Skincare advisors?

[ChipsRedWhite]

So I've just turned 40 and I was thinking about what I'd like to buy to treat myself.

I've always had troubling skin - think spotty and greasy as a teen to my current wrinkled, bumpy with large pores.

My current regime is basically washing morning and night with water and using a moisturiser daily. I generally don't wear makeup as I don't feel comfortable with how to use it (I am completely clueless really).

I've been thinking about seeing 'someone' who could tell me if I could improve the look of my skin and tell me exactly what products need - does such a person exist??

I know I could find someone to help with the makeup side of things, but are there skincare advisors too??

I decided to see a skin care advisor over the summer. I'm in my early 40s and my skin just suddenly seemed to change and reverted back to what it was as a teenager - very oily, spotty, large pores and horrible! My skin care regime just didn't work any more.

I went to the Clinique counter and the woman there was really helpful. I bought a couple of products for oily skin which she said could be refunded if they weren't working and I had another appointment in 2 weeks. We tweaked it and she gave me some other samples which I used for a further week and then saw her again. She was very helpful throughout.

My skin is now completely clear again and although the products are expensive they have sorted all my skin problems and have had no spots since the middle of September and the excess oil has gone.

I'd certainly recommend seeing a skin care advisor. Someone at one of the counters are trained to advise customers on their products

Try Elemis Tri Enzyme Resurfacing Facial Wash. It is transformational if you have mature but acne or spot prone skin. I had spots throughout my 30's and started using this in my 40's. My skin has never looked better.

If you read some of the online reviews they will give you some idea. It may seem expensive but it is worth it.

Other good ranges for the type of skin you describe are Paula's Choice and Mario Badescu. I use products from both ranges at times and they're excellent. Paula's Choice do really generous trial sizes so you can see which products suit before investing.

I did think about going to a counter but was worried they'd just want to sell me their products and not necessarily the best for me - good to hear that they can tweak after you've bought!

Look up Dr Sam Bunting.

Put a call out on here for Nabootique, Big Buttons etc, or search their threads.

All counters are going to flog you ££££s of stuff you don't need. It's just trial and error finding what suits you- I use Astral on my neck (always have) ginormous tub at about £4. I also use L'Occitane Divine which costs £69. No skincare range is going to provide everything one face likes, and no face is going to need everything another face does.

I like Caroline Hirons, Sam Bunting and Sali Hughes. But all are going to be paid for endorsing. Beautypedia tends to recommend Paula's Choice products over and above all others...funny that, what with it being Paula's website and all...

I get far more recommendations from MN style and beauty threads tbh.

Counters will always try to sell you on their entire line and their approach to skin care. Highly dependent on the brand that's very hit or miss and always includes a rather large (overpriced) price tag.

Saying all that I do think a Dermalogica facial might work for you, they do quite an extensive face mapping and give explanation if you ask for it specifically but like all others they will have you believe their products are the only answer so ignore the sales pitch somewhat. By the sound of it you have pretty resilient low problem skin (otherwise you'd have been on the case far sooner and gone through mountains of products along the way) so you can probably get away with some of the cheaper offerings of skincare (think a mixture of superdrug, LRP, body shop, etc.)