Could your skin cream actually be causing wrinkles?

That was the concern that Jacqui MacNeill, the West Vancouver-based owner and founder of Escents Aromatherapy, had when she was putting together the company's new line of skin care products, Thera Skin.

What she found was that wrinkles can actually caused by inflammation and irritation of the skin by the ingredients we're putting on our face to make wrinkles go away.

"It could be from preservatives, it could be from irritants -- from sulfates in the washes -- it could be from the level of collagen or anything that different skin creams are trying to put into your face (that) can actually cause inflammation," she says.

The solution is simple: it's simplicity itself. The company made a point of keeping the recipe list short for all of its skin-care products, using an all-natural base combined with essential oils and a few ingredients, but in high enough dosage that users get the desired effects.

"We looked at that and said, 'How can we be as natural as possible and still be effective?'" says MacNeill. "(So) what we've done is take a few ingredients in each of the different products, as basic as vitamin E and shea butter, and try to make it so it's as effective as possible."

An active ingredient in all of the creams is essential oils, which aren't just put in for their pleasant aroma, but help improve the skin as well.

"It's the essential oils in the lines that deliver the results," said MacNeill.

What you won't find written on the side of the bottle are ingredients like talc, mineral oils, lanolin, parabens, sodium lauryl or the plethora of other hard-to-pronounce ingredients commonly found in skin-care products, which MacNeill said can actually do more harm than good.

But while it may seem simple, it wasn't easy. The new line was seven years in the making as the company undertook extensive tests. Escents is in the process of patenting many of the new finds.

Each of the products is formulated for three different skin types: sensitive skin, oily skin and aging skin, depending on what people are looking for, and to make sure you're not getting anything you don't need.

MacNeill has taken the company from a single store in Park Royal 18 years ago to stores across the Lower Mainland and licence agreements beyond that. The products are available as far away as Taiwan and earlier this month she made a trip to Korea to work out a similar agreement.

"It's a neat thing as we're actually shipping to Taiwan as opposed to the other way around," she said.

Price ranges from $25 for the multi-vitamin face wash to $85 for the AHA age limit facial serum. Most items also come in a $6 starter size.

Escents is located at 1022 Park Royal South, West Vancouver.

tholloway@nsnews.com