Skincare help for dummies please!

[clare8allthepies]

I had a facial on holiday last week and the woman was asking me about my skincare routine - I just made this face

At the moment I just use a cleansing wash in the shower and then put a serum on afterwards. She recommended that to begin with I start to use a toner as well and a face mask 1-2 times per week.

The products she recommended were the ones used in the facial (bliss ones) and the face mask was £42, can anyone recommend something a bit cheaper?

I've had a look at some of the threads on here about skincare and it goes totally over my head!

Many thanks

[Floisme]

My routine is to cleanse, moisturise and use sunscreen every day. That's it. I'm 58 and have good (albeit getting saggy) skin. I put that mainly down to never having taken up smoking or sunbathing. I don't drink much alcohol and I try and eat healthily - although I'm nursing my daily treat of espresso and dark chocolate as I write.

I sometimes wander over to skincare threads and come away at the number of products some people use.

[Kundry]

Can you give some clues as to how old you are, what sort of skin you have and what you are wanting to achieve?

While my list of products has grown, because I find it fun, you can almost certainly do what you want on far less money than the Bliss and save by not having any more facials

[clare8allthepies]

Doh! Sorry that would have helped wouldn't it?

38, skin had always been on the oily side but has got drier with age so I guess combination now. What I'd like to achieve is less obvious pores and my skin not looking as dull as it does at the moment.

I've never had a facial before, my partner booked it as a treat for our hols last week, not sure how much it was, would probably have been better off spending the dosh on potions!

[Kundry]

OK, sounds not radically different to mine (40, combination, few wrinkles, annoyingly still spots)

First step cleanser. If you like your current one stick with it Generally cleanser should not be a big spend item as it only contacts your face for seconds so fancy ingredients will be wasted. Ideally it should be non-foaming and no scrubby bits or particles. Really boring

For smaller looking pores and 'glow' you need 2 things, helpfully they also target wrinkles, spots and blackheads - acid and retinol.

Acids exfoliate your skin making pores look smaller, bringing fresh new skin to the surface making it look healthier, get rid of spots and are generally great. If you have blackheads then you need salicylic acid (sometimes called BHA), if not you can use either BHA or AHA (lactic and glycolic acid). They all do the same thing except the BHA dissolves blackheads too.

As I'm a BHA person I'm better on recommendations for that:

Clearasil pads - the budget option, can be a bit abrasive
Clinique Mild Exfoliating Lotion - nice, lasts a long time, a mild choice
LRP Effaclar Duo - fantastic but quite a small tube
Paula's Choice 2% BHA - my desert island product. You choose whether you want gel, lotion or toner consistency, the lotion is great and lasts forever.

AHA - Nip Fab pads v popular

Essentially toner is a complete waste of time unless it has acid in it.

Then in the morning use a SPF that's also moisturising - total 3 products There's a thread about with SPF recommendations.

In the evening if you want to go further you can add a retinol such as LRP Redermic R, Avene Ystheal, Paula's Choice Retinol. Retinol is the only thing that makes more collagen in your skin - so makes pores smaller by holding the walls up - and prevents wrinkles. I'd suggest settling with the rest of the routine first, your skin doesn't like lots of changes at once and doing this last.

Finally moisturiser - only if you think you need it! When I used the Paula's Choice lotion I found it quite moisturising so I didn't bother. If you still have probs with spots you should stick to oil free, otherwise just pick something you like. This can be really cheap - Nivea blue pot and Astral have loads of fans on here for a reason! I liked Nivea but sadly me and oil don't agree.

If you then get obsessed you can add in serums but seriously you can do it all on 3 products am and pm.

[clare8allthepies]

That's great! Thank you for your help

[clare8allthepies]

Have bought a face mask today containing both salicylic acid and glycolic acid. Will try it a couple of times a week and see how it goes