Aha's, bha's, vitamin c, vitamin A I have read Hiron and Hughes and need a short list.

[Athrawes]

Ok. So I have read Hirons and Sali Hughes.
Cleanse with Neutrogena Gentle Cleanser with a clean flannel.
Tone with Trilogy
Spritz with Dr Haushka
Currently using L'Oréal eye cream and face serum
Finish with Neutrogena moisturiser.

Once a week Alpha Gold.

But seemingly I need Vitamin C and A serum and both an AHA and a BHA toner and my moisturiser reviewed.

I am 45 with not overly sensitive skin, moderate pores, some age spots, usual sebaceous filaments and an abundance of wrinkles (11 ' s and brow frowns).

Can anyone write me a definitive list which I can buy on the high street?

That sounds like a formidable regime to me! Would it be worth getting a consultation with a beautician to decide whether you need such a complicated beauty routine?

My routine is basic but is working !
Am
Cleanse with cetaphil and warm flannel
Tone with nip and fab glycolic pads
Aldi or any hydrating serum
Spf 30 or 50 ... Was using perfect and protect but now soltan ( much cheaper and goes on better !
Pm
Double cleanse with cetaphil
Nivea blue pot
Or retin a ( every other night )
Have seen a difference in 3 month to lines and texture

I would say you don't need to make your routine longer but to think of it in terms of ingredients rather than products.

So cleansing is easy - you have a cleanser you like, no massive skin issues, stick with it.

After that you get on to ingredients. What is the Trilogy toner doing? What is the spritz doing? Ditto eye and face serums? Do they contain any of the magic ingredients? If not, why are you using them?

I'd suggest you'd be better with a salicylic (BHA) toner if you have sebaceous filaments as it dissolves in the oil which AHA doesn't. CH likes to mix them up but you don't have to have both. The Alpha Gold is AHA - if you are happy, stick where you are but I think it would be worth a trial of a BHA toner to see if you see any improvement.

Then you get on to Vit C - which may help with your pigmentation. Some of these serums are ££££ which is hugely irritating as they are pretty cheap to make. This prob isn't the most effective bit anyway which would be Vit A

The ultimate way to do Vit A is to buy yourself some Retin-A. This really is the thing that makes the most difference to ageing and pigmented skin by a long distance. If you don't want to go the whole hog, you can get a serious amount of retinol from some over the counter products like LRP Redermic R to get a feel for it. Be wary of other products claiming to have retinol in as loads don't contain enough for it to be clinically relevant but it makes a nice claim for the manufacturer You also don't need to pay the £££ for the Sunday Riley version - this is old technology and her prices are unbelievable.

Finally moisturiser. Moisturiser isn't really that important It doesn't need to be fancy which is why Nivea blue pot has so many fans. In the daytime you totally need broad spectrum SPF above 30 though otherwise you might as well not bother doing any of the above. I like Cerave as it has ceramides and niacinamide in which are also some of the few ingredients actually proven to do something, along with Acids, Vit A, SPF and possibly peptides. And it's not expensive. Olay has a lot of similar moisturisers.

Which is a longwinded way of saying Itsalldramarama's routine does all of this for a fraction of the price of most of CH's and SH's recommendations and with less products

My list is

Cetaphil cleanser
Clinique mild clarifying lotion - for BHA
Hylamide serum - for peptides and hyaluronic
Retin A - evenings only
Cerave pm - ceramides, hyaluronic, niacinamide
or in the day time Ultrasun SPF 50 face

Also seen a big difference in spots, filaments, pores, pigmentation, lines and glow

Are these pads any good as acid toner does anyone know? I remember the previous Hirons thread where someone mentioned clearasil pads but I don't know if they were these ones.
I use body shop vit e cleanser & serum. Ultra sun tinted moisturiser & tretinoin gel once a week at night time.

Yes those are the Hirons approved Clearasil pads.

Genuine question - why does C Hirons (and now everyone else) say that you should spend a lot on serum and little on moisturiser? Surely a mousturiser with the right ingredients, same as the serum, would do the same job. There's no reason that i can see why a serum would be better absorbed or more efficient... Why not just have a really expensive moisturiser and skip the serum?

Apparently ingredients in serum are absorbed easier.

No idea if this is true however and I refuse to spend ££££ on either For most really expensive moisturisers you are just paying a massive mark up anyway rather than for ingredients that actually cost that much - exactly the same for serums.

Which is why I start with what ingredients/effects do I want and find a product rather than starting with 'expensive moisturiser'.

Skincare is just becoming ridiculously complicated. I started reading CH's website a couple of years ago but I genuinely don't see how she can have tested all of the products she raves about and all I've done is completely confuse myself about what I should be putting on my face.

I have however just ordered some retin A from the MN recommended and bound to be completely dodgy "PharmacyGeoff" and am persisting with hydraluron despite the not seeing much effect after the first couple of applications when it definitely did something to the way my moisturiser went in. I've also bought some fountain beauty molecule because it was on 3 for 2 in boots. Tastes rank but if it works then I can cope with that.

I'm toying with the idea of Liquid gold but I'm not sure how it fits in with retin A and my serum which is Image skincare total bleaching serum and fairly potent (I think ).

I would love to have a definitive list of the things I "should" be applying and the order in which to do so.

I use
am: Elemis Proradiance cream cleanser/warm flannel
Nip/Fab Daily pads (AHA)
Elemis Apricot Toner -spritz on
Superdrug B serum
Vichy factor 50 facial sunscreen.
pm: Camomile silky cleansing oil/warm flanner
Elemis as above
Nip/Fab pad
Elemis toner
Redermic LRP

My skin has improved beyond belief but I have a nasty blemish mark from about 5 months ago when I literally had a boil on my chin
Is there anything that will fade this quickly- its so big someone thought it was a burn the other day

Image skincare total bleaching serum has made an impact on the marks on my skin nice. Might be worth a try. Its not cheap but my bottle has lasted me for nearly a year.

Thanks, that was quick !
I will google.

Marking place - interesting thread.

Thanks Wolper, that was genuinely helpful and clear to understand, fancy starting an idiots guide to beauty website!!

I use:

am - cerave cleanser with hot flannel
salicylic acid toner
cerave eye cream
cerave serum
cerave 'am' moisturiser

pm = cerave cleanser hot flannel x 2
liquid gold twice a week
cerave serum
cerave pm or clarins night cream or eucerin

(I was in the US for the summer and have gone a bit Cerave crazy..)

This regime has really made my skin glow. Also, my teen son has been using the salicylic acid and it has made an enormous difference to his blackhead prone forehead.

My dodgy tazarotene cream has arrived this morning...

I looked at that Pharmacy Geoff site but there were so many things to choose from under the title of Retinol. Which to choose?