Calming product for sensitive skin?

[Heartsease]

My skin is getting me down a bit -- it was always rather nice when I was younger but is dry and a bit red and blotchy with a few zits (I was never a great one for spots in the past). I think this is partly because I am super tired, but I feel like the whole thing needs soothing calming down. I usually use Simple skincare stuff (cream cleanser, I don't wash my face with water).

I couldn't see anything in Boots which had my name on it, but wondered if anyone had found anything useful in similar circumstances? Was wondering if I should be thinking along Dr Hauschka or Neals Yard lines, though open to any and all suggestions and am not super rich.

My skin gets like this sometimes, especially if I've exfoliated, it gets SO itchy at the sides of my nose!

I've used a fab serum from Boots for the last few years. It's by Botanics and is called Skin Calming Serum or something similar. It's got marshmallow and sweet gale in and really calms the skin down.

I've just trawled through all the Botanics stuff on the Boots site and can't find it. I don't know whether that means that they don't do it, or if they just don't do it online so it might be worth looking in store.

Anyway, I found this one which seems to have similar ingredients but is more of an everyday cream (the serum is quite heavy). I didn't even know they sold this, so am off to buy some myself!

LIz earl cleanser really sorted my skin out. Her other products are nice but its the cleanser i cant live without. You can buy trial sizes too.

Neal's Yard for me. No weird chemicals and is very soothing.

This is really useful, thanks everyone. The Boots one has good reviews, and I had forgotten about Liz Earle's existence. What Neal's Yard product do you use, JustDoMyLippy? Or is it a whole set of stuff? There is a shop in my town.

Bumping because I've just looked in the mirror .

Hey Heartsease...sorry to hear about your problem skin. You asked about the Neal's Yard and as I'm a home seller for them I can hopefully answer your question. The range we would recommend is Starflower. It's really calming and in fact, the Starflower daily essence is recommended for facial eczema and apparently works amazingly for this.

There's a cleansing milk and a daily moisture in the range, as well as the daily essence. The cleanser is £18, moisturiser is £22 and the essence is pricy at £39.50 but definitely worth it for anyone with eczema.
BUT if you get Red magazine this month, there's a subscription offer that gives you a gift of the Starflower cleanser and moisturiser. The subscription is only £9.99 for I think 6 issues so well worth it. Read all the small print of course to make sure you don't get caught up in a longer subscription period.

One note to finish on is to say that the reason this range works so well on sensitive skin is that it's has no fragrance in it so none of these products smell delicious like most of the NY range and in fact, the starflower stuff does honk a bit..but it does work!

Oh thanks dingdong3, I'll get down to the shop and try some testers then look into the Red thing if I like it. I admire a saleswoman who can suggest a way to wangle the product for free(ish) AND admit that it 'honks' .

lol...maybe that's where I'm going wrong with this Neal's Yard selling thing..

Let me know how you get on! And don't forget where to come for your repeat order

Hye As I read your message I thought oh.. shes got to try wild rose balm Neals yard this is a brilliant product you can use it as a balm skin calmer softner it melts like butter if your interested give me a shout Neals yard is all organic no nasty irretants you wont look back promise..........

Wild Rose Beauty Balm is great but I'm always careful about recommending to v sensitive skin. Ask for a sample when your in the NY shop to try out for a few days. I can send you a sample also but if you're going in anyway, you'll get it a bit faster

Dermalogica have great products for this, not cheap but brilliant. Get a 'skin map' done then you can generally find the products cheaper online.

Thanks for all this, I am very grateful. I have bought the Boots cream as a cheap starting point and will work my way up to gettiing some samples of the rest. Our NY shop is very nice so I'm sure they will let me have a play. Dermalogica have a special place in my heart, as I did the most boring temp job of my entire life at their HQ, but have never tried their products. I'd like to associate them with something more life-enhancing!