To stick with my budget moisturiser?

[buddhasbelly]

In town yesterday looking at some of the fancy beauty counter moisturizers, I was tempted to buy a fancy number at £26...

But then this morning looking at my skin, it's not dry (been drinking more water which seems to make a huge difference amd don't drink alcohol), nor do I have any spots.

I'm just using the nivea soft one with vit E and jojoba, mixed in with a wee bit of suncream, was 2 or 3 pounds.

But the shiny packaging and lovely smelling potions were tempting...they're just a marketing con aren't they? convince me not to spend £26

Really halfwitpicker? I find the Nivea so greasy. I'm surprised you say it's good stuff.

Oh thanks @LemonShark I’ll have to pop in boots and have a mooch. It’s the hot cloth cleanser that always catches my eye with Liz Earle too, so a good but cheap alternative is a definite must

@halfwitpicker it's good to know I'm somewhere along the right lines of my moves use then!

@Summerisdone that is a really good point. Every so often I splurge on a product but yes you're right, when it's fine if it hasn't worked wonders I won't rebuy. Makes much more sense to buy something I can maintain in my budget which isn't much.

My £25 lottery win went on the gas meter. Oh the glamour!

The ordinary have fab oils .

I actually can't believe it, but the best one I've had in a long time is the Wilkos home brand one. Bought it because I wanted one that had tea tree and witch hazel and thought I'd give it a go since it was only £1, and it's amazing.

I suffer from really dry skin and terrible spots since having DD, I've tried everything and nothing has worked. This has cleared both in less than a week.

I'm almost evangelical on this topic! In my feckless twenties I spent a fortune on department store miracle pixie-dust products but then when I matured, got married, bought a house and generally developed a much stingier approach to discretionary spending, I have since bought much cheaper products, with careful research I do buy a decent face sunscreen/serum SPF50 and a few no frills products that have hyaluronic acid and a nighttime retinol product.

Honestly there is one product and ONLY one product that will work to keep the signs of ageing at bay - sunscreen! (and a big wide brimmed hat...) It doesn't matter what fancy ingredients other products contain, at the end of the day all they can do is to temporarily re-introduce moisture to the top layers of your skin.

@Summerisdone Superdrug's hot cloth cleansers are amazing & much much cheaper than Liz Earle - I got the vitamin e one and my skin is super soft as a result. Also got the matching day & night moisturiser.
Might be because I'd no skincare routine before them was told when getting my bridal makeup done at 27 that I should start looking after my skin, so at 34 I decided I'd left it long enough

been drinking more water which seems to make a huge difference amd don't drink alcohol

How much water I drink and how healthy I eat has a massive impact on how my skin looks. I've experimented with different face creams at different price points, and can honestly say drinking copious amounts of water has a bigger impact on skin than how much money I spend. I always wear moisturizer with SPF during the day, and moisturize again before bed. But it doesn't seem to make a massive difference which products I use, so long as I use them

My DH doesn't bother with such nonsense, and in in spite of the fact that I'm 2 years older than him, I now look about a decade younger than him.

My advice is to make sure and use your face products on your neck and décolletage. I didn't know this and now my décolletage is showing age more than the skin I've taken better care of.

Find something that works for you and stick with it, whether it be budget or more expensive. This is one area it’s tough to take recommendations on as everyone's skin and genes are different.

And whilst I think this thread has established you don’t have to spend more than a few quid to get what you need from skincare, there’s nothing wrong with spending money you have on products if that’s what you’re interested in.

It's a multi ££££££ con OP, you're right.

*I just use almond oil.

I use Olay total effects and have done for years now. It's the only one that doesn't leave a greasy residue on my face, as I have tried lots of different moisturisers. As I've got older if I don't moisturise my face it feels incredibly tight and dry. I buy it when it's on offer in Superdrug, but 1 get 1 free at 14.99.
However I have noticed Asda sometimes put it on offer at £6 a bottle.
After reading this thread tho I am going to give the Aldi & Lidl ones a bash, as you can get hidden treasures in there that are award winning and just as good as expensive brands.
Not everyone wants botox. I'm 35 and I prefer to be natural.

Buy 1 get one free, not but** damn typo!

Aslong as the moisturiser absorbs into your skin comfortably (not greasy, heavy) and you like the smell, price really does not reflect how "good" it is.

I have always had good skin, a combination of good genetics and taking care of it. The most important pillars of effective skincare are 1) eat well, 2) drink enough water, 3) get adequate sleep, 4) exercise, 5) avoid the sun and wear sunscreen and 6) add retinol in your 30s and 7) don't smoke. Expensive creams or serums will not be a substitute for these 7.

Same re water motherofyorkies, I'm almost 30 and the only wrinkles I have are under eye... but I've had them since my childhood so I think it's less ageing wrinkles and more about the structure of my face! And when I drink lots of water the difference the next day is incredible, they can go from being really pronounced with my face at rest to being invisible at full smile with enough water! It's better than any cream!

I don't use moisturiser at all and people always think I'm at least 10yrs younger than I am.Maybe if I started using it I could get away with child's fare on the bus :)

If it works, great.

I wish cheaper moisturiser worked on me. I used Nivea and Boots own, still do in the hope it’ll work. It does to an extent.

However, now in my 40s, I tried Creme de la Mer and Sisley and my goodness my skin is a lot better with these. So I’m using them now! One small tub lasts me six months but I truly feel like I’m being robbed whenever I buy it. It really does work so much better for me now.

I always use Aldi cream now although when I was younger I spent a lot of money for fancy jars. But I can never work out if I should put sunscreen on before or after moisturiser.

The thought of using those expensive chemical ridden creams and washes makes my skin crawl!

I use olive oil as a moisturiser and it's amazing.

I've never bothered with SPF and I've never found one that doesn't feel horribly greasy on my skin. I don't go abroad or I'd try to find one harder! I'm very pale and never tan so I doubt it's doing that much damage to my skin especially as I spent so little time out in the sun. I often wonder if the insistence we all definitely need spf is backed up by evidence or not, as most people I know don't bother (in fact I don't know anyone who does bother!).

I'm always a little suspicious of another step in skincare... currently we're supposed to cleanse, or double cleanse, exfoliate, toner, serum, moisturiser, eye cream. Plus acid peels and sheet masks and treatment pads and bloody lip masks (haven't fallen for those) and spot treatment and retinols...

So SPF? I have no doubt it's good to protect the skin from sun damage but I'm a bit unconvinced at how much sun damage we need protecting from in England in winter. Yes I know we still get sun rays and whatnot but surely it's not dangerous levels. I find the whole 'even on a wet rainy cloudy day we still need to protect from UV rays!' a bit suspicious.

If I used all of that before makeup btw it wouldn't stay on two minutes from all of the creams under it. Your skin can only absorb so much! I do the above at night but in the morning rarely wear anything on my skin before a primer spray then makeup as anything I've tried, especially moisturiser, leaves my skin feeling horribly oily and wrecks my makeup.

Can someone recommend a good retinol based brand?

There was a documentary on BBC a few weeks ago that did a moisturiser experiment, and found the cheap Nivea one hydrates far better than the £30 odd one. It's a massive con. The documentary was called the price of beauty if you want to check it out.