By Siobhan McAndrew, Reno Gazette-Journal

For years, Wendy Avansino of Reno paid $75 for her favorite face cream at her beauty salon.

“I’d look for other products with the same ingredient — alpha hydroxy — at the grocery store or Wal-Mart but none of them ever compared,” Avansino said. “The amount of alpha hydroxy was so small, and I wouldn’t see the same results.”

After watching popular TV personality and doctor Mehmet Oz on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” talk about alpha hydroxy acids, an ingredient made of sugar cane that evens skin tone, Avansino decided to create her own face cream.

“I remember him saying alpha hydroxy wasn’t that expensive of an ingredient, so I couldn’t figure out why I was paying so much for it,” she said.

The 42-year-old stay-at-home mom also said she was inspired to start her own business to help her family make ends meet. Her husband is a police officer.

She found a cosmetic chemist in the United States in September 2009 and developed her own product, Alpha-Maximum. The face cream is made of all natural ingredients, including glycolic acid, aloe vera, rice bran oil, glycerin and lavender essential oil.

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