Ditch The Foundation, Embrace Some Fantastic Skincare Instead!

[botemp]

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Thread 4

For those who are taking a peek and wondering whether thread 1,2, 3, and 4 are worth reading, we mostly discuss a bit of advanced skincare here with a perspective of seeking out the right ingredients for our particular needs. Distinguishing the acid toners from the actives whilst avoiding the truly unimpressive and harmful ingredients with a hope to achieve a bit of anti-ageing, alleviate irritation and sensitivities with some idle chat in between. Deviations on this thread are mostly my fault.

If you're in need of some advice coming to grips with your skincare routine please don't hesitate to ask, we don't bite, only occasionally sting with a bit of Biologique Recherche P50 now and then . Just make sure to state clearly what your concerns and needs are in as much detail as possible, skincare is highly individual and a random recommendation for a 'good' product will be completely different from one person to the next.

Make sure you've read the earlier threads (or at the very least the first one) so we're not being asked to answer to previously raised questions. It takes a lot of time and effort to answer these queries and often the answers can be found in previous threads, but if you still have questions relating specifically to you, use the following form to make life easier on us. We generally answer one or to two people a day on a first come first served basis. Not everyone will have answers and sometimes we can't answer you at all. We're only a bunch of amateurs that can respond by suggesting what we would do in your place, for any severe conditions please seek out professional help.

Skin type:

Approx age (range):

Primary skin concern:

Routine :

AM :

PM :

Makeup : eg. no/light coverage/medium coverage/heavy coverage

Occasional treatments:

Things I've tried in the past with disastrous results:

Things that are really working well for me now:

Any dietary/health concerns/pregnant:

What I'm willing to spend on a single skincare item: eg. >£10, £10-20, £20-50, £50-100, no limits.

I specifically [want help with/am looking for a product to/am curious about trying]:

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Ahem, and finally a little note on spending. I'm well aware these threads cause many to reach for their wallets and spend with wild abandon. There can sometimes be a bit of a frenzy surrounding the excitement around a newly discovered product or on the back of great improvements when someone reports back. This is all great, it doesn't however, mean everything that's a sudden miracle for one will be it for you. Usually, it's a light bulb moment for connecting the right skincare ingredient with an individual experiencing a specific problem. Take your time to mull over decisions and question whether it's right for you too. Skincare is highly individual, it's a slow game that should cost mostly in patience, input, education, and perseverance. Please don't make it cost you financially needlessly either.

Tsmummy I didn't think that you were using them during the same routine but the way I read the instructions on the package was don't "alternate, mix etc" with other retinoids.
I've also delegated SC to chest for the time being.
Must say though I used it only once I'm super impressed with the texture of the TO. it's much more gentle than the SC, not as drying and my skin felt very smooth even before I applied oils etc.

Mint have a look at the Dr Houshka powders, maybe amongst them you'll find something without silica. Mind you pure natural silica like in the Hübner gel or Avene water and silicones in makeup etc have nothing in common.

bo yeah that video is so great, even though pink eyeshadow really doesn't suit me anymore. However way I try it (lining the eyes with brown or whatever it still makes me look sick). I love watching how she applies the products and picking on all her little tips.

Superstaary I have to agree with bo that P50 would be a very good product for pore minimizing (as much as such a thing can be realistically achieved). Whatever you may think about CH this is truly a wonder product and the "payoff" in many cases is almost immediate!
Indeed the best route you could take IMO would be (gradually) combining P50, Vit C and retinol... and of course SPF which is the number 1 (!!!!!) product for any kind of pigmentation and also the number 1 anti aging product.

When I was traveling a while ago I met a man who owns a huge cosmetic industry in that country (met him socially totally by coincidence) and after I (kind of) confessed my interest in skin care he indeed said sunblock is the most important anti-aging tool one can use. I told him next time I'm there I want to come to his factory

No skin peeling today - been tweaking my routine, upping the oil etc and it seems to be working.

I was home just in time for my Amazon Japan order, I'm so pleased with how quick it got here from Japan. Fastest AB delivery ever! German and UK Amazon take forever and the shipping costs were pretty much the same and it's all packaged so much better and with such care. Can't wait to slap it all on my face .

Think we already discussed and veered away from Cerave PM iirc, mint/jo. The only other ones I know of at the top of my head are Japanese (in fact one of them came with my Japanese order today, it's a HA toner for face and body let me check the INCI again and if it would suit you too I could send a decant), the other Japanese product is a gel cream but it does contain a bit of oil in there (macadamia iirc).

Dermalogica either made my eyes water or left me thoroughly unimpressed for the money, active moist sort of falls in the latter category for me. I am surprised you tolerate it so well with all the plant extracts as 'natural' isn't usually your thing. But stick with it if it works for you as I know how hard it is to keep your skin happy with moisturisers. I don't really see an issue in layering Sub Q and the Superdrug serum provided it isn't irritating in that combination.

Silica is indeed an odd ingredient, a very confusing ingredient at that. I don't know if it's the thing causing issue with Avene water as it's in there in such minimal amounts and I think like Aurora said the connection to silicones is not a direct one unless it's really the chemical makeup of both that irritates which indicates allergy, which is different to being sensitive to an ingredient.

It's true about SPF, if you overlap all the different skincare philosophies they all agree on one thing and that's SPF (well those weirdo cavemen fanatics and the 'everything is toxic' types may disagree but they don't count in my book). With progressive research, it's gaining more and more backing wrt importance alongside discovering adjunctive qualities too. Skincare approach is very much switching from attacking and stripping back, to supporting and avoiding inflammation (inflammaging is becoming a thing now too- the belief that not so much genes but the amount of exposure to inflammation is what determines the rgaduation of ageing) and with that SPF is pretty much front and central.

Aurora, I know you thought I was completely deranged the last time I did it but you can use the Casmara mask over the eyes and you know how effective it with deep penetration of hydration so if you can stand the claustrophobia (in all honesty it was odd for 5 seconds and then quite soothing) it may do the trick for your peeling woes especially if you follow up with oils and do the hydrating serum beforehand per the usual.

I love studying her techniques too, and I'm examining all my eyeshadow brushes now as she used teeny weeny ones and I sort of think that actually works better for me than the MAC 217 broad washes of colour thing most YT tutorials do. I don't have much lid space visible so it always feels a bit like wasted effort and I find colouring the whole upper lid area (if that's the right term for it, the underbrow? ) or part of it completely daft looking. The whole drag queen cut crease thing would probably work for me in that sense but it's not really a look I aspire to.

I liked her little chit chat through it too, how makeup is different from then (wrt coverage) because she's seen it all and our rather unrealistic expectations towards perfected skin now. I so wish she had her own channel or even just a podcast, the stories she must be able to tell. I may just go watch the video again. And possibly the In the Bathroom ones too.

Just watched the LE/MG video
Beautiful makeup, that base was flawless. I might try under my eyes with cushion foundation as I have one here
I use v small brushes due to lack of lid space, only use a larger one for all over base colour and blending

Hmmm... interesting idea with the Casmara mask bo, and I do have a blue and a gold one now
I must stress though that my skin is not dehydrated or dry, it's irritated because of the cryotherapy, so if you will it's like a (minimal) frost bite
I already tried Skinfood and Cicaplast which didn't help. Oils have been my best friends this week (not going to put down the name of that oil anymore).

I'm sure I'll still watch that video many many times! I also love the ones where she is working on SH's make up for her book. She shares so much information there.

Yeah, make up today has become so different with companies trying to convince us we need two brow products, three cheek products, lash primer etc etc etc...
Yesterday I was somewhere and there was a very beautiful and elegant woman in her mid '40 there. She had pretty minimal makeup on but her brows were so overdrawn and in the wrong color too. I always wonder how ppl don't see that on themselves???

I think you are right about brushes - if you have less eyelid space you probably can't really benefit from using the 217. I have very big eyes, so theoretically I could make do with just that brush

Lumea update - I know it's supposed to take a few weeks to work but I hardly have any regrow on my shins Does this make sense?

So what did you order from Amazon Japan?

I am often one for shed loads of makeup but when I'm not at work I'm pretty minimal. Using a maybelline cream eyeshadow in a bronze which is pretty and some tight lining of my upper lid/lashes plus mascara at the minute

A bit at the autolinking that's appeared everywhere over the past few days.

A q please for the UKers - has anyone bought a travel sized P50 variant from medispa? Seeing as I'm doing ok with salicylic atm, wondering about trying P50V or Pig400, but would prefer to get a travel sized just in case...

Thanks for all your help and suggestions bo I might give the Superdrug serum a try on top of my sub q (that's if can find it in stock in my Superdrug!)
Yes I'm also surprised I can tolerate the dermalogica too considering I reacted to even the toleriane by lrp! Skin is a complex thing isn't it!

Sorry bo me again! If I got the niod non acid thing (sorry can't remember name lol) would that go on before or after sub q?

aurora thank to you I will check out their powders.

Does anyone else here use niod naap?

Hi, sorry I've been absent for a while, I hope those who were poorly are feeling better now.

I had a bit of a weak moment in TK Maxx.. I hadn't realised they stocked AB products so went a bit crazy.. now I'm not entirely sure they are right for my skin or what order to use them in..obviously not all at once..!

This is what I bought-
Scinic Aqua All in One Ampoule
Etude House Moistfull Collagen Water Jelly Cream
Faith in Face Swan Feather Coating Cream
Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask...

Also the Mizon Hyaluronic Acid 100 arrived (the one with the copper in) my SubQ has almost run out so would this be a replacement for that or is there something more in the SubQ I'd be missing?

I have stopped the Nip Fab pads as they dried me out so I am looking for a different aha product.

I have been using TO Vit C for a few weeks and all ok so just introduced the TO Nia. Will introduce the TO Retinol in a couple of weeks.

I also have a Face Theory day cream and night cream. And have ordered Missha Time Revolution First Essence which comes with the Night Repair ampoule 🙈 Tell me to stop!

I don't know if it's the makeup companies convincing us of all this, I really do see this as a result of camera phones and our narcissistic obsession with selfies and sharing them out. I remember getting my current phone specifically for its superior camera (would save me from having to carry an extra one for work all the time) and was a little shocked at how shit I looked. Especially if you have a bit of redness it makes you look 10x worse than you are. Then there's all the filters to create these faux realities to make up for it and then you end up with cosmetic companies trying to sell you products to look like that but only from one angle.

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore THE concealer and little else on my face, it almost feels like an act of defiance in contrast to the current makeup trends .

I didn't buy much, I just wanted a test run to see what the experience would be like. I wanted the Cezanne High Moist Skin Conditioner after Ratzilla put it up (before she made the best pick thing the other day) as it is a bit like the Kiku Masamune High Moist but without a few troubling ingredients for my skin. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to wrap my head round the fact that my body's skin is dehydrated too and these are both super cheap at 500ml (¥700 or thereabout something like €6) and hopefully will be good at hydrating as it's full of other beneficial ingredients like Ceramides, Job's Tears, Collagen (which has some effect in combination with Ceramides), amino acids, hylaronic acid, etc. the Kiku is more of a brightening one with licorice root extract, arbutin, etc.

I also bought Angel Baby's Butt (or the company name is something like that in Japanese) Tensi no Bihada Hyaluronic Acid Cream, which is super basic (and again pretty cheap). It's made by these super high-tech guys who study nanotechnology things and they do this for fun in their spare time to prove how little you need to do for decent cheap skincare or something like that. Anyhow it's a bit like a suped up hyaluronic version of LRP Toleriane with added Urea. So an all round promising moisturiser without the use of heavy occlusives, it sounds great for Normal-Combo/Oily (as there's no oil) or as a hydrating layer for Dry-Normal to layer under or over oil. I've tried it on my hand and it's suuuuuuuper soft, it takes a bit to sink in as there's no fancy extra ingredients to make that go quicker but 15-30 secs max. It's getting very close to be my THE moisturiser, I mostly bought because I figured it would make for a good base cream to which I can add Niacinamide and other easily soluble ingredients that you can buy at Active Formulas.

I also got some Queen's Premium Mask which I'll go slap on later tonight. They were ranked quite high on the Cosme site for a bit but I could never find them. I would have bought more but the Cezanne was pretty heavy so I went over the 1kg threshold quite quickly which causes the shipping to go up quite a bit but next time I'll definitely go for lots of lighter items .

Dulci, you can quite easily buy those here in Amsterdam at Dany Diop. Don't let Aurora and my horror stories scare you, we exaggerate a lot for our own entertainment. It'll be cheaper here too I think and I'm also happy to send you a decant of the PIGM 400 if you want. Thanks for reminding me about the Skimlinks, keep meaning to look into it, now switched off my Adblock and am . I look like a complete shill for all these companies! Added to that it's pretty useless since it just takes you to the landing homepage of those companies, not the actual product. How are we supposed to discern whether a poster is intentionally linking things or not? I hope they get rid of it soon! My mind is going into paranoid overdrive because surely this means they'll be ranking posters on delivered sales next and how to turn more profit from that. MN is entitled to monetise as much as they like as far as I'm concerned but this feels very intrusive in the posts since it's so unclear who is linking what and with what motivation, it's opening up the boards for spam and/or unfair spam reporting all at the same time.

mint/jo, I believe within the NIOD regime it's done after MMHC and that's similar to Sub Q so I'd do that. I think Detail Oriented Beauty did a review on the NAAP I just want to read that as nap.

Elixiam, yeah stop... the Missha FTE is no longer any good since the latest reformulation and the night repair ampoule was never any great sorry and most of what you've bought is highly fragranced and breakout notorious...

Ooh that moisturiser looks promising. I just want mine to do that really, not all singing and dancing as I have serum for that

Dany diop! You mentioned dd earlier but I didn't know what it meant. I'll look it up. Do you know offhand how much do the travel sizes go for?

I think a way of differentiating intended links would be helpful, the automatic ones are taking over...like adding (my link), or is that too obvious?! Someone can suggest something more secret hasndshakey perhaps...

€22 I think I paid last time. The 150ml are €45 or thereabouts. The PIGM 400 has a shorter lifespan (6 rather than 12 months) so it doesn't make much sense to me to buy that with the frequency that I use it. I will not be held responsible if they suggest you get a €500 facial. Also, reject the Retinol cream in a jar.

I'd prefer the skimlink to be denoted with an asterisk but it's probably unlikely HQ would go for that as it would probably stop using those links. Am also left wondering if it works with those tracking cookies too so even if you buy something there later the referral fee still goes to MN.

Oh that's much better priced than here! Good to know, ty. Would you rec the pigm 400 over the v or standard versions - given that my skin is apparently more resilient than it once was?

Hadn't even thought about tracking cookies...

no I'm not envious about the sound of your Japanese parcel at all bo can you provide a full report please? And perhaps tantalising pix of Japanese products for those of us (me) living vicariously through you
enid sorry to hear of the hair disaster!!!!!
dulci yes to skincare nerds secret handshake!!

hollin please can you point out to me I Do Not Need Another Horse. Thanks. As you were!

I've only ever used the W and 400 so it's hard to say, I do think it's more potent than the W but I think the normal would be the most potent. 400 slides in just under that and then the V iirc. I would rec it over the V because I like what it does brightness wise and the V is more nourishing antioxidants which I don't have as much of a need of and usually have elsewhere in my routine.

Whilst I'm still bitching about MN, I'm also a little annoyed at this thing in my sidebar

Would you prefer fuzzy nighttime shots in bad lighting where it all looks vaguely attractive or really bad morning after starkers pics with smudgy eyeliner included, yongnian

Mask is lovely so far as is the cream. I'm very glowy currently, will report back if it still looks like that come morning.

Horse? Why a horse? Is this the new skincare nerd code? Do I need a horse?

I've just realised how weird that PIGM 400 thing reads, I wouldn't buy a 150ml version of that with the rate I use it. I'll probably struggle to finish the 50ml within 6 months.

The moisturiser? It's the one botemp just mentioned :)

Yeah usually cookies work that way - as long as they are on your computer and you clicked on the link initially and go back and buy from that site the blogger/
MN or whom ever will get their commission. You should simply clear all your cookies every few weeks. I've also heard that some travel sites hike up flight and hotel prices when you go back to them and check... so apparently before booking you should clear your cookies and history and see if it affects the price.
Funny, I haven't seen those links yet

Dulci just be prepared that if you walk into DD they will tell you your skin is shit, that everything you use is shit and that you should indeed buy all their French £££ stuff. That's what they told me first time I walked in all those years ago, and I have very good skin

bo that body moisturizer sounds amazing and something I ehhhmmm might be interested in.

Re the make up - well, it's a kind of vicious circle, or if you will like the egg and the chicken debate.
Mind you I really really loooove make up, but I think you should wear it only if you like it and feel like slapping it on on that particular day

No, Effeclar is not magic!

But P50 (normal) is as well as that oil

Maybe we should all make a magic list this weekend

I've got another quiz but it's a bit late now and super tired after a hectic week so I'll post it tomorrow

Do you mean a real horse? I love horses, and used to ride but haven't done so for years now...
Well, I certainly hope you don't mean those bizarre creams with horse oil