Class Action Claims The Inkey List Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex Cannot Provide Advertised Results

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that beauty and skincare brand The Inkey List’s Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex serum is falsely advertised given it is “scientifically impossible” for the product to achieve the promised results.

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The 26-page lawsuit states that scientific evidence “conclusively demonstrates” that cosmetic ingredients in over-the-counter formulations such as those used in the Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex serum are unable to provide the benefits that the product claims to deliver, including the following:

• “Plant-derived Exosomes help boost collagen production by 300%”;
• “helps reduce inflammation by 55%”;
• “improve[s] skin repair by 63% in eight hours[]”;
• “up to 12 hours of hydration[]”; and
• “Skin rejuvenation in 14 days, clinically proven[.]”

Per the case, defendant Brand Evangelists for Beauty, Inc. markets the Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex serum as able to provide “professional” results achieved through key ingredients, including plant-based exosomes. Plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicles such as those used in the product are enriched with various bioactive components like proteins, RNA, lipids and other small but effective molecules, the suit explains.

Notably, exosomes gained popularity in skincare as a follow-up treatment to microneedling or fractional laser procedures in clinical settings, where the exosomes were applied after the procedure and could be absorbed through openings in the skin barrier caused by the treatment, the case states.

However, the lawsuit argues that exosomes applied in a topical serum like the Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex without any prior disruption to the skin barrier would have difficulty passing through the protective outer layer of skin, called the epidermis, rendering them ineffective.

The filing also claims that plant-based exosomes are even larger than the mammalian-derived exosomes used in most topical exosome studies. According to the lawsuit, a 2021 review of multiple studies concluded that only one to 10 percent of an applied dose of exosomes 50 nanometers (nm) in diameter or smaller would be able to pass through an undisrupted skin barrier. Plant-based exosomes, the case conveys, are on average 50 nm at their smallest, with the largest sitting at around 500 nm in diameter.

Because of this, the case argues that the vast majority of the exosomes in the Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex product cannot actually absorb into the skin, let alone in large enough amounts to affect collagen production in the layer of skin beneath the multi-layer epidermis.

Additionally, the suit says, plant exosomes have been shown to be temperature-sensitive and must be stored at -80 degrees Celsius (or -112 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to maintain their bioactivity. However, the defendant never makes any disclosures about the storage needs of its Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex or ensures that it is shipped at that temperature, according to the filing. As a result, most reasonable consumers likely store the product at room temperature, further decreasing its efficacy, the lawsuit alleges.

The Inkey class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone who bought The Inkey List Exosome Hydro-Glow Complex on Amazon or TheInkeyList.com during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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