Frownies: Face lift in a Bag?

A century before Botox there was the Frownies, “Hollywood’s beauty secret” claiming to reduce wrinkles while you sleep. The facial patches supposedly smoothes out wrinkles and heals the skin for a youthful appearance. But does this product really work? I was given full size testers of ‘the Face Lift in a Bag’ to try out myself.

The bag includes a four step regimen of: Facial Pads (forehead and between eyes), Facial Pads (corners of eyes and mouth), pH Balancing Complexion Wash, Rose Water Hydrator Spray, and Immune Perféct that should be used daily for visible results in 14 days they claim. When I opened the boxes, I was shocked to find that the facial pads looked exactly like the Kraft tape. Maybe the only difference is that they use vegetable based adhesive on paper.


To get a clear indication of the results, I requested the help from a woman in her late 50’s with noticeable wrinkles around her eyes. The treatment was applied daily for a month. Before starting on her trial, I took a picture of her - before and after a month of use.


In the first picture, the woman is slightly smiling showing more of her fine lines under her eyes. Otherwise, there is no significant improvement to her appearance after the trial. I asked our subject what she thought of the product. She said “I applied the Frownies pads on every night and in the morning. My skin feels softer and the wrinkles feel light when the pad is applied, but I can’t tell if it’s working yet.” I speculated that her soft skin was due to the application of the rose water on the facial pad, which is known to be a toner. The rose water moistens the adhesive to help prevent wrinkles, acne, sunburn and stressed skin. This straightens the skin and locks in the rose water for hours making her skin feel softer. However, a month’s trial cannot fully validate how well this product works. Although they did state that you will see results in 14 days, which didn’t happen.

Besides the facial pads, the pH-balancing complexion wash was my favorite from the package. It had a naturally light fragrance to it and feels soft on your skin while cleansing. It didn’t dry the skin like other cleansers do. Along with the wash, the Immune perfect hydrating therapy claims to diminish the appearance of wrinkles. I’m also not 100% satisfy with the result, its constancy is light and watery and feels similar to water on application. The main ingredients in this product contain vitamin E which prevents aging and aloe healing plant. However, the same results can also be achieved from natural remedies without the high price tag.

Frownies offer a more natural solution to reducing wrinkles by avoiding injection and surgery. However, the result from using Frownies after one month was disappointing. Comparing to Botox, Frownies outcome is time consuming, whereas Botox has immediately results. Frownies product looks easy to make, with some Kraft paper and some homemade remedies; you can save yourself from spending $99.95-$139 CAD. I’ve also read other reviews on this product and many seem to have poor results as well. Although Frownies have ingredients that are beneficial to your skin like aloe, rose water, grapefruit, minerals and vitamin E only the long term users would know how well it works, otherwise their claim for 14 days visible results –Not happening!

Must have: 2.5 stars