May 2003
Dear Paula,
I am a beauty advisor for Clinique and I truly believe in helping people with their skin needs. While I think you have some good tips, I find you don't always tell the full story. Your information about antioxidants and how they start to deteriorate upon exposure to air is true. This is why antioxidants must come in airtight packaging, and why Clinique's Advanced Stop Signs is packaged that way. The problem I have is when you say women are wasting their money if they buy any product in a jar. While this would be true if all creams contained antioxidants, not all of them do, nor do they all need to. Some treatment creams are for different things, like Clinique's Total Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer, containing salicylic acid for fine lines, a more even skin tone, and softer skin. This cream comes in a jar, which causes no harmful degrading effects to the product. I feel you have some great advice but should be more specific for your readers because I assume we both have the same goal, helping people look great inside and out.

Shannon, Toronto, Canada

Dear Shannon,
I appreciate your comments but your assumptions about jars and other ingredients are not entirely correct. While you are right about the fact that some products don't need to be in airtight containers, particularly those that have no antioxidants or plant extracts, there is still the issue of contamination for lotions and creams that have to be scooped out with your fingers. Bacteria, molds, and fungi are 100% more likely to invade a product that is in a jar than those where fingers never touch the product. And that isn't great for skin or the stability of the product. Further, your notion that salicylic acid is stable on exposure to air is not correct. According to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for salicylic acid, it is a substance that should be kept away from sunlight and oxidizing agents (meaning air). So an airtight, opaque container is essential for salicylic acid as well.

Just two more points: Clinique's original Turnaround and newer Total Turnaround products absolutely contain plant extracts and antioxidants, ingredients that we both know are not stable in jars. And what about all the other Clinique products filled with antioxidants and plant extracts that are packaged in jars as opposed to airtight containers? How do you explain that to a customer?