SO LONG, COTTAGE CHEESE

Here's a statistic most women won't want to hear: more than 80 percent of women have cellulite. Those dimples have a way of showing up on hips, buttocks and thighs to create that cottage cheese effect. Dimples work better on smiles than legs.

Cellulite doesn't just effect the overweight; thin women and even religious excersizers can still have that orange peel look. One explanation? Doctors say that cellulite is Mother Nature's way of ensuring that women have enough stored energy to bear children.

Still, most women would prefer not to see a single dimple on their backsides. Beauty companies have come up with a variety of products that can at least help alleviate the appearance of cellulite. Just remember, these creams are aides, not permanent solutions. You have to keep using them in order for the creams to keep working.

Here's a look at some of the cellulite fighters out there.

1. Afterglow Gel from the Noodle & Boo Glowology Repair Kit, $110, Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show mall

This gel brightens and tightens skin while relying on tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (a stable form of vitamin C), which helps build collagen, works as an anti-inflammatory and battles free-radical damage.

2. Lierac Paris Ultra Body Lift 10 Minceur, $45, Beauty.com

This gel relies on caffeine, which will dehydrate the treated area when used over time, to fight cellulite. Many cellulite treatments rely on caffeine to dehydrate the thighs of water retention, and as a result, can reduce the size of a thigh by an inch if used regularly. This alcohol-free gel-serum does not stick when applied.

3. Natura Bisse Body Contour Micro-Complex, $110, Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show mall

Aside from caffeine, this cream relies on carnitine, which transports fatty acids to your cells to be metabolized.

4. St. Ives Cellulite Shield Advanced Body Moisturizer, $4.99, Walgreens

In addition to caffeine, this moisturizer reduces cellulite puffiness with green tea, and moisturizes skin with shea butter.

5. Liz Earle Energising Hip & Thigh Gel, $42, LizEarle.com

This natural gel contains caffeine along with butcher's broom to strengthen and tone blood vessels, ginkgo biloba to increase blood flow and grapefruit oil to increase circulation and help stimulate the lymphatic system.

6. Nivea Body Goodbye Cellulite smoothing cellulite gel cream, $12.99, CVS

This new gel cream relies on L-Carnitine to convert fat into energy.

7. Murad Firm & Tone Serum, $75, Sephora

This serum uses encapsulated liposomes to deliver active ingredients where needed, cayenne pepper to stimulate the skin, horse chestnut tree extract and tiger's herb to restore firmness and smoothness and Amazonian Cat's Claw to reduce the appearance of dimpled skin.

8. Osmotics Lipoduction Body Perfecting Complex, $95, Dillard's

Lipoduction contains high levels of pure grapeseed extract, an antioxidant proven to strengthen the capillary system and help prevent the breakdown of collagen, Coleus Forskohlii root extract, a member of the mint family that has long been used in India and parts of Asia to break down fat, and caffeine. Osmotics uses nanotechnology to deliver up to 700 percent more of these agents to their intended targets.

9. Bliss FatGirlSleep, $38, Sephora

This cellulite fighter works at night with the help of sacred lotus extract, which helps firm cellulite and reduce the look of orange peel skin, and red algae extract, which reduces water retention and promotes circulation.

10. Clarins Body Shaping Supplement, $78, Dillard's

This supplement meant to be added to your regular body moisturizer contains baccharis, an Amazonian plant that helps inhibit the development of fat tissue, hortonia, which helps block the formation of new fat cells, cat's claw, another Amazonian plant that helps eliminate fatty acids inside the fat cell, along with geranium, cangzhu, caffeine and guarana to help refine contours by increasing circulation and lymphatic drainage.

10. Orlane Slimming Contouring System, $150, Neiman Marcus at Fashion Show mall

This six-week program is meant to stimulate the breakdown of fat and the elimination of water and toxins in stage one, block fat from entering the cells in stage two and restructures the underlying fatty tissue in stage three.

Contact Image Editor Susan Stapleton at sstapleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2909.