Nerium Review – Scam or Legit? Read This Before Joining…

Nerium reviews are popping up all the time. Some people swear by Nerium, and others call it the “Nerium Scam.”

Is this Nerium business and Nerium skincare a scam or legit?

They make some pretty bold claims.

Here’s my take on it…

Nerium Reviews – Poisonous Plant Ingredients?!

When an ingredient is listed as a “patented ingredient” and it contains a poisonous plant I am concerned. They won’t disclose exactly how much poison and what else is in there. Their eye cream, touted as a 5 minute miracle does indeed flatten out under eye bags. 

However, at what cost to your skin?

Several eye creams can shrink under eye puffiness by the use of caffeine and even have the ingredient that is a component of super glue (acrylate), that just flattens the puffiness for 6-8 hours. 

The thought of combining super glue and a highly poisonous plant extract is very unappealing to me. 

Have you ever wondered why they tell you to put the face moisturizer on wet skin? To seal in the moisture with the glue LOL. The premise is the same with any kind of occulusion, there are girls who sleep with scotch tape on the wrinkles between the eyes, their forehead and their crows feet. 

Occlusion gives the appearance of less wrinkles because it is kept moist.

Nerium Oleander Leaf  Extract has been reported to create a chronic low level inflammation within the skin.

When you think of inflammation, you think of red, scaly, irritated skin. However, it can also be invisible showing no overt physical signs of the inflammation.

Their ‘claims’ of instant age reversal are due to low levels of inflammation in the skin which can create a plumper appearance. They look in the mirror after 2 weeks of using Nerium and thinking “Look! My fine lines ARE gone.”

No, your skin is swollen from inflammation that can certainly make your lines look better.  Have you ever had a bad sunburn and your face got all plump? That is a great example of inflammation.

Nerium Skin Care Reviews – Is it Worth the Money?

The problem with Nerium is that it does not penetrate deep enough to ACTUALLY reverse damage. The effect you see is temporary. As in a procedure with a controlled injury, short term inflammation can be healthy and promote healing. However, long term chronic inflammation can lead to serious side effects.  Even with short term use when the inflammation subsides….well, so do those ‘miraculous’ results.

What I hear from the people who have used it is that NeriumAD doesn’t make enough difference in their skin for the price. People say they see a difference at first, but the improvement doesn’t last long.

Nerium Skin Care Reviews…is their product a scam?

I won’t venture that far, but I do think it is harmful. The other downside is that the reps are annoyingly persistent. After the first one gave me a set to try for a week (even though I was concerned about the elusive ingredients and the fact that the bottles were previously used) I tried it on my lower thigh just above the knee and on my shoulders. 

There was no way was I going to risk putting that on my face. 

I developed a nasty rash. 

She explained it away as a temporary detox. 

Of course I know better because of my profession, but the average innocent customer might believe it and continue use. 

Also, lets talk about the sampling system. 

Nerium Skin Care Reviews – Sampling System

Using a set of full size products to loan to various people is risky. How do they know what the previous prospect did to the product. It could have been left in a hot car, the person could have a contagious disease or infection and contaminated the opening to the dispenser and worse yet they could have injected something to sabotage the product. 

You never know with complete strangers you have prospected off of social media or cornered in a public setting.

The raised, red bumps lasted for approximately 2 years and left scars. Thankfully I own an office full of lasers so it is mostly ok in the end, but I still struggle with the bumps on my shoulders.  Imagine if that had been my face. Imagine a person that was so distraught they sued the distributor and the company. Well, that happens.

Nerium lawsuit http://ethanvanderbuilt.com/2017/03/09/nerium-sued-for-causing-chemical-burns/

Nerium Reviews – My Experience with a Distributor

Like I said, a lot of their distributors are relentless, it is exactly why MLM’s get a bad name. It reaches a point that people start avoiding them because they are worn out with the pushy, high pressure sales pitch. 

I told the distributor that over 30% of people have a reaction to the products, and that is too high of a risk for me to promote to my loyal clients that trust me. The others that don’t have an outward reaction still have the chronic inflammation that is harmful to their skin and maybe their whole system. 

Who knows what daily application of a poison can do to your immune system long term. 

Aside from the fact that I won’t risk harming anyone intentionally, I don’t believe their product is beneficial long term to anyone. Inspite telling her over and over that I wasn’t interested in a product with a toxic active ingredient that causes cell death and inflammation, she still persisted. 

She stalked the girls who worked for me.  She was determined I could be her “unicorn”. 

She insisted, “There are 2 different types of oleander, one is toxic, the other is not. We use the non toxic one.”

There isn’t a non-toxic one. 

Poison ivy is also natural but I’m not going to recommend it for your skin. It is sad that some of the distributors blindly trust the company and take everything they are told as the absolute truth. Their “truth” is not relevant, just because you believe the earth is flat doesn’t make it so.  You can believe something with all your heart but it can still be a lie. You don’t have to believe in gravity for it to apply to you.   

Nerium Reviews – Shady Behavior

They refuse to reveal exactly what concentration of nerium oleander is in their products. The FDA has both types of oleander listed in the Poisonous Plant Database and has denied applications of companies trying to use oleander as herbal and dietary supplements.

The company diligently pushes down true Nerium Skin care reviews with a media team so I feel compelled to share my opinion. As a business owner it is always in my best interest not to stir up controversy. 

I don’t express political opinions, I don’t talk trash about competitors, etc. 

Sometimes you have to do the right thing even if it is not in your best interest.

I do feel a need to protect people from unethical, or dangerous situations. I don’t have a problem with companies that don’t have a study on their product. However, it is because I can check their ingredients and those should have studies. Nor do they need to reveal their specific formula. You can tell the ingredients concentration by the order in which they are listed.

At a training session for Nerium’s multi-level marketers the trainers spell it out: “If people are going on the internet to look up negative stuff on Nerium, our positive stuff is going to get pushed down. We want to dominate the first three pages.” – Source sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

Nerium Reviews – Aloe Barbadensis Leaf

The second ingredient on the list is Aloe Barbadensis Leaf. I like aloe it is very hydrating and soothing for the skin. Aloe leaves contain a clear gel that can be used on the skin. It has a slippery feel and creates a tightening feeling on the skin as it dries. It makes the skin look plumper and healthier.

Aloe was used 6000 years ago by the Egyptians.

It has been used for years topically and orally as a folk and traditional remedy for a variety of ailments including:

It has anti bacterial, anti viral, anti fungal and anti inflammatory properties. It has not classified as an active anti aging ingredient, though.

It may cause irritation in some people. Some people can be allergic to it since it is a plant extract, but that doesn’t make it a bad ingredient. People who are allergic to garlic, onions and tulips are more likely to be allergic to aloe.

Nerium Reviews – Other Ingredients

The third ingredient, Proprietary Protein, is another mystery. Again, I tried to find out the exact protein source and percentages, but no one will say. There are a variety of emollient and humectant ingredients on the list that are good for conditioning and hydrating the skin.

They are not necessarily active anti aging ingredients but the will make the skin look plumper and moister. 

The last ingredient, Vitamin E, is an active anti aging ingredient, but it is last on the list which tells us there isn’t much in there. Plus, it is the cheaper version which is tocopherol not the tocotrienol.

Nerium Reviews – Before and After Photos

My pet peeves are Before and After photos that are inaccurate or manipulated. Nerium, the company, doesn’t distribute before and after photos. However, they encourage their Brand Partners to take before and after photos of themselves.

This means zero quality control over the accuracy of these photos.

In the digital age, anyone can use Photoshop, lighting, and makeup to create the effect of fewer wrinkles easily. Nerium reps rely heavily on these dramatic before and after photos to make their sales.

A real before and after photo has the exact same setting, lighting, camera, angles, pose, facial expression, and focus, with no other treatments or products. Most of the pictures are obviously altered, the resolution is lower so it’s impossible to see if the color change is due to lighting, Photoshop or just a layer of makeup. 

Notice that their eye and lip color is washed out, even their hair is blurred, showing that the photo is washed out, giving the appearance of fewer spots.

Seriously, they insist they pictures are not altered… who has blurry hair and eye balls??

The really crazy ones are the change in grey hair.  In some cases clearly the same person is several years older in the “before” picture than the ‘after’ photo. Nerium doesn’t turn eyebrow hair back to brown, despite the lack of grey hairs in the after photo, “four days later”.

Here is a great article on photo manipulation:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luke-depron/the-shocking-truth-about-before-and-after-transformation-photos_b_9118552.html

Nerium Reviews – “Brain Pill”

The main active ingredient used in Nerium EHT is a bioactive molecule that has been isolated from coffee using a patented method. Marketing supplements as having the ability to treat, cure, alleviate the symptoms of, or prevent developing diseases is simply not permitted by law. 

But that hasn’t stopped a multitude of Nerium distributors from claiming that its products can treat a host of diseases including:

TINA.org has amassed a database of well over 200 instances of inappropriate health claims.

The other main issue with their ingredients blend is that even if all of these ingredients are safe, the effects that they have demonstrated are not in line with what most consumers expect from a nootropic product. Generally, it is though that a nootropic supplement should be able to raise the baseline mental performance levels of normal, healthy adults.

Preventing cognitive decline is important and will inevitably be beneficial for mental performance years down the line, however there will never be any perceptible boost to the users’ current cognitive capacity. This limits the effectiveness of Nerium EHT as a study aid or work performance enhancer.

The customer reactions to Nerium EHT were not encouraging. Here is a sample of their responses taken from reviews of Nerium EHT found on third-party distributors’ websites:

“I tried taking it every morning with food, like they say, but then by the afternoon I’d start getting woozy and light-headed. Stopped taking it after passing out in a parking lot walking to my car.”

“Caused a reaction in my thyroid that made me feel like I was choking. Didn’t notice any benefits.”

“I guess I was allergic to it or something. After I took it for a couple days my body started getting really sore and my migraines came back with a vengeance. I quit taking it before I noticed any benefits, but the symptoms went away.

Nerium Reviews – Is Nerium a Scam? 

Not the MLM platform that they use to promote it. There are MLM companies that change their comp plan and don’t pay out what is promised, or the owners keep the money and close the company, as well as so many other scenarios. However, it is not a pyramid scheme, those are illegal and you don’t get anything for your investment. 

Here is Nerium’s hard-to-find, U.S. 2013 Income Declaration Almost no distributor actually makes it to a level of true “financial freedom.”

According to Nerium’s own statement, 43 percent of active “brand partners” earned zero commissions, and when you factor in the required purchases to remain eligible for all commissions and bonus it appears that at least 88 percent of distributors are making little to no money on average. The lawsuits within the company framework should be of concern to the consultants. 

Will the company make it?

Although I don’t use their products, Mary Kay Ash built an empire on that platform. Not just an empire for her family but she empowered millions of women. Mary Kay Ash believed in the courage of each woman to set a goal and achieve it. At the age of 45, she made a list of everything she thought companies she’d worked for had done well, and everything they’d done badly.

She resolved to do everything on the first list, and nothing on the second. 

Thus Mary Kay cosmetics was born. The notion was that women would buy cosmetics wholesale from the company, then set up parties where they’d encourage their friends to buy products or become representatives for the company themselves (if their friends became salespeople, the recruiter made a percentage off that friend’s sales.) 

She claimed that, “Our company was begun with only one objective: that of giving women the chance to succeed, an opportunity that simply did not exist in the early ’60s… I just couldn’t believe that a woman’s brain was worth 50 cents on the dollar. With all my heart I wanted to change that.”

Nerium Lawsuits

While Nerium has only been in business since 2011, it’s already been involved in at least 20 lawsuits, and in many of those lawsuits Nerium CEO Jeff Olsen is also a party. The allegations in the 20 cases range from product liability, defamation, employment discrimination, trademark infringement to fraud allegations. 

Olsen’s business partner of more than 25 years brought a $21 million lawsuite against Olsen and Nerium alleging breach of contract, copyright infringement, and fraud, among other things.

In 2016, a user of Nerium AD, which is marketed as an age-defying night cream, brought a product liability suite against Nerium alleging that the night cream was unsafe, unreasonably dangerous and/or defective.

The lawsuit claims that Nerium should have provided adequate warnings of the possible health consequences of the cream and instructed users to spot test the product before applying it to their face and neck. The case is currently pending in Missouri federal court.

Nerium Ingredients

Proprietary Protein (Collagen, Elastin, Glycosaminoglycans)- Collagen and Elastin are derived animal tissue frequently bovine sources. It is not shown to have an effect on producing or building collagen or elastin within skin when applied topically. The protein molecules are too big to penetrate the skin but are good water binders. Nerium International will not tell you the source of their protein.

Here are the Nerium Skin Care Ingredients:

How I Operate

I don’t pressure clients to buy anything, procedures or products. My clients know if I recommend products, it is based on their wants and needs, not because I have a minimum sales quota I’m desperately trying to reach.

It’s not about the money for true professionals, it’s about client comfort, satisfaction, and results. If I need to recommend a home remedy because a client isn’t able to purchase their ideal skin care regimen, I will.

If they can only afford drug store products I help them find the best that is available for the money. I’ve also recommended specific products from lines I don’t sell if that specific product will work better than something I have on the shelf.

Nerium Reviews – Conclusion

Some people swear by Nerium, and others have really bad reactions to the Nerium skin care products. Some distributors do well and make money, but most make nothing or close to it.

And with all the lawsuits the company has been up against in such a short amount of time, it’s more than enough to make you think…hmmm.

Mix all of this with adding poisonous ingredients into the stuff, and you can see where I stand with Nerium.

If you have any comments or questions on other Nerium Reviews, please post them in the comment box below.

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