Had my first " your skin looks amazing" comment-- THANK YOU Caroline Hirons!

[bigbuttons]

A colleague said this at work today, I was so chuffed.
I'm 47 and was looking not so good. This last month I have invested in serums, acids and what not have gone back to Caroline Hirons properly this time. I have been religiously cleaning and tending to my face AM and PM. I use a 30% glycol peel every couple of weeks and use tretinoin every 3 days.
I must say even I have noticed a difference, it has knocked years off me.
All blemishes gone, skin is ultra smooth, wrinkles reduced.
There is hope for us more (ahem) mature ladies!

Ladies - I'll be back. Shopping for baby boy's 21st tomorrow. And baking. Yes, BAKING. xxxx

look forward to seeing you CH!
fabulassie do you mean a glycol toner or a peel?
I use a glycolic toner am and salicylic pm.
I do have a glycolic peel but after last weekend's fiasco and a very burnt face I will not be using in conjunction with my tretinoin again until my face has got used to the tretionoin. Obviuosly my face was sensitive from the ret A and I didn't take that into account when using the peel. I had to smoother my face in metanium in the end, it was the only thing that eased the pain and took the redness away

Oh and happy birthday baby boy for tomorrow! Bet you have a HUGE party planned!let us know how the baking went!

This has been a very helpful thread, I'm new to the party and currently attempting a skin overhaul. I'm still confused though and could do with some advice.

I'm 33, normal ish skin but dehydrated ( struggle to drink enough water... Don't get enough sleep...) I have never really suffered from spots thankfully although tend to get a huge hormonal monster on my chin once a month which I inevitably squeeze and the scar lasts months, so my chin is quite uneven. I also tend to get pimples with some products (eg clarins, Clinique moisturisers in the past) so have been sticking to what I know. People tell me I have good skin but I think they mean I have v few lines. Actually I don't feel like it's good enough to go without make up as I look dull, pale and tired! I have weird pigmentation blotches at the outer corners of my eyes and dark circles so I need a magic concealer which I am yet to find. Plus I'd like to stop fine lines getting worse and generally get a glow.

Anyway onto products - I have cobbled together a routine based on what I already had at home and added an SPF, but I am clueless about acids and retinols so help me there please! Plus I have used the city block for 2 days and have 2 pimples already :(

Am: cleanse with ren rose centifolia gel cleanser
Protect and perfect serum
Ren vita mineral day cream
City block 25
Mac mineralise foundation and powder, mostly use mac makeup.

Pm: Eve lom cleanse with hot cloth
Wash again with the ren rose gel
Protect and perfect serum
Ren frankincense night cream

Every few days if I'm dry I swap the serum for Ren rose oil serum for dry skin at night. (discontinued)

I like REN because it doesn't give me any grief, but I don't feel like I'm glowing as I could be - maybe the products aren't right for me or maybe I need to add more. No clue where to go next. When I read about the toners they seem to be marketed for spot prone skin? Or they just seen a bit hardcore for me.

So tell me what to do! Thanks so much for all the tips so far

ilovetosleep yyou really need to get an acid toner in there. It all really help to slough of dead skin cells, brighten the complexion and help the serums to work.
My skin was transformed the fastest after I started using an acid toner. they don't have to cost ££££ either. I use the clearasil pads and the nip and fab glycolic pads.

quick question about products that work on pigmentation. would they work on freckles on hands? years of buggy pushing has left me with very freckley hands. i know better now and Sun cream them now. shines halo

Ok thank you, I need to get an acid toner, I thought so. Clearasil seems a bit weird for me given I usually have pretty clear skin. The nip and fab ones look ok though, once a day or twice? And what about the REN one, is that any good?

And where do I begin with retinols etc. I googled RetinA and only got things about the eye! Is my Protect and perfect a retinol product?

I like the look of the REN AHA surface renewal treatment thing but do I use that as well as the acid toner/normal serum - when would I use it? Would this help my pigmentation areas (and could I use it near my eyes? What could I use to help the patches so close to my eyes?)

Caroline, I think a retinol cheat sheet is needed!

(and a serum one)

Thanks kundry, I've avoided retinols due to the expense and by generally being a bit confused by them! Will do some investigating

Off to buy clearisil pads in a bit. Do I use them once or twice a day?

Retin-A is prescription only - however there are lots of retinol containing products which are weaker. They come in all different price ranges, Skinceuticals being at the top and Avene + LRP being their usual reliable mid range selves.

If you google you will see horror stories about redness and peeling - don't panic, these relate to retin-A. If you start your retinol product alt days and have no problems just go ahead and use it everyday. There are even retinol hand products now which say 'apply as needed' so there shouldn't be drama about using a retinol.

ilovetosleep acids may help your pigmentation areas and you can use them under your eyes. Retinol might also help plus look for serums that say 'brightening' or 'whitening' - there are loads of these around now as manufacturers have realised pigmentation bothers us more that wrinkles. LRP PigmentClar comes to mind, there are loads of them.

Which acid - pick one, start once a day, then go twice a day, then pick another and start mixing them up. I haven't used any of the 3 you mention but they are v popular on here and get mentioned all the time. You could use Clearasil as the point of acids is they exfoliate so do both spots and brightness and ageing, we just like products to be labelled 'teens' or '40s'.

With my new dedicated spf 50 Heliocare is it a moisturiser on its own? Do I put it on before or after moisturiser and can I put my Decleor facial oil on first?

Sorry if it's a daft question, I've been using ultrasun which has to go on a bare skin. It brings me out in spots so I'm changing to heliocare.

I've just been to Boots and spent a fair bit. Here's hoping the new routine makes a difference. I'm 43 and my skin looks really tired. Haven't been that good at a routine with it so this thread has been quite a revelation. And an inspiration!

How does Liquid Gold fit in with retinols? Would I still use that every 3rd night as I am at the moment?

What did yo get zonkin?

Creme You can use it with retinols. Every third night sounds okay. I can't do every other night with it the way some people can. It's too much for me.

I have the Heliocare oil-free gel - for me it's enough without a moisturiser but if you had dry skin it definitely wouldn't be (but you prob wouldn't have bought the oil-free gel then anyway).

SpF should be last step before makeup.

Thanks kundry
I have combination skin so it should be enough. I'll try both and see which suits better.

This thread is amazing! I have recently started looking into an overhaul of skincare products but I'm confused! I have cleanser and acid toner sorted and I've just ordered liquid gold but as I have a lot of red marks from old spots and I am thinking I need to use something with retinol in it. But can I use this with liquid gold or is it an either/or situation! currently my routine is:
Morning: garnier creamy cleanser washed off with a hot flannel. Clearasil ultra rapid action pads, Nivea light day cream with SPF 15 guess to be replaced soon as it's just about to run out)
Evening: remove make up with miscellar water, garnier cleanser washed off with hot flannel, superdrug glycolic overnight peel (I use this nightly and it doesn't seem to have caused me any problems) which will be replaced with liquid gold once it arrives.
Can anyone help? My skin is rubbish, it's always been spotty and I have a lot of scars on my chin (red marks not indentations) and in general, it's quite blotchy. Thanks in advance.

Creme - if it is the liquid gold liquid (not the alpha h liquid gold serum) then no, don't use it on the same night as your retinol. Skip retinol when you use LG fluid. Liquid gold should be the last thing you put on. If you put anything on top of LG, it won't exfoliate the skin as effectively and you might as well have not bothered. Retinol under LG will be pointless as it will just come off on the cotton wool when you apply the LG. You can use a retinol product the morning after LG, but go easy, you might be more sensitive and do use SPF when using exfoliating acids.

If you are using the Alpha H intensive night repair serum (also contains liquid gold) you can layer with retinols but go easy. It is strong and introducing all this new stuff all at once into your routine might be a bit much, if you do have a reaction you won't know what caused it because you went big on everything straight away?

Sorry for random question mark

CremeDeSudo After reading through this thread I've started using the La Roche Posay Redermic R retinol treatment and my skin looks great the morning after I've used it. It's easily available in the shops if you want to add retinol into your routine.

Hi Totallyaddicted I think you can use Liquid Gold with retinol but at least initially you would want to just do Liquid Gold on your Liquid Gold nights.

The red marks from old spots take aaaaages to go, all your acids will be speeding this up and retinol would help even more.

I would add a retinol and then once I was happy with that, start looking for serums aimed at uneven skintone.

If you have overhauled everything at once just add one new thing at a time as bottles run out so your skin has time to get used to everything and if you do react, you will know what you reacted to.

I don't apply liquid gold with cotton wool as I feel it dilutes it a bit. I just slash a bit onto my fingertips and apply it straight onto my skin. Best thing I've found yet for tackling my spots.

That's interesting yazzy about the redermic...I was thinking of trying that...

I found the redermic a bit greasy. I get on better with the Vichy version.