The Skinny on Spa Infomercial Products

July 11, 2008 — -- Want to look great this summer? Chances are you've seen infomercials touting beauty products to enhance your life. You may have ordered these products, or you may be curious to hear from a friend who's tried them first to see how well they really work.

Becky Worley's tried them out for us, and here's the skinny:

PRODUCT: Kinoki Footpads
PRICE: $19.99
GRADE: D

These are pads that you place on your feet overnight, while you sleep, and they claim to draw toxins from your body, down and out to the adhesive pads on your feet. The infomercial promises: "Kinoki Foot Pads remove heavy metal, metabolic wastes, toxins, parasites, chemicals, cellulite and more."

Described as "the ancient Japanese secret to perfect health," by their advertisements, after a period of time, they should leave you feeling more vital and healthy.

BECKY'S THOUGHTS:
My personal experience was that the morning after using the pads, I got a cold and my feet smelled like rancid barbecue.

Click here to read John Stossel's "20/20" report on the Kinoki Foot Pads."

Company Response: The company did not return several calls from GMA.

PRODUCT: PedEgg
PRICE: $9.99
GRADE: A-
BECKY'S THOUGHTS:
This thing is a cheese grater for your feet. And it works. The files on the grater are sharp, but so small that it doesn't hurt at all as you shave off the rough, calloused skin on the feet. Best of all, the Ped Egg collects all that dead skin in the attached cover, so that you don't have a snowstorm of dead skin when you give yourself a pedicure.

Company Response: Shell Presod, the VP of Marketing at Telebrands, which makes the PedEgg, told us they've "received absolutely positive feedback" on the product, and cited it as a "tremendous success."

PRODUCT: SpinLash
PRICE: $14.95
GRADE: B
BECKY'S THOUGHTS:
This product basically allows you to wear a TON of mascara without having it get all gloppy. It separates the lashes by spinning as it applies mascara. The mascara it comes with is OK — not great — but you can also use it with your own mascara. The only reason I didn't give this product an 'A' was that you can't really see a ton of difference between the way a SpinLash eye looks as compared to the way your eye looks when you apply regular mascara.

Company Response: The SpinLash's inventor, Barbara Kerry, claims there is a big difference between SpinLash and regular mascara. She says that though it takes as much time, it does separate the lashes and makes them thick. The rotation fans your lashes out while applying.

PRODUCT: Wrap, Snap & Go Curlers
PRICE: $19.95
GRADE: B+
BECKY'S THOUGHTS:
These things work. They are kind of cute in a weird way and they are easy to use. They do give you lift, and the only reason I'm not giving them an A is because they are curlers — nothing revolutionary here — and they cost $20 plus shipping and handling.

Company Response: "GMA" was unable to get a representative on the phone for comment at air time.

PRODUCT: Invisible Tummy Trimmer
PRICE: $19.99
GRADE: B-
BECKY'S THOUGHTS:
At first, I wasn't very impressed with the Tummy Trimmer. It's a tubular girdle, and as a result it doesn't stay in place very well. It slides up along the bottom, creating some unsightly rolls around the beer-gut area. Also, it promises to work on back fat -- which it does, but it also creates a weird roll at the top of your back where the girdle ends. If you want to be serious about flattening and tightening like this, you need Spanx or a girdle that has a mechanism to stay in place. But keep in mind those cost considerably more than the $20 that the tummy trimmer costs.

The saving grace for the Tummy Trimmer came when I found a pretty cool way to use it: I wore it over the top of my jeans, where it helped to rein in my muffin top by streamlining the transition zone from tight jeans to loose hip flab. For that reason, I kept it in the B range.

Company Response: "GMA" was unable to get a representative on the phone for comment at air time.