The Spoiled Mama's Tummy Butter for Stretch Marks, $34, has a creamy pure cocoa and shea butter base, but its claim to fame is that it's packed full of other plant oils, including organic, cold-pressed rosehip, tamanu and sea buckthorn oils. Tamanu, a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, is said to promote the formation of new tissue, thereby accelerating wound healing and the growth of healthy skin. Rosehip oil helps fight dry, dehydrated skin and is said to aid in fading scars. Sea buckthorn oil is highly concentrated in essential fatty acids, tocopherols and carotenes, which promotes elasticity, hydration and regeneration in skin.

Makers of Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy, $39.99, say the product is "clinically shown to increase the moisture content of the skin, thereby helping to keep skin more elastic and less apt to tear and form stretch marks."

Its fans say it also works to get rid of stretch marks as well as prevent them. It contains a number of botanical extracts, including centella asiatica, or gotu kola. (The wound-healing benefits of gotu kola extract were demonstrated in a study published in the October 2012 issue of the journal "Phytomedicine.")

Proof: The company says their research shows 76 percent of women who used Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy for 12 weeks to reduce the appearance of stretch marks saw results, and said they were satisfied with how much their stretch marks improved.

TriLASTIN-SR Maximum Strength Stretch Mark Cream, $79, regularly receives online raves for eliminating the discoloration and furrows of stretch marks. The company claims it has "clinically tested the proven reduction in the appearance of stretch marks in as few as three weeks."

TriLastin says one of the keys to its success is their trademarked Sequenced Diffusion Delivery System, which helps skin absorb active ingredients over an extended period of time.

For expectant moms who want some sweet pampering in their stretch mark-prevention product there is Bella B Tummy Honey Stick, $9.99. It contains cocoa and shea butter to moisturize and hydrate skin, as well as jojoba oil; and aloe to prevent itching that often accompanies fast-growing skin.

To get its online raves, Paris-based Talika says it has isolated an active ingredient that is able to reverse the process that causes the appearance of stretch marks. The company's test of Talika Zero Stretch Mark cream, $88, on 25 women over three months found that 87 percent said their stretch marks were "less deep" at the end of three months and 68 percent said their stretch marks were "less colored."