ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses antiaging cosmetics as examples of gendered objects linked to science, epistemic transfers, cultural paradigms, and the position of women as potential consumers. Specifically, the focus lies upon snail-mucin-containing facial serums as examples of gendered research-based artefacts that reflect the transversality of technology, visual and material culture, and preconceived social roles and norms. Through content analysis and close reading of primary and secondary sources, the chapter traces the knowledge transfer between Chile and South Korea that prompted the development of snail filtrate as ingredient in cosmetics. In conclusion, the author argues that even if health-enhancing cosmetics encapsulate the gathering of observable and measurable evidence and data, experimentation, and analysis of natural or synthetic sources for non-pharmacological medicinal compounds, their use becomes a matter of trial and error. Bearing in mind that snail-mucin-containing serums are visually marketed mainly to female users, gender hierarchies dictate whose skin becomes an unsupervised minilab.
