By Scott MowbrayThe weird case of Caracol Cream offers a glimpse into the sometimes slimy but lucrative world of anti-aging product hype, in which an $80 cream is promoted vigorously by an allegedly scam-busting association that probably doesn’t exist based on tests in a laboratory that also probably doesn’t exist.
Who knew that the goo from Helix aspersa, your garden-variety brown snail, is rich in skin-nourishing compounds? (It was a brave woman who first daubed snail on her skin.) But yes: Caracol Cream is also known as crema de baba de caracol, which translates—on some websites—as cream of snail slobber. The extract hails from Chile where, according to one account, a farmer who couldn’t sell the snails for food decided to sell their slime instead. Read More
