Chapter 220 The Formula Was Leaked?
"What's going on?" Karen brushed away the beautician's hand and tilted her head to listen to the commotion outside.
"It must be a misunderstanding!" the beautician explained calmly.
I took the bowl containing the secret beauty cream from the beautician's hands and leaned in to smell it. "Is this your beauty cream? What are the main ingredients?"
The beautician showed a standard smile and answered smoothly and skillfully, "They're all natural plant extracts, like centella asiatica, niacinamide, fruit acid, hyaluronic acid—gentle care for the skin. Most of our customers use it."
"Aren't these pretty common ingredients on the market?" Karen frowned. "Doesn't sound particularly special."
I pointed at the cream and asked, "I smell something very distinctive. What else exactly is added to this?"
"I'm sorry, that's an internal secret." The beautician looked at me apologetically. "I'm just a regular beautician. I don't know the formula either."
I guessed plenty of customers had been asking them about the formula lately, so the beauticians all had a standard response template.
I was about to ask if we could buy the cream to take home when the noise outside suddenly grew more intense, mixed with the sound of things being smashed.
"Your shop is really getting trashed!" Karen quickly sat up from the bed, put on her bathrobe, and prepared to go out and watch the drama.
"I'm coming too. That woman's voice sounds kind of familiar." I put down the cream and walked out with Karen.
The beauty salon's lobby looked like it had been hit by a tornado, and at the center of the storm was actually Diana!
Her figure was still stunning, her red bodycon dress like flickering flames, but her once gorgeous face was now covered with red, swollen acne. Looking closer, the acne was mixed with cracked fine lines and blood vessels, making her face look terrifyingly grotesque.
She covered her face with a thin silk scarf, shouting emotionally, "You must have conspired with my enemies to sabotage me!"
"What beauty cream, bullshit! I only did it five times and my face turned out like this. It hurts when I touch it, and it hurts when I don't!"
"Do you know who the man behind me is? I'll make sure this dump of yours goes bankrupt immediately!"
Diana screamed and started crying. Tears sliding down her face seemed to make her even more uncomfortable. Her hands flailed helplessly, like a madwoman.
The general manager who had received us earlier was frantically trying to calm Diana down. "Our cream has passed multiple quality inspections. We guarantee there's absolutely no problem! Other customers are fine too. This is an individual skin sensitivity issue."
Diana wasn't having any of it and slapped the manager across the face.
"Who do you think you are? You're not qualified to talk to me! Get your boss out here! Otherwise, I'll trash your entire shop!"
The scene was chaotic.
I was curious who the owner behind this beauty salon was, but when the manager saw she couldn't stop Diana, she simply gave up and announced they were closing early for the day.
Karen and I returned to the beauty room to change. The two senior beauticians sincerely apologized to us and packed up quite a few gifts for us.
In terms of service attitude, I gave them good marks.
"By the way, we haven't used these two portions of cream yet, but we've already paid. I want to take the cream with us," I said.
The beauty salon shook their heads in refusal. "We're very sorry, but according to shop policy, the secret cream is not for external sale. We'll refund the full amount you spent today."
"That's ridiculous. Do we look like people who need that bit of money?" Karen rolled her eyes. "We came here for beauty treatments. We already bought these two portions of cream, so they're ours!"
"But..." The two beauticians exchanged uneasy glances. "Alright then."
Diana was still making a scene in the lobby. Karen and I left through the side door, carrying bags of gifts.
Karen looked back and pursed her lips. "What bad luck, running into something like this."
I shook my head. "Actually, I think we got lucky. If there really is a problem with the cream, we just avoided a face disaster."
Karen immediately asked nervously, "Bella, is there really a problem with this shop's cream?"
I shrugged. "You know the medical beauty game—hydrating injections, gold microneedling—they all use needles to break through the skin's surface layer to let the medicine penetrate. Not only painful, but the effects are average and need regular maintenance. Most beauty injections are actually liver protection drugs. Whether it's glutathione or tranexamic acid, the fact is that people with healthy livers have good skin. You might as well take more vitamin C."
"Of course, expensive beauty treatments aren't meaningless, but any beauty treatment can't compare to diligent daily skincare." I touched my stomach. "I'm hungry. Let's go eat."
Maybe because my workload had been too heavy lately, I felt hungry faster and my appetite had noticeably increased.
Karen nodded. "Okay."
"Well said!" A voice of approval suddenly rang out behind us.
I turned around to see several wealthy ladies who, like us, had just left Elysian Glow beauty salon.
The woman in front stared at me intently, her eyes showing both admiration and gratitude.
"Isabella, hello. I'm Jenny, Octavia's mother. Do you remember Octavia?"
I shook her outstretched hand. "Of course I remember. Hello."
"What you just said really inspired me. Honestly, if there were beauty treatments that didn't hurt, who would want to get injections every year?" Jenny enthusiastically pulled me closer. "I know you're good at making medicine. Could I buy liver protection medicine from you? It beautifies and protects the liver—I'm so tempted!"
Jenny's companions also looked at me expectantly. Thinking of the popularity of Elysian Glow beauty salon, I realized this was a money-making opportunity.
"I don't currently have ready-made liver protection medicine. If you don't mind, why not help me test the effects? I'll have someone deliver the medicine to your homes."
"Would you really give us bad medicine? Saying it's testing is no different from giving it to us for free!" Jenny smiled particularly warmly. "As long as it works, no matter how expensive, I'll definitely buy it!"
I didn't expect this trip to have such an unexpected gain. After dinner, I returned to the pharmaceutical lab in an excellent mood and started preparing liver protection medicine.
I also didn't forget to analyze the ingredients of Elysian Glow's beauty cream. The results showed the components were exactly the same as the whitening mud mask I'd developed years ago!
Why would the formula leak?
I quickly figured it out. Besides Doyle's research lab, only my home had my manuscripts.
The person most likely to get my manuscripts was Michelle, who had occupied my family's property for years!
In fact, when I smelled that distinctive fragrance in the beauty room, I already had my suspicions.
It was because my old formula used a very special plant ingredient. Its skin-beautifying effect was obvious and made skin smooth and delicate, but the effect only lasted about a week. Frequent use would seriously damage the skin barrier.
Diana's red, ulcerated face seemed to be caused by UV allergy due to barrier damage.
That was why I abandoned the old formula back then.
Michelle probably treated this formula as Doyle's legacy work. She couldn't possibly imagine the cream's side effects were this terrible.
And with the election approaching, Michelle had quietly opened a beauty salon, probably trying to win over wealthy nobles.
But whatever her plans were, I would crush her dreams!
"Cole, Adrian." I ordered coldly, "Michelle is the owner behind Elysian Glow beauty salon. Go catch her!"