cosmeticresearchonline.co.uk > Reviews (8)

~~ UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2007 ~~

I hate lashing out my hard earned money on anti-wrinkle serums and "solve your cellulite" creams. That's partly because they are just so expensive, but mainly because I'm not really convinced that they make a great deal of difference. In all honesty, how can a cream (no matter what brand or how expensive it is) really work effectively against the twin bulldozers of gravity and time? That said, I do live in hope that one day soon I will judiciously apply my night cream and wake up the next morning with the face (and buttocks) of the 19 year old that I once was. However, signing up with Ayton-Moon's Cosmetic Research Online website has helped take some of the sting out of having to invest in a whole range of anti-aging products. I now have more night creams, moisturisers, body sculpting jollop, radiance balms and under eye contour gel than I know what to do with; and the nicest thing about all of them, is that they were all freebies. So if you too want your bathroom cabinet shelves to bulge with all sorts of weird and wonderful freebies, then do please read on.

** WHO OR WHAT ARE AYTON-MOON COSMETIC RESEARCH ONLINE? **

Sue Ayton-Moon started the Ayton-Moon Consultancy in 1995 when she was a Beauty Therapy lecturer at one of colleges in Bath. She started off with a few low key product tests for local suppliers. Demand for product trials and volunteer testers really started to take off, so began to expand her trials. Eventually the search for willing volunteers to try out beauty products expanded to a national level via the internet. The website (www.cosmeticresearchonline.co.uk) proved a huge success and she now has over 7,000 volunteers throughout the UK. The list of clients commissioning tests on their products include Accessorize, Boots, Marks & Spencer, Next, Superdrug, Healthspan, Virgin Vie, Tesco and many more. The sorts of products on test are mainly cosmetic and toiletry ones such as hair, teeth, nail, bath/shower, make-up and skin care products.

Ayton-Moon are constantly adding new types of products to their trials, so it is not just limited to cosmetics and beauty products. Recent additions have been trials on pet food, dietary products and clothing.

** HOW IT WORKS **

Basically, once signed up with Ayton-Moon, they will use the profile you have completed (more on that later), to select you to participate in various product trials. You will agree to trial a certain product, and it is then posted to your home with instructions on how to use it , and for how long. At the end of the specified trial period, you log onto Ayton-Moon's website and complete your trial questionnaire. Ayton-Moon then collate the information and give feedback to the health and beauty company on what their volunteers thought of it, before it hits the shelves in the chemist.

** HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES / CONCERNS **

Now, if this sounds appealing to you there are three main things to note. Firstly, there is NO PAYMENT involved in trialling these products, you are a volunteer only.

Secondly, Ayton-Moon Cosmetic Research Online is currently only available for UK residents. And thirdly, any concerns you may have over animal testing or product safety are easily answered. Ayton-Moon assure us that none of their products have ever been tested on animals. Similarly, they state that it's a legal requirement that strict toxicological assessment are carried out on all products prior to any trials being undertaken on human beings. A direct quote from their website clarified things for me before I signed up, as I had some concerns about becoming a "human guinea pig":- "Ayton-Moon Consultancy would like to assure our volunteers that the products we test are all perfectly safe. Please remember that our aim is not to test the safety of products.All trial products are perfectly safe and have already passed the legal requirements for toxicological assessment, and where appropriate, have also undergone dermatological assessments. You are not testing products for safety.

As a volunteer, you are concerned with how effective the product is and not how safe it is. You are only assessing products for how well they perform and whether they do the job they are designed to do."

** WEBSITE **

The website address is www.cosmeticresearchonline.co.uk. It's a rather lurid maroon and lilac website with a few images of beauty products sprinkled throughout (no labels showing of course…) It's jam packed with information, but it can be rather confusing to navigate the first few times you visit. I recommend that you take the site tour before you do anything else, as this will tell you what Ayton-Moon are about, and tell you the best ways to access the information you require. Briefly, the home page gives you several options:-

~ Volunteer Sign-Up ~ Online form to register as a volunteer
~ Site Tour ~ Highly recommended - this can be a confusing website so worth a visit
~ History ~ Background and history to the Ayton-Moon Consultancy.
~ Guidance ~ What sort this things you will be asked to participate in
~ Animal Testing ~ Their views on animal testing.
~ Safety ~ Reassurances about the safety of products.
~ Terms and Conditions ~ Detailed and worth a read as you will be asked to sign to say you have read this before each and every trial you participate in.

** REGISTRATION **

If you've decided you quite like the idea of becoming one of their testers, you need to click on the Volunteer Sign-up link on the home page. It's a simple enough online form asking you to complete name, address, email, date of birth, sex, brief description of the type of cosmetics you prefer and your internet usage. It will take you literally five minutes to complete.

You'll then receive an email from them giving you your log in details. This will consist of a six digit/letter code plus a password. Although you can change the password to something more memorable, you are stuck with their six digit username, so it's worth making a note of it somewhere safe. It's not an easy one to remember, and annoyingly their email invites to product trials invariably don't quote it.

The welcome email will invite you to log in to your new account and complete a time consuming number of questionnaires. It's worth taking your time over completing these, as your answers will result in the sorts of trials you will qualify for in the future. Once signed in you are firstly greeted with the following options on the home page:-

~ Message Board ~ Updates on the website or new types of products to be trialled
~ Make Contact ~ Online form to send a message to Ayton-Moon
~ Personal Details ~ Same as the initial registration form but can be updated
~ Information ~ Background to Ayton-Moon

However, the most important tabs/sections are:-

~ My Trials ~
If you've received an email inviting you to join a trial, you can sign up for it in this section, but only after you have read and understood the product specification and the terms and conditions. This section will also give you further details on past and current trials you are, or were eligible for. It will also give you more information on any trial you are invited to join, and has a handy online form that you can use if you have any queries on signing up for a new trial, or you are encountering problems halfway thorough a trial. However, from my experience you will be extremely lucky if you receive any answer from them.

~ My Family Profiles ~
Although only one applicant per UK household is allowed to join Ayton-Moon, you can sign up the whole family and get them all testing the products on offer. They accept all ages and sexes. I've signed my partner up too, but he has only completed one trial (on a combined shampoo/body wash). Put yourself down first and complete your personal profile. This is a series of questions on your lifestyle and product preferences centred around your whole body. It's broken down into hair, face, hands/arms, body, feet/legs and lifestyle. The questions will ask you about the different brands and types of products you prefer to use on different parts of your body. Once you have complete your profile you get a big yellow tick to say it's completed in full. If you've missed anything out in any of the sections, the missing section will flash. If you want to sign up your husband, wife or children as testers as well, go to the Add Family Member section, input their details and complete their body/lifestyle profile.

Ayton-Moon are constantly adding sections and questions to the profile questionnaires, but they will send you an email asking you to log into your profile and update it. Alternatively, there will be a message for you when you log onto your account on the message board.

** TRIALS **

Ayton Moon send trial invites by email inviting you to log into your account on their website for further details. It is a very good idea to respond IMMEDIATELY to an email invite, as the trials fill up really, really quickly. Sometimes I have responded a couple of hours after the email has been sent, and it's too late to join the trial, as all the places have gone. However, if you do log on in time, you can then access your account and read more details on the product on offer.

Please note that you do not obliged to accept the trial if you don't like the sound of the product. Ayton-Moon are very good at listing the ingredients in the test product, so if it contains something you are not too keen on, then you just give it a miss. However, if you do sign up for a trial you have to agree to keep details of the trial a secret.

Once you're signed up, the product usually arrives by first class post within the next couple of days. All envelopes contain the instructions on how to use the test product. The instructions also tell you what the product is supposed to do for you (i.e. reduce fine lines and wrinkles (ha ha) or brighten your complexion and so on). The instructions tell you when to start the test and when it finishes. Finally, there are always safety instructions on how to use and the strong recommendation to terminate the trial immediately should you suffer any adverse effects (skin irritation or rash etc;) It's also worth noting that all this information is also available to you online should you lose the paper instruction leaflet. There is also a handy online feedback form should you run out of the product, experience any skin problems after usage or simply not understand the instructions.

The products themselves invariably arrive in plain white or opaque plastic containers. They often sport a plain typed label telling you the name of the product (i.e. Night Repair Cream) and the Ayton-Moon product trial number. What you often won't know, is who manufactures the product, as I guess this could influence your reaction to it. You usually get a good sized portion of the product - more than enough to see you through the trial with plenty left over. Ayton-Moon will let you keep the products after the trial unless they specifically ask you to return it to them, and in those cases they will pay the return postage. I have yet to be asked to return any trial products, and my bathroom shelf is now literally bulging with moisturisers and night creams that I have still not managed to use up despite applying copious amounts daily. Although you are never paid to undertake their trials, where you do gain is in the amount and quantity of products you get to keep. I cannot remember the last time I had to pay out for any skin products, as I am happy with quality and performance of my trial leftovers. All the products you are asked to trial will eventually be sold in the high street, so you won't up end up testing some zit inducing concoction from a dodgy backstreet amateur chemist.

At the end of the trial, you log into your account and complete the online questionnaire. It is usually a series of 10 to 20 questions with multiple choice answers asking your opinion on such things as ease of use, packaging and whether you felt it did what it was supposed to. The questions are easy and simple to answer. Don't worry though, if you forget to log in at the end of a trial, Ayton-Moon do send you a reminder email.

** MY EXPERIENCE AS A GUINEA PIG**

I joined three or so years ago and I've had a fairly steady flow of trial invitations, some of which I have missed by not responding quickly enough ( I missed out on a mascara test which I was rather annoyed about, as it's SO expensive to buy for what it is).

Trials can last anything from 3 days to four weeks.

As I said in the previous section, once you sign up for a trial you have to agree not to disclose any details of the product you're testing. I cannot, therefore, tell you much more about the products, just a brief summary of the type of products I have been invited to test. I can guess at who some of the manufacturers were, as I have seen some of them in the high street since (the product dispensers can be a giveaway), and they are mostly well known and respected brands.

I've trialled a variety of anti-aging products described variously as anti-aging serum, radiance balm, age reverse plumping serum, intensive body moisturiser, age reverse night cream, night repairanti-ageing eye serum capsules, body butter, firming mask, day lift cream, body toning scrub, ceremide eye cream, age repair cream with SPF15, line and shine erase cream and decadent body cream.

I've also tested hair care and make up products such as hair mousse, hair wax, lipsticks, concealers, eye make-up removers, tissues and skincare wipes.

Other oddities I've been sent have been a bathroom spray cleaner, toothpaste and toothbrush, dog food (not for me...obviously) and a low GI chocolate bar.

** CUSTOMER SERVICE **

It's worth noting that Ayton-Moon operate a star rating system which is awarded on the speed with which you respond to their summons. The higher your star rating, the greater your chances are of being selected to participate in more product trials:-

Green star = Punctuality is excellent and you will be selected for additional trials
Blue star = Punctuality is adequate
Orange star = Punctuality requires improvement
Red star = Poor punctuality - must be punctual with your next trial to remain on the Volunteer Panel

Everyone starts off as an orange star and your rating improves as they gauge the speed of your responses, both for signing up to a new product trial or recording your results at the end of a trial.

** WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD? **

Please be aware that Ayton-Moon are not at all good at responding to emails or their online query forms. If you encounter a problem with a trial, or your sample does not arrive, there is little or no chance that you will get any response from them. As their website gives no telephone number, the only way to contact them in the event of a problem is through email or online. To date, I have yet to receive any replies to any emails or online queries I have posed to them. For example, one of my trial samples was sent to me without adequate postage on it, and I was loathe to pay out £1.75 to retrieve it from the post office. Ayton-Moon failed to respond to my queries as to whether they would refund the postage to me, or whether I should forgo the trial. Similarly, I had a query on another trial's closing date, and that too, remained unanswered.

** CONCLUSION **

The downsides of Ayton Moon are the need for speed. The trials do fill up so very quickly, and unless you respond immediately, you can miss the boat. I would not recommend you sign up as a volunteer if you are restricted in the times you can access your emails, as more often than not you will miss the chance of a new trial.

Their website is also rather confusing and not easily navigated the first couple of times you visit. Similarly, I do find the lack of communication from them in the event of a problem remarkably churlish and ignorant.

However, on the whole I'd say the positives far outweigh the negatives. I enjoy taking part in Ayton-Moon's testing programme. I know there is no payment in it for me, but I do so love getting free face creams and moisturisers through the post. The testing samples are generous and there is always plenty left over after the trial is completed. All the products I have tested have been of good quality and I have experienced no adverse effects from using any of them. In fact, I would love to know who produces several of them, as they are just the sort of products I would like to buy in Boots. Unfortunately you are unlikely to ever find out who manufactures them unless the Ayton-Moon sample is supplied in a distinctive dispenser. On the whole though I'd recommend it…..especially if you are in need of help with your "fine lines and wrinkles" aka crows feet...

** FURTHER INFORMATION **

If you have any queries then do wander over to www.cosmeticresearchonline.co.uk and have a browse. Alternatively, do drop by my guestbook with any queries should you so wish. Thanks for reading.