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

Wow. That's a stunning picture! My eyes are an odd brown. More hazel if anything. Anyway, I must be away to my bed.

Having been lazy with SPF in the past and being an hourglass so wearing lower cut tops I've mostly sported a ruddy, weathered looking farmer's tan in the décolletage area. But after 6-8 weeks of using the actives and daily SPF I can see a huge improvement. Being careful to remember that this skin is 47 so there will be issues. But I'm so happy this area has improved. Proof that taking your routine down this far is beneficial.

(Mouth not normally that miserable looking, even with continued kitchen dramas. Is camera angle. Honest).

I need to be good and remember to take my skin are lower down. Horses mean I get a fair bit of outside exposure

Thank you for all the fab advice.
Just found an offer on the LRP toleriane at Boots for those in the UK. Will get the serozinc toner too and the body shop cleanser. Unfortunately opened the redermic but will get the other one once finished. Although as you said I will wait a while before adding it into routine and take it slow.

I do get spots on my nose and chin but those have been better since efflcar duo.

Thanks again. I was too hesitant to ask for help before but really glad I did. Also I realised later that I had completely missed the post about laying out questions, so I'm really sorry about being dim.

Very interesting bo thanks for enlightening us. I'm also very sensitive though to other things, so glad to hear of other ppl that are a PITA. I mean, we are not really PITA, that is just other people's perception and misunderstanding of our sensitivities

By the way, are Zara Home candles also soya based?
V happy with the candle I burned in the bedroom yesterday evening (dark blue one). I could still smell it this morning

Also wanted to ask about the person you mentioned that has the Botox payed for by the insurance (your cousin I think?). The other day I met someone I hadn't seen in ages who suffers terribly from tension headaches and has had Botox very successfully for the last year but said as far as she knew it wasn't covered??

hollin that is a beautiful photo!!!!

Hollin and Pupsie you both look great!

I can't remember if anyone's tried it yet - thoughts on TO Caffeine eye serum?

bo do you have tetrachromacy by any chance?

The reason I don't venture much on the Style threads of S&B mostly the penchant for hideous shoes on here is the continual recommendations of 'getting your colours done'. I think it's all bollocks and a rip off, which doesn't make me all that popular with this opinion but I find the whole notion of limiting yourself to certain colours and being very 'matchy matchy' ridiculous. Especially since, texture, light and seasonality (the weather kind), materiality, undertones, and how you combine and makeup/hair colouring, etc. determine so much how colour is perceived. I get that it comes easy to me and apparently not to others (though in my surroundings I have never seen anyone truly struggle with colours) but the whole setup with consultants, products to buy, etc. surely it's a marketing engineered endeavour first.

I think it was a 'thing' to do here to some time ago, but thankfully it quickly went away but it seems like you almost have to do it in the UK now. For whatever reason the people so obsessed with it are always autumns or winters which makes me think being a spring/summer is either unattainable or completely unpractical and those have just given up.

Ha, ha, no one called me a PITA. I believe it's affectionately termed 'demanding' and 'particular' . I'm well aware that I push things further than they need to go, but that's how one moves forward, I have little interest in being just 'steady'. Also, I try very hard not to impose that on others, everyone needs to make their own choices and weigh what is and isn't important to them.

Yes, the Zara Home are a vegetable or soy wax (not paraffin anyhow). Strangely the smaller candles have gone up in price but the larger ones (usually only online) are about the same price and only a few euros apart now

My friend only got it paid for after exhausting all other options (she suffers from major migraines since childhood) so that might have something to do with it. It doesn't make them go away completely, but it's certainly less and not as often. They only do it in the neck and jaw to relax the muscles so it's a completely non-aesthetic procedure and not performed by a neurologist (I think).

goatskid

Combination - Mid to late 20s - PIH (post inflammatory hyperpigmentation ie. post spots red marks) and fine lines.

I think you're probably too young to be using Alpha-H liquid gold and I'd primarily focus on getting a good SPF and Vitamin C in your routine.

Both these products will help heal PIH far quicker as the red spots are basically newly formed skin that is especially delicate and gets burned by sun exposure, resulting in the red appearance. SPF will protect, Vit C will help regenerate quicker and help with fine lines.

If I had to guess considering your age the fine lines will most likely be down to dehydration rather than premature aging so a HA serum makes sense too. The N+F serum contains HA but the second ingredient is Alcohol Den. so the formulation isn't the best as that can be very drying and dehydrating. As with previous posters, finish up what you have provided it isn't doing any harm and replace with alternatives when finished.

Routine :

AM :
REN sensitive cleansing milk < LRP Toleriane Dermo Cleanser
Nip + fab dragon blood serum < The Ordinary Vit C 23% or the HA + B5 2% (use one in the morning and one at night)
Moisturiser - currently a garnier one for combination skin < LRP Toleriane Fluide
SPF - LRP Anthelios or Biore UV Watery Essence (SPF 30 min in winter, SPF50 in summer)

PM : Clinique TTDO balm
Cleansing milk
Serum < The Ordinary Vit C 23% or the HA + B5 2% (so use one in the morning and one at night)
Nip + fab night cream < which one is this? On the whole I'm not overly impressed by their formulations containing a lot of silicones, MO derivatives, fragrance and very little of the supposed 'active' ingredient.

I think you'd best like the so called 'resurfacing masks', however, they all tend to be on the pricier side. The Ren Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask is one to look at, Elemis Tri-Enzyme Resurfacing Gel Mask, The Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask (you can get single samples from Naturismo, I suggest to hoard as many samples when it comes to masks as they're not essential often overpriced and only used incidentally). Contradictingly these do similar things as Alpha-H liquid gold, but I think it's more to your benefit to use this incidentally than have the LG in your routine at all times, unless of course this is something that really is working well for you, then stick with it.

A bit of warning on cleansers, 'squeaky clean' is not a good sign for a good cleanser. You'll want something gentle to cleanse the face with that leaves no residue but it should not be stripping you either. Saying that I have tried a REN cleansing milk (evercalm I think) in the past and didn't like it either.

Things to look at further down the line, possibly acid toning will help rev up your routine once it's settled and steady. For anti-ageing stick with the daily SPF year round and consider getting into Retinol from your early thirties onwards (earlier if you were/are a sunworshipper/smoker).

That not shouldn't be there Aurora, it is performed by a neuro.

yongnian, I don't think there's legitimate tests for that, is there? I suppose it's possible though.

Maybe a bit off topic but I am on the hunt for a lip balm. I have no allergies that I know of except for on my lips! I am fine with Elizabeth Arden 8hr cream, the original protectant one, not the specific lip one (I tried that years ago and wasn't a fan but don't remember having a reaction to it) and I can use Lancôme Juice Tubes but not much else. The EA tube is just too big for me to carry around and the Juicy Tubes are a bit sparkly at times.
Carmex is the only balm that didn't cause problems but I didn't like the texture of the squeezy tube and the tin was quite drying. Every other stick lip balm brings me out in a rough red rash around my lips which then crack a day later. I can wear lipstick but only once in a blue moon or I have the same problem.
I have ordered Lanolips which will arrive this week (the plain one with no fragrance or colour) so fingers crossed.
Does anyone have an idea of what might be causing the reaction? I find the ingredient list too confusing.

I really like the TO caffeine eye serum. I keep it in the fridge. I'm sure it helps my puffiness.

Ty Pupsie, that really helpful. Do you use anything else around your eyes at all? I'm not sure if HA would reduce or increase puffiness?

So glad I've found this thread. At 32 my skin isn't too bad but unfortunately I suffer from redness (very pale and especially around nose and cheeks in winter it's Rudolph central) and expression lines on my forehead.
I know short of Botox there's not much I can do about that but wondered if anyone had any product recommendations that plump the skin a little or make a little bit of a difference?

I'm not filling in the questionnaire as I saw that bo has kindly shared some general skincare regime info upthread so I'm going to try LRP that has been recommended as well as a few other bits, but it's my lines that bother me the most.
I suspect my skin is a little dehydrated which probably doesn't help.

Great thread - thanks for sharing so much useful info bo.

whyistherumgone

For redness look into Niacinamide and Azeleic Acid (both available from TO).

Retinol can help with lines as will daily sunscreen use but it will take time to see noticeable results.

HA can temporarily plump the skin, depending on how deep lines are and how dehydrated you are. Vit C helps with collagen production and volume loss as well, albeit like the retinol on a long term track.

Nickety

I'm going to have to guess it might be something like beeswax, often in a lot of lipbalms. Cacao seed butter, Shea butter, linalool, and MO are usually one of the other culprits responsible for reactions with lip balms but you seem to tolerate those in the other mentioned products but it's not found that often in lipsticks (synthetic wax used instead).

--

In other news, since my moisturiser from Benton is yet to arrive I am going through my moisturiser sample stash, today I'm using one comprised mostly of colloidal silver from Argentum (crazy money). Supposedly good against inflammation and redness (the science is iffy though, American health enthusiasts are a bit bonkers about it though) but it does seem to be making a difference with flushing in this very cold weather currently. I will wait and see if it's really any good as an ingredient over the next few days though and put up with the funky old man smell too. I think it's interesting as an ingredient but I severely doubt the moisturiser price tag is worthy. Will also be trying my newly arrived Vintner's Daughter tonight I hope I hate it.

bo you might find this link interesting:
research.ncl.ac.uk/tetrachromacy/whatistetrachromacy/
I only know about it as my DH is an even rarer phenomenon in that he is a man with tetrachromacy.
nicketynac I have similar probs with lip balms - look online for Dermaphil, not had any probs with that (but usually get it in France). Failing that, I don't know if they still do it but Bodyshop honey and beeswax was good and also their hemp one.

Wow speedy response thanks Bo.
I've been reading about Retinol but been a bit scared of it - can you use HA and retinol when pregnant?

yongnian that is really rare, and sounds like something for the basis of a terrible romcom! The only man in the world who could see her in perfect colour .

I only discovered it when visiting a paint manufacturer's R&D labs for a project, they offered me a job on the spot but I have bigger ambitions than watching paint dry, literally .

I'm also fascinated with synesthesia, pretty sure I subscribe to that too but it's a rather large field with a lot of reading and I wonder how much of it is not part of being wired visually or audibly in the first place.

Retinol not advised to use during pregnancy and whilst BF, rum. HA is safe to use and naturally present in our bodies.

As discussed on the other thread peptides such as Matrixyl3000 (Aurora, have you started on yours from TO yet?) aren't there yet in terms of science but are being touted as possible alternatives for a Vit C/Retinol regime whilst being less likely to irritate so potentially you could consider that whilst pregnant. I'd have to check to confirm but pretty sure that is safe to use during pregnancy.

Prividing beeswax is not the problem Apivita (a Greek brand) have very good lip balm which also come in an array of colors.

bo thnx I'll let this woman know. In her case it's connected to tinnitus and since she can locate the exact place of the pain (center of forehead) it's made a huge difference for her overall wellbeing.
I'm doing ok now following acupuncture and meditation every morning but if that fails I will go the Botox way too.

bo he has often told me my skin is green!! in all seriousness it is absolutely fascinating living alongside someone whose colour sense is so different from everyone else.

Just checking in. Great thread name!

Aurora I love Apivita. I was so sad when they stopped stocking it in M&S, and looking at the Apivita website they seem to have changed a lot of their products, including the lovely hydrating serum and cream/gel moisturiser. I will be hunting for something similar to the moisturiser when it runs out.

Lip balms, my favourites are Jouer Essential Lip Enhancer (have got this as a GWP three times from Cult Beauty so have not had to buy it myself thus far, which is just as well as it's £12!) and Blistex Relief Cream (for when they are chapped or sore. It sorts them out completely within a day) or the Intensive Moisturiser for overnight.