My husband and I were leisurely strolling down Forest Ave. in Laguna Beach on Labor Day. The street has nice clothing stores, home furnishings, galleries and restaurants. At one store front, I shook my head "no" at a woman who had her hand out. She followed me a few feet and made me feel bad that I hadn't excepted her free cosmetic samples. She said she had another free sample inside. I reluctantly followed her in and she quickly put something under my eye. In about 10 seconds, it really did seem like a miracle: my wrinkles had almost gone away. I got excited. I had her do the other side so both sides looked almost wrinkle free. She said I would only have to apply it once a week.
She told me that Ocean has a shop on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills. (That turned out to be a lie.) She also told me this filler product has stem cells (according to my reading of the FDA site on cosmetics, this is also a lie) and that the cream increases collagen under your skin (also a lie). But at the time I was being a perfect sucker and paid $756.00 (including tax) for a "2-years supply" of the filler and 2 boxes of cream that was supposed to erase dark spots. She kept trying to sell me more items (neck wrinkle reducer cream and a redness reducer cream that would cure rosacea and eliminate red capillaries.)
When I got home about 1.5 hours later, my wrinkles were back and I had good-size white flakes under my eyes. I knew I had been scammed, so immediately went online to research the products. I found a Rip-Off report (on this site) for a store in Florida. See Timeless Cosmetics (aka Oceane Beauty). At the store I was at, the outside sign says Ocean, but the products say Oceane. I was so glad to confirm my suspicions about this scam. Apparently, these people target tourist towns and keep changing the name of their company.
The wrinkle product I pulled from my bag when I was home, is Lionese White Pearl FaceLift Filler and I found very negative complaints about high pressure sales tactics and products sold at the Lionese Beauty Bar in Las Vegas on Yelp.
From the FDA site I found that any cosmetic that made the claims this sales woman had made to me would have to pass clinical trials and would then be reclassified as a drug.
I did return the all the items unopened the next day but the woman who sold them to me would not reverse the credit card charge. It does say "No refund, Exchange only..." but who would want to exchange for more over-priced, do-nothing products from this store? I used American Express for the purchase and hope they will not let these people get away with this rip-off.
I am happy to see that someone else complained about this store In Laguna Beach, too. Laguna Beach is a great city and I hope they boot out this company. Nobody answers at the number on the receipt for Ocean(e) so maybe they are gone, or maybe it was just the wrong number, so they wouldn't have to hear complaints.