Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/61757
talent Patrol Cecil and Rebecca Booth created VENeffect to tackle the issue of hormonal aging in women. They combined their unique skills and industry resources: Beauty expert Cecil had worked for Chicago- based Alberto Culver and had access to scientists and raw-material suppliers, InsIght Aiming High: Neiman Marcus was the sisters' ideal buyer, so that's where they began their outreach. Their first meeting "was meant to be an hour, but lasted all afternoon," Cecil says. The Venus effect: A testament to their products, the sisters are 49 and 52, but look a decade younger. while doctor Rebecca worked in the "hotbed of research on the estrogen receptor." After nearly a decade of research and experimentation, they developed VENeffect (shorthand for the Venus effect), a line of topical anti-aging products debuting exclusively at Neiman Marcus this spring. "I thought surely some- one, somewhere, was tackling this [issue of hormonal aging]," Cecil says. "But no one was addressing it." The VENeffect family of products works like this: When women are experiencing hormonal lows, whether due to their 28-day cycle, the onset of menopause, or any num- ber of reasons, their exterior reflects that lack of estrogen. Similarly, during hormonal highs, the body reflects fertility with shinier hair, a curvier waist, and glowing skin. "But unlike men," Rebecca explains, "women cecil and rebecca booth TWO SISTERS ARE USING HORMONES TO THEIR ADVANTAGE IN C THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR NEW SKINCARE LINE, VENEFFECT. by elle eichinger ecil Booth was turning 40 and—as all women inevitably do—was struggling with her aging skin. So she turned to her older sister, Rebecca, a gynecologist and hormonal wellness expert in Louisville, Kentucky, for advice. "Rebecca shared this really amazing understanding of the ebb and flow of female hormones," says Cecil, who lives in Lincoln Park. "Everything about us that is beautiful is enhanced by estrogen. Yet I've been in the beauty industry for 20 years, and never heard of the direct and compel- ling way that estrogen enhances the skin." The sisters decided that this revelation needed to be shared with other women. 60 michiganavemag.com are programmed to have our aesthetic fluctuate over the course of the month and ultimately retire to some degree along with our fertility." In order to mimic the body's estrogen molecules, VENeffect products use phytoestro- gens (which are found naturally in plants) that latch onto and stimulate receptors in the skin, mimicking the hor- monal highs that make a woman's complexion glow. But VENeffect was only part of the solution. Equally as important was creating an awareness of the hormone issue, which is why Cecil and Rebecca—who them- selves radiate with glowing skin—have been traveling the country, visiting Neiman Marcus cosmetics coun- ters to educate its salespeople. In 2008, Rebecca wrote The Venus Week, a tome that outlines the science behind the grouping of days when hormones make women look and feel their best. "[Rebecca's] book was really our first product," Cecil says. "We are try- ing to enlighten women on a broader scale about the beauty of their hormones, and give them the practical information and products to live better with that knowledge." Their company, the Chicago-based Beauty Booth, LLC (over which Cecil presides), is committed to doing just that. "We're both women, we both had careers, we both had children," Cecil says. "We didn't need to do this. We were only going to do it if we could make it effective, both for ourselves and for other women." Neiman Marcus, 737 N. Michigan Ave., 312-642-5900; neimanmarcus.com ma photography by david johnson; hair and makeup by loni hale for chicagoemergingartists.com; styling by heidi best for neiman marcus