The nasty surprises in face cream

The gruesome ingredients that lurk in face creams

Snake venom, bees stings and snail slime; this list of may sound like the gruesome contents of a witch's cauldron, but in fact, are all ingredients found to be lurking in face cream.

Shark eggs and placenta also featured in the list, compiled by Mintel, which assessed the ingredients of skin care fron around the world.

Of the more exotic, beauty company Syence Skin Care Laboratories has created Skin Venom Memory Cream, an anti-ageing product that contains snake venom. At the pricely sum of £180 a pot, the cream promises to rival botox for its wrinkle busting effects.

In China, bee mucus features in Profael Specialty Skin Nourishment cream, described as a 'balancing and antiwrinkle essence.' While in Columbia, snail slime is used as a skin regenerative in Baba de Caracol.

While in the US, EMK Placental Anti-Ageing Serum uses placental proteins to help revive the skin following cosmetic surgery, or as a powerful anti-ageing treatment.

Alexandra Richmond, a senior beauty analyst at Mintel, commented on the findings, 'There are so many skincare products to choose from and manufacturers are increasingly having to look at the world around us in a new light to find bizarre, new ingredients to make their products stand out from the crowd.'

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