Fantastic Skincare And Where To Find It

[Pupsiecola]

In honour of bo who has been so helpful on the first thread, which can be found here...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/a2759152-Skincare-Ingredients

Would a Retinol moisturiser like this be a good cream:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00L2SWF7K?psc=1

Then this Vit C serum to replace my Lancôme serum (which has no impact)
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00DPE9EQO?psc=1

Aurora Thank you.
yong I'd definitely get carried away with the orange so must remember to check in natural light. Going to get one in Jan.

Aurora have you tried this for your nails? I LOVE it.

Can anyone recommend me a foundation please? This is my criteria...
*fragrance free!
*light but buildable coverage
*not silicone based (no7 intelligent colour I'm looking at you!)
*not greasy but not too matte (nothing with alcohol or drying ingredients to make it look matte)

I'm sure there's more but my brain isn't fully awake.

sally I got to the bit about your 3 hour and commute and felt exhausted, then you added about the swimming. Wow!

You can see why my skin needs help!

Anyone got any thoughts on the products I linked?

Salty

I can't be arsed to look up the Oz Naturals INCI's again because they're buried deep somewhere (the ones on their website are not it and that should tell you enough) but it's one of those US Amazon brands people ask about quite often. Short answer, avoid. Long answer, dodgy business practices, a lot of planted articles, bought Amazon reviews, they're not even from Australia, natural formulas on the whole don't make for active formulas, at least not in the same league as the synthetic stuff. eg. Rosehip oil with a naturally high Vit A content will do certain things but it will in no way compete with Retinoids.

If you want a Vit C and Retinoid why not look at The Ordinary? More affordable and a trusty parent company behind them and many people on here using it, whilst the Vit C 23% gets mixed reviews due to textural issues for the price it's worth making it work for you. The 2% Retinol causes clogging with some but since you don't appear to have those issues probably a safe choice for you. Those two cost less than one Oz product. Add in The Buffet or Hylamide Subq for hydration and you're well on your way. You're going to need time and patience though with regards to results, it's not going to happen overnight by any means.

With the Retinol (and you should've been using it for the Glycolic anyhow and it's the most basic and easiest anti-ageing product) you really need an SPF in your routine. LRP Anthelios Fluid SPF50 probably the easiest choice for you.

Watch out with 2x a day glycolic pads (the night time ones are only meant for incidental use not daily), it's quite a lot for someone with normal skin and little issues beyond anti-ageing. You've been treating them like a cleanser, I'd really wouldn't despite their stupid marketing names it isn't what they're for. Get something like the LRP Toleriane Dermo Cleanser for second/morning cleanse.

For the post swim routine definitely include some form of hydration product like the Buffet or Subq.

When TO brings out Argireline Solution (announced to be soon) probably one for you as it addresses the appearance of wrinkles quite effectively in a similar way to Botox, product is new though so it'll be a wait and see thing if it is truly effective and unlike retinol (and SPF according to new research) it won't help reverse past damage, only with the appearance of them but it does it in 30 days approx. where Retinol, SPF and Vit C take time.

I'm not all that educated on all the different foundations, Jo. Anything I could think of will have something in it, have you looked into CC creams/Mineral/Powder/Stick Foundations?

jo thanks for the rec. I was happy to see that the BB cuticle balm doesn't have coconut oil... until I saw it has canola oil, which is genetically modified

I also can't recommend foundations with your requirements, as I'm not sensitive to fragrance, but if you want to go the CC cream way you can check the Clinique Moisture Surge CC cream. It's very glowy (too glowy for some, I think, but I guess you could powder) and you can certainly build it up a bit. Ask for a sample!
Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 7.5%, Octisalate 5%, Titanium Dioxide 5.2%, and Zinc Oxide 3.2%; Inactive Ingredients: Water, Squalane, Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate, Butylene Glycol, Propanediol, Glyceryl Stearate, Behenyl Alcohol, PEG-40 Stearate, Polyglyceryl-10 Pentastearate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Thermus Thermophillus Ferment, Trehalose, Caffeine , Glycerin, Linoleic Acid, Lecithin, Stearic Acid, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Sorbitol, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-t-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Xanthan Gum, Silica, Alumina, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Tin Oxide, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides.

What about Dr. Hauschka foundation? My sister uses it and is pretty pleased. Don't know about building it up though as she also has very good skin.

salty no sally. Sorry. Logging out for spa day chillin'.

Thanks bo and Aurora
Yes I have been down the cc/bb/mineral route with no success (no surprises there ay) and I can't use ANYTHING CLINIQUE my skin hates that brand and trust me I have tried lots of it, I can even use the TTDO balm (I did almost finish a pot and got excited until it started breaking me out like crazy and also drying my skin out)
I will check out the dr h foundation though thanks Aurora but I suspect it will contain alcohol and possibly fragrance knowing that brand! Thanks again both of you.

Wow thanks Bo for the detailed response! Going to look up everything you suggested and alter my routine slightly.

I do use Benefit Dreamscreen through the spring, summer and autumn but it's run out and I've not replaced it. I wasn't that impressed so was looking for a new one, although would have left it to next year without prompting!

The ordinary products sound great but they all seem to be out of stock on the only website I've found selling them (Victoria Health). Any other suggestions on where to get them? Google isn't being very helpful either.

Ordinaries.com is their own website. It's quite new and popular at the moment due to their low prices but their own site usually has most things in stock or replenishes it somewhat quickly.

Bo, be sure and tell me your specialist's comments! I'd love to know what a professional thought. The specialists I attended here in Dublin were so poor I gave up on them and haven't attended anyone in about 15y. (When told I was on dianette, some fool of a doctor asked me how many times a day I took it. I never went again)

In other news, Deciem have said of course I can send the HA back, and recommended the NIOD one instead. They said it is more hydrating... it's also like, 6 times the price but not too bad really. A more normal price. God, it's like a gateway drug Has anyone used the NIOD HA?

Yeah I think nabootique (I hope I wrote this right) had a very positive opinion about the NIOD. Look a bit upthread.
You could also go for the Hylamide Sub q. I've recently finished my second bottle and found it very good. Wasn't it just on offer on Boots or something?

Can you ask for The Buffett instead? That or Subq shout be a good enough alternative but the NIOD is probably a bit more deeply hydrating with additional extracts, thatt the one with centella mushrooms in which I rarely see outside of AB.

My specialist got back to me already (she's fab the rest of the medical community I have to deal with are a PITA, don't get me started on how poorly you're provided for if you have a 'woman's' disease, thankfully she outranks them all and is an expert in the field). She was aware of some studies but preferred me to take a lower dose of the Alpha Lipoic (600mg not even legal here but she said that was more for severely overweight/obese people) and she wants some blood work done before I start on it so she can evaluate the effects (more for our mutual curiosity than standard practice).

Does anyone take any specific supplements for their skin or just generally? I take omegas in the form of krill oil, a probiotic and multivitamin/mineral
Any thoughts on HA as a supplement?

wilting I'm using NIOD HA. I've had it around 6 months. I've never used any other HA so I can't compare. All I can say is that usually around this time of year I would be a bit flaky and dry, even though I'm quite oily. I haven't had any major issues with dryness this year despite central heating on all day etc. It absorbs nicely and I plan to continue using it. I also got NIOD copper serum at same time which is not a serum texture at all, its like blue water effectively! I had high hopes but I'm not sure it's done anything. As I've read on here, people seem to love it or it doesn't do anything. Shame because it's £££. Has anyone tried pestle and mortar retinol oil yet? I'm not going to add it yet to my routine as I'm trying to be good and establish a routine with what I've got but interested all the same.

I commented on it on the last thread as it came up there.

Generally I go by the wisdom that unless you're deficient that supplements are a waste of money provided you have a balanced diet. HA, collagen supplements, etc. for the skin all have no scientific evidence to help the skin, the body doesn't address something in particular just because the skin is lacking in it, it breaks it down into other chemicals and uses it where needed but most of the time it ends up as waste. If you have a deficiency then yes a supplement helps remedy that but then that's usually provided by your doctor and checked with blood works. With the exception of Vitamin D in winter, and certain supplements over certain ages and/or specific diseases/syndromes/lifestyle choices, I really don't see the necessity of them in general and definitely not specific to skin health provided you have a healthy balanced diet.

I'm also very intrigued by the hormonal discussion. I "used" to suffer from insulin abnormality, namely hypoglycemia in my mid twenties. It was only ever "functional" in the sense that insulin shot up if I consumed sugars so was controlled and eventually cured with a very very strict (mad) diet (zero sugar plus many other restrictions, incl one food item per meal, no cold foods etc) and no medications. By the end of my twenties I was declared cured. In retrospect I think the cause of this condition was a dormant intestinal parasite (caught it in Central America, and never got rid of it properly in spite of stupid doctors saying so). Eventually discovered this many many years later b/c of other damage the parasite did to joints and digestive system.... sigh!
I'm going to read up on that stuff later today.

My Surratt blush arrived! I'm thrilled to bits with it, I think a lot of people would be looking at it wondering what's so special about it but it's exactly the kind of thing I like. It goes on like powder, easy to blend in, not blotchy, but doesn't look powdery at all, a nice silken finish with just the right amount of sheen. V. similar in look to a cream blush but without the excessive shininess, it feels just right for me. Now I want them all, to go with my imaginary Stila palette obvs.

I haven't really been keeping up with it lately, when I was newly diagnosed I read through a lot of medical papers (at least what I could understand from them) and there's definitely a heavy relation between hormonal disorders, the increase of refined sugars in diet and inability to process them properly, stress, and trace amount of synthetic hormones in drinking water (from BC) and dairy and meat products (the non organic kind).

I noticed a big difference with cutting out refined sugars but not so much with other food groups (carbs was downright misery, I was perpetually dizzy and felt like I was going to faint all the time) so I'll be curious if there's any difference with the Inositol.

I've been skim reading the more make up related posts but am intrigued by the Surratt blusher. Does anyone else use a bronzer?

So pleased you are happy with your blush bo! Was worth all the fuss, right? I might have ordered the Grandiose mascara today. Couldn't miss 40% --discount now could I???

The diet I did at the time had to be extreme as I was very sick (very low sugar, fainting, the lot) and was of short duration but had amazing very fast effects, and that is how I avoided taking medication.
I actually didn't have to avoid carbs, just sugar, in order to avoid the insulin peaking, which then resulted in very low sugar levels. I'm also really fine with dairy and wheat and always have been, just have developed a delicate digestion because of the parasite and I prefer avoiding what upsets it rather than feel crap or take pills.

Pupsie I use a bronzer sometimes - just to bring some colour and shape back to the face if I use foundation or am just pale etc. But always use blush with it and never like a contour thing - it doesn't suit my face. Have a lovely MAC one from a limited edition a few years ago.

How was the SPA?