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

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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!

I am an oil-holic.

I use oils instead of a moisturiser at night.

I have tried:

Decleor Aromessence Neroli: Was OK, and I love neroli scented things so I liked that, but I wouldn't rebuy (and indeed didn't, this was about 5 yrs ago)
Decleor Aromessence Iris: Much better than the Neroli for my skin (more moisturising somehow) but didn't rebuy as I think a lot of the heavily branded oils (like Decleor) are very much the same kind of oil that you can buy elsewhere without the snazzy packaging and the nice lady but a lot cheaper
Superdrug Vit E "skin" oil. Yuck, hideous stuff, main ingredient paraffinum. I hear people on here raving about this as a) it moisturises (well, so would cooking oil, if you put it that way...) b) it's cheap c) they fall for the "Vitamin E" blurb. I still have it languishing in the cupboard. Might rub it on my legs but not on my face.
Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate: this was lovely, and I did repurchase this, though I still think it's overpriced. Wouldn't buy again now.
Organic Rosehip Oil from Amazon: Did absolutely diddley squat (and now, as I sit stroking gently my hairy neck and wondering if I should plait the hairs or have a ponytail today...) I am not surprised to hear it can increase hair growth. I find it very Emperor's New Clothes and it's just not moistur-y enough for me. I bought some Trilogy Rosehip as a present for a friend and saw that the same exact ingredients were in it as in the non-branded Amazon one, but for about £15 more.
Organic Argan from Amazon- now this was good. Smelly but I definitely noticed a difference.
Neal's Yard Rose: Often recommended on here. I am half way down a full bottle. It's nice. But I won't rebuy.

The Holy Grail: Neal's Yard Frankincense. Am on my 3rd lot and think it's probably now the one thing I will continue to repurchase. It's bloody marvellous.

I have also tried extra virgin olive. (am in Italy and dp's family are olive growers so it would be churlish of me not to) but it tingled and irritated my skin slightly. Probably because what we get is the "non-filtered" so sort of thick and green and muddy.

I do want to give coconut a go.

I have a mini bottle of Nuxe dry oil. Another sample It smells divine. I use it in the evening if I have been using the tretinoin to reduce flakiness. It might be too heavily scented for some but personally I love it and sometimes open the bottle just to smell it

I like the nuxe on my legs for a bit of gloss with shorts but I don't use it on my face.

Cathy If rosehip oil is working as a serum for you then keep it up! If you did want to put a serum into your routine it would go on before the oil.

I don't double cleanse my eyes personally, as my second cleanser usually has essential oils/fragrance/stuff that might irritate, plus my first cleanse gets all of my eye make up off. I take serums, oils, moisturisers and acid toners right up to under the eye, then rarely bother with eye cream. Not currently using a separate SPF, but if I did I wouldn't put it on my eyes. Not sure about other people.

About oils generally, my understanding is that putting it on before moisturiser is more of a feel thing, so during the day make up would sit better on top of moisturiser rather than oil, you wouldn't feel greasy in the evening, etc., but in terms of molecule size oil should go last because the molecules are bigger than those in water based products, like most moisturisers. If I use oil in the day I put in on before moisturiser so I can do my make up, but I put it on last at night.

Naboo I use SPF around my eyes. The skin around your eyes is really thin and extremely prone to damage, so it should be protected. You can buy eye cream with SPF if you are sensitive to normal SPF in the eye area (I think Clinique and Claris do them) but I've found a couple I can use around my eyes.

Thanks, I think my eye bags are just super absorbent! I love the trilogy rosehip so will keep with that but really don't like my morning Hydraluron ( in fact I'm wondering if that's the eye attacking culprit ) it just makes my face tight and I seem to need to put on three layers of moisturiser after, grim.

Although that could be the serum sucking in the moisture... I 'll finish the tube and then move on, rather fancy that Neal's Yard Frankinsence.
Have tretinoin on order, toyed with the idea of putting on for a sneaky repeat prescription for DD's but my conscience got the better of me

That's interesting Nabootique, I do sometimes feel the need for a cream as well as an oil at night, and have never quite known in what order!

Wonders if carolinehirons is sleeping off the big 21st celebrations.
Muses how it must be weird to drink wine actually at your child's party, rather than grabbing the bottle(s) as soon as the last haribo hyped mini person has left the building.

Ooh and will head out to buy the NYR frankincense. Thank you sangria. Also, what do you do for your DD (I think you mentioned up thread LRP effaclar, any lifestyle things?) and anything you realise was not helpful in retrospect?

Thanks Squeezy. It is something to think about. You don't hear too much about it, but I don't know if that's because everyone just dons sunglasses??

Cathy Try a spritz straight before putting the Hydraluron on. It works better on damp skin. It is designed for use under moisturiser, but three coats seems wrong! Other people have had success by mixing it with their serum, or using a serum containing hyaluronic acid. Not sure how it would mix with oil though, if you're using that as a serum. Might impede absorption.

I always use both Drank. I'm a total oil whore

If you want to try the NY before splashing out on a full bottle (about £25 I think) then there are ebay sellers with sample sachets. That's where I tried it first.

I converted my friend and when she went into a NY shop they were fab and gave her a ton of other samples as well.

I wrote to them about dd's skin asking which product they would recommend and tbh, I expected a list of stuff if anything. I got the most detailed personalised email back you could imagine, and at the end they advised me NOT to buy anything from them, which I thought was very ethical of them.

(Can you tell I am evangelical about them!)

Caramel- at the moment she is just putting the effaclar duo on in the morning and at night, but I ordered the physiological face wash for her yesterday. She was washing with soap and water, I think her skin is kind of more "delicate" than strictly blemish prone. As I said we are in Italy, so it'll soon be Factor 50 as well. (I have already started as I'm mozzarella toned ) She doesn't eat sweets particularly and I allow us all chips once a week so I think it's just pre-teen skin.

I don't double cleanse every day. I don't wear base make up every day, just mascara, so a single, thorough balm and HCC does the job. I only double cleanse (I literally repeat with the same balm) if I'm wearing a full face. It works for me, double cleansing every day is a waste of product and overly irritating for me, though it clearly works for others.

Thanks Sangria, have ordered Neals Yard Ebay sample sachets, 20 for around a fiver (inc postage), in the meantime i'll spritz first with the Hydraluron.

I think the Roc complete lift roll on, stored in the fridge for maximum effect, is starting to de-puff me a little. Although have upped my water and banished all carbs, so going for the scattergun approach.

If Caroline is reading, hope party went well. We're just recovering from DD's eighteenth... cocktails and a vodka luge, 'twas carnage Almost made me nostalgic for the Haribo and party bag days.

Thanks sangria , hope that the wash helps too. We are all on the "delicate" skin spectrum too. Tho' mine is much less so after reducing inflammation etc.. Will have an ebay scout- poxy baby sleeping off the illness with a bonus nap a day (every cloud...).
I am nice and caramel toned (hence name) but had awful spots, my husband whiter than white but no spots. I just have the Fear that they will end up with spots (and they already have NO need of rose hip oil to promote hairiness, poor souls, also a gift from their super attractive Ma).

Feel Unique have a sale on I just noticed on the >>>>>>> irritating flashy ad over there. Don't know what's in the sale, but might be something mentioned here for someone.

Also, Look Fantastic have a lucky dip up to 20% off discount code PLAY6

From what I've seen re oils, they should be the last step because they are the most viscous. Finest textures first as they can't penetrate through the oil (I think both sale Hughes and CH say this).

Depends on the type of serum you use. If your serum is full of silicones (lots of them are) it seems counter productive to put oil on over this as they won't penetrate the silicone.

Really useful thread! I've just sent DH to boots to buy half the shop a few choice products, have pixi glow tonic on order and bought a fair few products the other day too. I'm late 20s but my skin seems to still think it's 15 with a ridiculously oily forehead, random spots, blackheads, whiteheads... and dry scaly patches

Here's what I've bought/things I've already got and will use up...anything awesome that folks would recommend for moody-as-hell skin?

Cleansers
Already had Clarins gentian cleansing milk so will use it up as a second cleanser/AM
Clinique take the day off for first cleanse
Also have a nip/fab glycolic scrub which I'm going to use occasionally as an exfoliator

Toners
Clearasil pads - salicylic
Pixi glow

Serums
Nip/Fab glycolic
Super facialist (una brennan) vit c serum

Oils
Clarins Lotus oil

Moisturisers
Already had Clinique superdefense so going to use up (it's a full pot!)
Superfaciliast rose night cream
Garnier anti blemish mattifying moisturiser - salicylic acid. I know, we're not supposed to use anything mattifying. But you've seriously not seen my forehead . I tried it out yesterday and it seemed to help a lot but didn't leave my skin feeling dry or parched. I'm not at work at the moment so won't use this most days, but when I'm going out wearing make up it's going on first!

SPF
Not particularly worrying about this just now - I'm barely leaving the house (fractured knee) so it will be a while before I'm outside for long enough for SPF to be a concern. The superdefense is SPF25 too.

Trikogy rosehip did nothing for me either.

Wonder if any of you ladies could help. I have been on retin-a for about a year now. I'm 31 so preventative measures! I started on 0.025% and tolerating it well. When would you say I need to move up a strength?

Someone was asking up'thread. I get mine on eBay from a UK seller, the ones from Asia are cheap but take forever to get here. Its a johnson and johnson one, seems kosher. Bought a few tubes from them.

Well I've tried a fair few oils in my time too.

I like the Superdrug cheapo oil, and no not because I 'fell for the "Vitamin E" blurb'. I like it because my skin likes it. Even though it's basically just mineral oil.

Clarins Santal oil - very nourishing for dry skin do like

Clarins Blue Orchid Oil - as above but prefer this to the Santal oil

Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate - love even if it's nearly a tenner more expensive than Clarins

Trilogy Rosehip oil - remember liking this but it's been so long I'm going to give it another whirl

Body Shop Vitamin E oil in serum (stupid name as it's just an oil not a serum - great budget buy if not the oiliest in texture

Waitrose Pure facial oil - awful, watery, horrible stuff

Coconut oil - now this stuff really IS the Emperor's New Clothes. Drying, spot making. Nothing to redeem as far as I'm concerned.

Really want to try one of the Sunday Riley oils but they're £98!!!!!!! so that might go on my Lotto list..............or my internet shopping when drunk list.