You might not be able to buy the prestige or access or overall amazing life of a royal, but you can buy a royal glow for your skin, apparently. Or, at least, you can buy the products that the royals reportedly use to get their glowing complexions and hope for the best. If Kate Middleton is your royal skin-spo, that gamble will cost you $82.
According to a new report from The Sun, the Duchess of Cambridge's skincare product of choice is a natural anti-wrinkle gel Biotulin, which "contains a local anaesthetic which freeze[s] her face muscles and dissolve wrinkles."
If this sounds a little like Botox to you, then congratulations, because you are totally understanding the concept here. On its website, Biotulin presents itself as an alternative to Botox:
Biotulin is applied to the face as a soothing lotion. It is quickly absorbed, smoothing the skin to make it soft and supple. Unlike needle injections, it does not numb your face or restrict your facial expressions. Your features will still be reanimated and beautiful.
The Sun attributes this Kate-loves-Biotulin hot goss to Arabella Preston, a skincare expert and the Duchess of Cambridge's personal make-up artist, but they don't actually have an on-the-record quote from Preston backing up that claim, so take it with a grain of salt.
Other skincare experts have weighed in on Biotulin more generally though, if you're looking for some context before you drop $82 and smear a bunch all over your face.
"I am skeptical that Biotulin can completely block muscle movement but I have not had any experience with it," facial aesthetic specialist Dr. Maryam Zamani told Get The Gloss of the product. "Its other two main ingredients are a local anaesthetic extract from the plant acmella oleracea and hyaluron that provides hydration to the skin. Hydrated skin always looks less wrinkled than dry skin, so that’s something."
On its website, the company explains how Biotulin works, crediting spilanthol, a local anaesthetic extracted from Acmella oleracea, with the product's alleged muscle-relaxing effect. The product's moisturizing magic comes courtesy of two ingredients, according to the company: an extract from a South American plant called imperata cylindric and hyaluron, a key component in natural collagen production.
