Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D

Boots No. 7 Restore & Renew Beauty Serum is the Harry Potter of skincare. When this British drugstore product arrived in the United States last year, beauty junkies lined up for a piece of the magic. They'd heard that it was already selling out in the UK, after research about the serum's line-smoothing powers was widely publicized. The evidence (a study followed nine people over 12 days) wasn't enough to convince us. But recently, our very own (generally levelheaded) friends started acting gaga about the stuff. One of the most discerning (and ambitious, and flush) of the bunch confided that she wasn't seeing her dermatologist for Botox quite as often because she thought the $22 face serum was so effective. So she was thrilled to hear about the newly released sequels: Protect & Perfect Body Serum ($25) and Protect & Perfect Eye Cream ($20). We've been using both for a couple of weeks; they're quickly absorbed, and they smell great. But if there's magic, it hasn't happened yet.