about cell growth. The product is designed to help in stimulating the production of collagen, which breaks down as we age because of sunlight. There are several antioxidants concentrated enough to combat free radicals.

 I found the moisturizer incredibly silky to use; it immediately penetrated the skin with no oiliness or tightness. I tried it on my face and on the backs of my hands, which take a beating in my work in visual arts with substances from ceramics to turpentine. After two applications I could see a very definite softening of any deep frown lines while the lighter facial lines disappeared for hours. After two weeks, the lighter lines were much diminished, even when I cleaned my face for the night. My hands had plumped up and were visibly smoother.

One of Valenty's precepts is to make very high quality, pure and natural products within the financial reach of women; her Cell Enhancer is $25 for a one-ounce jar. You can shop for this and other products at:
www.vbcosmetics.com.