Face serums

[Nells77]

I've seen a lot on here about face serums and oils and feel a bit confused by them!!!! I'm 37 and trying to do everything I can to look after my skin now I'm getting older!
So is serum better than oil? That's the general jist I seem to get! And do you use it before moisturiser?
Also I've got £15 in clubcard vouchers I thought I'd use to get some but the are mostly loreal or Olay, am I better paying more for a better brand?
Sorry so many questions

Check out Caroline Hirons website - beautymouth.com. Loads of advice there about oils and serums. I personally use the body shop vit e serum/oil. After toner, before moisturiser.

Hi thanks for your reply. I don't tone, should I really be doing? I use bare minerals deep cleansing face wash and then a milcellar water.
I'll have a look at the CH website

Hi, serums are normally more concentrated but lighter in texture than moisturisers so better to apply after cleansing and toning. I think the general rule is the thinner the consistency of the product, apply these first so the skin can absorb better

I won't put anything foaming near my face. I was susceptible to break outs. Foaming = surfactants = alkali = breeding ground for bacteria.

Micellar water is not a toner. Toner is important to me. A good acid is needed.

Just to confuse I like both, I use a serum in the morning and an oil in the evening :)

Serums and oils are 2 different things, a serum is a treatment for using before your moisturiser, an oil would be your moisturiser afterwards, or confusingly, your cleanser if you use the oil cleansing method.
Some people use a tiny drop of oil instead of a serum.
Check out the Amazing Faces quiche, get a notebook, pen and credit card!

You absolutely should tone...after years of thinking pfffft, no time, I recently embraced acid toning and it's made the biggest difference to my skin. Toners are no longer the scented water they used to be, they are now treatments in their own right and amazing!

I feel confused!!!! So should I use toner aswell as the cleansing and milcellar water?
I just wish someone would order me everything I need and deliver it to me

Can anyone recommend a good website where I could just buy everything? I normally order off look fantastic, HQ hair and similar but do they do thing like acid toners?

My acid toner is an Olay one, called 7 in 1 anti-ageing. It doesn't actually say it's an acid tone IYSWIM? You're better off searching on here for the threads about them and then trying one out Mine was cheap as chips. (about £3 I think, in a half price thing)

Boots N7, Protect and Perfect is an excellent (IMO) mainstream serum. I've repurchased it loads.

Good toners - Pixi Glow Tonic. Clarins Gentle Exfoliator brightening toner. First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads. Clearasil Superfruit refreshing pads.

Also Time Delay do one (Brightening toner) and i think Botanics do one.

Basically acid toners are chemical exfoliants so instead of using a face scrub which may be too harsh, the current trend is to swipe these on cleansed skin instead and you look all fresh and smooth and radiant.

Caroline Hirons is a big advocate of them. Some, like the Clearasil pads, use salysylic acid for oiler skin and some use glycolatic acid. (Both of those are prob spent wrong, lol)

After you acid tone, you're supposed to quickly spritz your face with a nice hydrating spray so your skin isn't red from the acid toner (I use Serozinc). My skin looks flipping amazing since I've started doing it. Smooth as a babys arse.

Then you put on serum. They are treatments for your specific issue. If you're dry you can use ones with hyluronic acid (cheapie popular one is the Aldi Lacura one with blue writing) or maybe you've got sunspots so need a skin-evening one. Or maybe you always look a bit peaky and ill so need a radiant glowy one. Or maybe you have saggy jowls so need a tightening one.

Then you put moisturiser on.

TA DAAAAA!

Is clinique clarifying lotion an acid toner?

The Mild Clarifying toner is, yes. Its got salycylic acid in it and is alcohol-free.

Caroline Hirons has recommended it.

What are the ingredients? Does it contain any acid?

Errr....yeah, salicylic acid!

Gosh it's complicated isn't it?
I do hot cloth cleanse then use olay night serum then 3 point cream and then repeat In morning only with lacura serum.
Is that right? Should I be applying acid too!

Ledkr cleanse, toner(s), serum, moisturiser.

Two of my friends who have great skin in their early 40s both with dark spots (freckles) both use oils in the evening. One uses tisserand oils and the other told me that lots of women use bio oil on their faces and swear by the stuff.

As my skin is combination and the oils can get all over your pillow case I haven't yet moved over from my serum to an oil but I am intrigued by bio oil and how that would help my skin.

What I can say though is everytime I use clearasil acid pads my skin improves the best over night no matter what I put on after.

Clinique clarifying lotion no 2.
Nothing in the ingredients has the word "acid". There's acetyl glucosamine, trehalose, sodium hyaluronate and butylene glycol. Are any of them a type of acid? I'm convinced now that I need an acid toner (v impressionable) but I have a huge bottle of clarifying lotion that I haven't yet opened.

The first one can be skin-lightening, the second is a type of hylauronic acid which increases moisture and the third gives a slippery feel.

Thanks, so much to loo at! I've just been in look fantastic (20%off ) and 2 that stood out to me were burrs bees radiance toner and korres pomegranit toner. How do I know if they are acid toners?

Did not preview that, sorry for all the mistakes

You have to google the ingredients. The Paulas Choice website usually has good definitions.

Often though the back of the bottle will claim it "gently exfoliates to reveal a brighter you" or some such blather.