Xtend-Life Skin Care Review
9.57/10
Quick Overview
- Difficulty
Moderate
- Cost
High
- Trial Period
6 Months
In 1998, father-and-son duo Warren and Lance Matthews envisioned a health and fitness company that would manufacture and directly sell a unique line of all-natural, highly effective nutritional supplements. Two years later, Xtend-Life was founded in New Zealand, and it wasn't long after that the company expanded its operations to include a line of high quality skin and beauty products to compliment their already-successful nutritional supplements.
Under its same original ownership, Xtend-Life continues to research, develop, manufacture and exclusively retail skincare products aimed at men and women of all ages.
Xtend-Life produces a diverse, yet focused range of skincare products including active day creams, restorative night creams, body lotion, eye contour serums, hydrating masks and cleansing masks. Although their products come at a relatively high price, Xtend-Life's uncompromising approach to research, clinical testing, ingredient sourcing, product manufacturing and even packaging is well worth the added expense.
Xtend-Life's goal is to create the safest skincare products on the market, and in this they've succeeded - all of their skin and beauty products are literally safe enough to eat, let alone apply to your skin.
Xtend-Life takes the same unyielding approach
to customer satisfaction. This being said, the company offers direct customer support via live chat, phone and email, all of which are available at no cost to their customers. Xtend-Life backs all of its skin and beauty
products with a 6-month guaranteed return policy, allowing you to receive a full refund if you are dissatisfied in any way, even after using the entire bottle. Very few skincare companies could say the same.
Xtend-Life approach to creating all-natural skin and beauty supplements could be best summed up as "quality without compromise." The company is set on developing the safest, most effective and most consistent beauty products available, without adverse side effects, regardless of cost. When working with their research chemists, Xtend-Life's owners insisted on finding the best ingredients and formulating the best products without the limitation of an upper budget. As you might expect, this has resulted in a product line that's virtually unmatched in terms of quality despite costing a bit more than what's available from the competition. For those who are serious about skincare, the added expense is worth the enhanced quality.
Xtend-Life's quality is obvious in the way in which they choose their ingredients. For example, most skincare companies use petroleum-based glycerine as a humectant in all of their products. Xtend-Life uses plant-based glycerine because it's safer. The same concept applies to the company's inclusion of coenzymeQ10, a powerful antioxidant known to improve overall skin health. There are a variety of sources of coenzymeQ10, each of which differ in their effectiveness. Xtend-Life uses a superior nano-lipid version of coenzymeQ10 that, while more expensive than other forms, penetrates most deeply into the skin.
Xtend-Life's quality is also apparent in the way they've designed their website. In addition to the individual product pages, the site contains skincare overviews for men and women age 20-29, 30-49 and 50+. These overviews help customers choose a skincare regimen based on their age and gender. The site also contains a list of ingredients, such as alcohols, dioxane and mineral oils, that should be avoided in skin and beauty products, as well as reasons why they're commonly used by other manufacturers and why they're harmful.
Xtend-Life's line of skin and beauty products is remarkable for the ratio of active to inactive ingredients included in each bottle and container. While most skin creams and lotions mostly consist of inactive ingredients and fillers, the ones sold by Xtend-Life contain much higher concentrations of active ingredients - 50% or more, in all cases. This greatly increases the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the beauty products sold by the company.
Xtend-Life is committed to including only the safest all-natural ingredients in their skin and beauty products. In fact, all of the products are so safe and natural that the company claims you could eat them. This is certainly not the case with most supplements from bigger brands, which often contain harsh chemicals. Xtend-Life's beauty products never contain any allergens, fragrances, parabens (preservatives known to lead to breast cancer) or other additives. Instead, they're made up of natural oils, vegetable-based silicones and waxes, proteins, vitamins, antioxidants, coenzyme CoQ10 and plant extracts, all of which are specially selected for their safety and effectiveness.
Although overarching statements such as these attest to the overall quality of the ingredients used in Xtend-Life's products, most consumers prefer to know exactly which ingredients are included in a particular product. Xtend-Life delivers by providing total transparency and offering a full ingredients list under the Ingredients tab found on each product page. The name of each ingredient is followed by a brief description of its history and intended uses, and clicking on the ingredient itself will reveal its relevant scientific research.
As a skin and beauty company, Xtend-Life is virtually unmatched when it comes to clinical trials and research. By clicking the Clinical Studies link found in the Customer Info navigation bar on the Xtend-Life website, you'll find a description of the company's approach to clinical trials. Xtend-Life, as with all other all-natural skin and beauty product companies, does not clinically test their finished creams and serums for two major reasons: prohibitive costs (sometimes reaching into the millions of dollars) and patents, which are far easier to obtain for pharmaceuticals than all-natural products.
Instead, Xtend-Life posts clinical trial information pertaining to the ingredients used in their skin and beauty formulations. You can view this information by navigating to any product page, clicking the Ingredients tab, and then clicking each individual ingredient. A pop-up window will appear with a complete overview of all the clinical testing performed on the ingredient to date. The information offered through these pop-up windows is surprisingly extensive for many of the ingredients, which may come as a pleasant surprise to those who are accustomed to lesser skin and beauty companies that simply ask you to take their word for it.
The Customer Comments section of the Xtend-Life website features dozens of pages of user testimonials, twelve pages of which directly refer to the skin and beauty products sold by the company. All of the reviews, which come from men and women of various ages, describe different ways in which Xtend-Life's lotions, creams, serums and masks have improved the appearance and health of their skin. Some of the reviews mention the names of other products from competing manufacturers, and go on to say how Xtend-Life's products succeeded where others have failed. Many of the testimonials also describe how working with Xtend-Life was a positive experience, which should offer some relief to those who may be hesitant to purchase skin care products from an online company based in New Zealand.
The Xtend-Life skincare product catalog also includes testimonials specific to individual products on each respective product page. This makes it easy to learn of the feedback that the company has received regarding a specific product before you decide whether to make a purchase. Xtend-Life posts testimonials as they receive them, ensuring that each review is an honest account of a given customer's actual experiences with a product.
Xtend-Life is a strictly-online skin and beauty product retailer, and as such, there are no provisions for in-person customer support. However, the direct customer service offered through the Xtend-Life website is exceptional. The company offers a variety of support channels, including the following:
- Live chat
- Email
- Standard mail
- Toll-free phone
- Fax
Email inquiries, to which Xtend-Life responds within 24 hours, are handled through an embedded web form. You'll receive a confirmation email shortly after submitting the inquiry.
Xtend-Life offers customer support from 8:30am until 5:00pm Monday through Friday, New Zealand time. Note that New Zealand time is 18 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. During off-hours, your phone calls will be directed to a remote call center. Urgent inquiries are directed to Xtend-Life staff even outside of normal business hours. All other inquiries are recorded and dealt with the following day.
If you're unsatisfied with any skin and beauty product purchased from Xtend-Life, you may return it within 6 months for a full refund minus the cost of shipping and handling. The Xtend-Life return policy is one of the best in the industry due to its length and the fact that you can return both opened and unopened bottles of product. In order to receive your refund, you must first call Xtend-Life to arrange for a return and provide them with your name, the name of the product, your order number and a brief explanation of why you're choosing to return the product. Xtend-Life uses this information to improve their future products.
Xtend-Life requests that customers return no more one opened bottle of a single product type. This makes sense, as it would be wasteful to open and use multiple bottles of a product with which you're dissatisfied. You may return an unlimited number of sealed containers. If returning a product won't drop your total order value below $60, Xtend-Life will not deduct a shipping fee from your refund.
The prices of the skin and beauty products sold by Xtend-Life are somewhat high in comparison to those offered by most of the company's competitors. In fact, Xtend-Life readily admits that it wishes it could offer cheaper prices, especially on products such as its body lotion ($52.35 for 150 ml, currently), but that the ingredients and quality control/production processes are simply too costly. The company is unwilling to compromise with any of its products, and this means skin and beauty supplements that cost more to produce than the retail prices of many competing offerings. Regardless of the relatively high pricing, Xtend-Life's skin and beauty products are an excellent value considering their supporting evidence and proven results.
Savvy customers at Xtend-Life can save money in two different ways: bulk discounts and a membership in the company's Loyalty Program. All orders over $300 receive a 10% discount, which is admittedly small given the required order cost. However, the Xtend-Life Loyalty Program allows you to receive a 10% discount on every single order regardless of its value, so long as you place each consecutive order within 95 days of the last. As a member of the Loyalty Program, you'll also have the option of setting up automatic shipments to be delivered on a regular periodic basis.
Xtend-Life offers worldwide shipping for a flat rate of $6.50 per order. Shipping fees are always waived on orders exceeding $60. Since Xtend-Life's skin and beauty products and nutritional supplements are shipped from New Zealand, U.S. customers can expect to receive their products in a rather-lengthy 7 to 12 days. The company does not offer shipping upgrades.
Summary
If you're seeking the absolute best skin and beauty products available, and you don't mind paying a little extra, Xtend-Life may be the answer. Although the company's prices are relatively high, they're justified given the amount of effort and quality control that Xtend-Life has allocated to their skincare product line. The products use 100% all-natural ingredients, and contain far more active ingredients than the creams and lotions sold by most of the competition. You can receive discounts, including free shipping and 10%-off coupons, by placing larger orders.
Xtend-Life's claims are backed by both clinical studies and positive customer testimonials. Each ingredient used by Xtend-Life has been scientifically tested, and the results of these tests are available on the company's website. Many users have been compelled to relate their experiences with the products to the company, and these reviews are posted in their unedited form on each product page. The fact that the company offers full refunds up to 6 months after the purchase date is just one more reason why Xtend-Life is an ideal destination for skin and beauty products.
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