Trying to sort myself out, skin and makeup

[MissTified]

I'm 42 and have totally let myself go. I've sorted my hair out and am now trying to get into a routine with my face. I think It's been about 15 years since I had a routine that involved more than water and a face flannel. So I've got some Simple cucumber cleanser and toner, some No7 day cream (light and luminous) and a tube of Garnier BB "blur" cream.

Since the weekend I've been cleansing, toning, moisturizing, BB'ing, then putting some translucent powder over with a fat brush. I have some nice lipstick that isn't too far from my normal lip colour and it looks nice.

A couple of hours later my face is very shiny. Am I doing it wrong? I've been cleansing toning and moisturizing before bed too and my skin feels great, it just doesn't look great for long after the BB cream.

All the YouTube videos for makeup are a bit baffling, there are so many products now, I never knew eyelid primer was even a thing! So can anyone walk me through the very basics please? I don't have a lot of money to spend and don't want a very made up look (baby steps!) but I'm struggling at the first hurdle..

Is your skin on the oily side? Mine is and I feel your pain.

Try a mattifying foundation instead of the BB cream. L'oreal 24 hr infallible is good IMO, £9 from Boots. Also a foundation primer can help, max factor facefinity is good I find. I don't bother with eye primers though.

Other than that sounds like you're doing great :-)

Hi, thank you :-) It does seem to be oily though more noticeable with the BB on than just bare skin. I don't get many spots luckily but I do have quite visible pores on my nose and chin. I'll pop to Boots and try those out :-)

Miss when you go into Boots have a look (and try and get a sample) at the No7 Intelligent Foundation - it's very light and more like a BB cream than a foundation, but I find it doesn't "shine" as much as the BB creams on the market. It might be just the thing you need :)

Honestly, I've got a load of different foundations, BB and CC creams ! but I always come back to this in the summer as it gives me a nice colour (I use the medium one) is sheer and has a mattish appearance.

Or you could put a matting powder over the top such as Vichy Dermablend? The Chanel ones are to die for but very pricey. Collection also have a good range. I bought a Bourjois one but it made me break out something terrible so I wouldn't recommend that

Well done on introducing a skincare routine into your life! One thing I've found to be pretty transformative and inexpensive is a double cleansing routine in the evening. Superdrug do a great hot cloth cleanser in their Naturally Radiant range - this one: www.superdrug.com/Superdrug/Superdrug-Hot-Cloth-Cleanser-With-Muslin-Cloth-150ml/p/516251?singleResultSearchPage=true#.VXangM9Vhn8 - although the muslin cloth is a bit crap so just go to Wilko to get a few plain white flannels.

So you start by gently working the cleanser into your skin to remove make-up etc.. You then rinse your flannel in warm water and then use it to wipe off the cleanser. Rinse your flannel and pat your face dry. Then use a second cleanser (I use a REN one but to be honest any cleanser will be fine, for example this one - www.superdrug.com/Simply-Pure/Simply-Pure-Calming-Cleanser-200ml/p/204286#.VXao9M9Vhn8 - just don't use a foaming one which can be harsh), work it into the skin, rinse the flannel in warm water again and wipe over your face. Tada! You have double cleansed and will have lovely clean skin.

Instead of your toner (which is a largely pointless product), you could try using a exfoliating toner twice a week. The ones I hear most praise for are Pixi Glow Tonic, Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Toner and the one I use which is the REN clarifying toner.

After that, use a serum - this one is good: www.superdrug.com/Skin/Face/Serums/Superdrug-Simply-Pure-Hydrating-Serum-50ml/p/342700?singleResultSearchPage=true#.VXapI89Vhn8 - then moisturiser and eye cream if you use one. Face oils are also good and can be used on oily skin, although not every night.

You might find the type of cleanser and toner is causing the shininess. If you strip off all the natural oils (which lots of foaming cleansers will do) then apply something to dry your skin out more (toner), your skin will often react by making more oil.

Try a cleanser designed to be more gentle. Simple has few ingredients, that doesn't mean they're gentle. I like anita grant's oil cleansers (I use them with a hot cloth method). Micellar water is also good for make up removal.

Oh and just to add that Simple is really not Simple at all. It can be quite harsh on some skins, so it could indeed be stripping your skin.
I would also recommend an oil cleanser - don't be put off by the name, they are great at taking off makeup and balancing the skin which actually leads to a reduction in oil if needs be.

The La Roche Posay micellar water might be worth a try. Just read this in a Telegraph article on the top 10 best mattifying products:

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Micellar Water, £12, Boots
Finish your morning cleanse off with a swipe of this treatment water by French pharmacy brand, La Roche-Posay. It gently cleanses to remove excess sebum while rebalancing an oily, shine-prone skin, rather than stripping the skin as other oil fighting cleansers can do. A winner for anyone on the mattifying warpath.

I wouldn't necessarily change your base. I use the Garnier BB blur cream with a dusting of powder over the top and I reckon it's pretty good for mattifying. I use Superdrug hot cloth cleanser, nip and fab cleansing and toning pads and then Clarins Hydraquench moisturiser, giving it plenty of time to sink in before I use the BB cream.

Hi everyone and thank you all for your help and suggestions!

I'm £13 lighter tonight :-). The No7 lady in Boots was really nice and tried the medium and light infinity foundations on me. The light one looked really yellow and the medium I will try again in better light, I could see a streak where it ended but I think that might have just been lack of blending? It's hard to tell under the shop lighting. She gave me a quite large sample of each colour to bring home :-) My skin is quite pale, with freckles and broken veins so I think I need foundation to blend/fade it all in rather than try total coverage.

Taking a bit of everyone's advice on board I've also come home with a mattifying transparent pressed powder to try over the BB cream (Miss Sporty), Natural Radiant brightening hot cloth cleanser, Vitamin E Skin Care dual phase cleansing oil, Simply Pure micellar water and Simply Pure hydrating serum.

I will give it all a go :-) I'm finding it quite uplifting just spending a bit of time each day on myself, thank you again!

Well done on your haul! Let us know how you get on and between us all, I'm sure we can advise on any other questions or suggestions x

Good luck with it all, I've recently changed my skin care routine and after a few tweaks it has made the world of difference.

Your skin might be a bit angry the first week or so with all the change but it will settle down

Hi and thanks :-) I'm enjoying trying the different products, I did the oil cleanser with the hot flannel, followed by serum and moisturiser last night and my skin felt quite taut but not in a bad way!

The big success today has been the mattifying powder over the BB cream, my skin looked great and it lasted!

My eyebrows and lashes also looked powdery though - any ideas there? I have blue eyes and fairly long dark lashes but they're almost transparent at the ends which was highlighted by the powder I think. My eyebrows used to be very dark but have lightened with age and are probably medium to dark brown now. They also looked lighter because of the powder. Is there anything that will give a wet look to my lashes rather than a volumising look? if so, I'd be happy to use the same product on my eyebrows. Or is that a really bad idea..? I'm still just looking for subtle improvement than fully made up.

Hi Miss,

delighted you're getting on with the oil cleanser. They're great! For your brows I would either recommend a wax/power combo, you use the wax to keep the hairs in place and then just fill in with the powder so you can make it as dramatic as you like. Benefit do a good one but I'm sure there is other versions, try 17 or Sleek in Superdrug.
For everyday I use a combo of Rimmel eyebrow pencil, just to give some shape and then a brow mascara to keep them in place. Maybelline have a good one. They last all day and look lovely if I do say so myself!

This is decent for a non powdery look with no volume. It's not actually transparent and has a bit of colour going through it

m.boots.com/h5/cat_hub?unCountry=uk&path=/en/Maybelline-Brow-Drama-Sculpting-Mascara_1365297/

Loreal do a volumising one which is great for us follicley challenged ladies

Thank you so much - the Maybeline one is perfect :-)