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.

Just realised my advice was far too late and TS is probably dolled up and tipsy on champagne by now, giving zero shits about her spot.

MAC waterweight, no primer and applied with a real techniques blender sponge

I finally have my mitts on all of my new skincare goodies so tried them out tonight. So far so good.

Used my usual BS chamomile cleanser to remove my makeup, and then cleansed again with the LRP one and more makeup came off!! I do the BS one really thoroughly too

Thanks Holl

Jury is out on ultrabland. Really hard to remove. Maybe you're not supposed to? Good so far but bit worried about it blocking pores. Good for waterproofing though.

It is a bit tricky, hot water and flannel and I tend to use an acid toner after just to make sure. Works brilliantly on hairline if you're colouring your hair!

Hollin the last two pics you have posted of yourself have both given me eyebrow envy! Do you shape your own?

Bo correctly predicted my incoming lurgy from my nasty spot. Hopefully it is on its way out now. Thank you for the Eucerin ultra sensitive moisturiser recommendation, I've been using it for four days now and I'm really pleased. I was actually quite taken aback at how much better my psoriasis looked this morning. My TO package finally came today, I ordered Buffet, Niacinamide, Vit C and Retinoid 2%, I know I need to introduce very gradually, but I'm not sure which to start with and the eventual routine I'm working towards with regards to which item is am/pm and in what order should I be applying? I had a look at the PC BHA that was recommended and I think I shall give that a try in the future, unfortunately the bank account has taken a bit of a hammering from storm Doris and tree damage so I shall have to wait a little while!

I really had to scrub with the flannel. Then had to use LRP afterwards. Maybe used too much and the water wasn't that hot. Will persevere as it feels really nice. Love the smell too. My friend got me some honey lush stuff for Christmas and it goes with that.

fledgling you do know that UVA rays are year round regardless of sun and I'm NE

depressing (I feel bad typing that!) um sort of. I get them threaded and tinted but they probably haven't been done for 3 months. I thread them myself in between, roughly following the shape and colour them with w7 queen of brows which is a tinted gel (much cheaper version of benefit gimme brow)

Never looked at W7 before. Going to try the the brow gel. Those box blushes are blatant copies aren't they? Even the brush is almost identical.

Oh yes! Most of it you can figure out what it's a copy of. I like the brow gel, haven't tried much else yet

The candy floss box looks very pretty. Wonder if it smells like candy too. I've loads of Dandelion left though. And I need to stop buying blusher.

Amazon and TJ Hughes often have the W7 stuff cheaper too. I paid about £3 for the brow stuff last time
Blushes I have lots I just found the benefit coralista in my drawers of doom

I think I might have that one. I think I bought most of them and only ever used the dandelion. The packaging and little brush are so nice, I was lured in.

I need to look at the dandelion again. Mostly using a makeup geek one at the minute, definitely my favourite brand especially for eye shadows and highlighters

JDSTER are you sure? Here 5 years now and I'm still yet to find any longstanding evidence...

If you had any recs for SPF, I'd love to hear them. With my pasty pale skin I tend to look like Casper and feel like I'm wearing a lead mask.

Fledgling I'm as sure as I can be about something that's fact! UVA rays are present during daylight hours, even when it's cloudy. They penetrate deep into the dermis and cause ageing and wrinkling, so using a daily spf is insurance for your skin long term against ageing. It's only more recently that I've seen the light () and been religiously wearing a daily SPF. I'm loving Biore watery essence sunscreen. It's very light and absorbs straight away. It's obviously dependent on skin type as to which spf will suit you best. Biore one has a high alcohol content so could be too drying for some people. Amazon and ebay sell it, it's a Japanese make. If you've got chance to look back through the threads there's lots of chat about sunscreens and some more recommendations.

I think the Ultrabland gets a thumbs down from me. I just can't get it off. I had to triple cleanse tonight and now my face is a bit sore. It didn't take my make up off very well so had to use Emma Hardie, there was still a waxy film so used LRP to finish. I'm sure it's still there. It isn't a bad cleanser. I can imagine it being soothing as a single cleanse (no make up) for someone with very dry or sensitive skin. It feels and smells nice. Does leave a glow. But I can't get past the residue issue.

Going to give it to DH to try. He has sensitive, combi, rosacea prone skin and gets on well with quite rich products like Cosmetic Lad.

I'll probably break out in a rash for saying this but I have not ONE spot. None. And it's time of the month so I'm usually covered

Thanks all for the spot tips! And yes, I was dolled up, tipsy and not worrying about my zit after a few hours I used the Neutrogena spot stuff, took some antihistamine and covered with some hardcore concealer :)

Ultrabland: I really love the stuff and find it comes off pretty easily with a hot cloth and always use a second cleanse but skincare is so individual isn't it?

Hollin: congrats and fingers crossed for clear skin!

Morning-ish all, not much in terms of the Sunday Supplement this week (most news covering the fashion weeks and I've been busy).

I guess I wasn't too far off linking to Angry Chef a while ago (was it last week? I can't remember) as he's signalling the new nonsense trend of beauty/wellness 'you are what you eat', here have some gelatine collagen crap you're missing in your skin to replace it . The whole Collagen swindle wasn't new to me but the thought that mainstream food manufacturers are embracing it... well scary. Though also, not surprising, the supplement industry isn't as rampant as it once was so it makes sense to just push the nonsense through food instead. For more: I Got You, Under My Skin.

I was wondering how true this was, I figured you lot would be a good audience to ask: The London lip v the eyeshadow Leeds love: How your postcode affects your make-up look

BBB on Beauty Fatigue Part III - yes, Part III. I like BBB well enough but I'm getting a little tired of the moaning of the moaning and reminiscing of 'how it used to be' business. Not specific to her blog mind you, or this post, it's the general slough the beauty blogs are in as the novelty has long worn off. Instead of actively addressing it they moan instead too scared to change the status quo as it would most likely ask them to take an active risk (financially) so instead, they muddle on with less enthusiasm and more veneer. I'll stop here before this gets titled part IV

Fledgling, seriously, don't run before you can walk. Consistency will reap more reward than an endless parade of interchangeable products ever will. I have a love/hate relationship with TO for many reasons. Prices are great, textures and usability not so much. It's dependant on the person whether they put up with that for the price and persevere. There are some great products in the lineup and there are some definite duds. If someone has no clue about the ingredients they're more likely to do harm than good and in the case of TO lots of harm as the low price seems to take away any form of discern or caution and the actives can be quite potent to the uninitiated.

eg. TO Vit C is not meant to be used in the eye area and it'll do nothing at all to address dryness.

Just keep up with the thread a bit, read the past ones while you establish your routine and once that is settled and well (with a good broad spectrum sunscreen most importantly), then we'll talk actives and where to buy them. There is no sense in having some in the house for 'emergencies', actives aren't to be used like that.

No irk registered here btw, takes a bit more than that for me but I do think it's important to repeat now and then that relying on one source of information is never a good thing even if I were a fully qualified expert. Use these threads as a resource but don't let it be the thing that cancels out all the noise that may be of equal or greater value to you.

yongnian, yes inline skates I'm going for an extended fitting session this afternoon, how was your horse ogling session? The ten-year-old me is running rampant after all the horsey talk, I think it's not helped that all the shops have gone full nineties and I've contemplated pulling out my Calvin Klein belly shirt (ahem not crop top, they were belly shirts back in the day I'm officially old now I think ) that I kept for sentimental reasons .

Colours for a dark bay? Ehm does she not come pre-coloured? You know from the womb? Or are we playing dress up with saddles and other fancy accoutrements?

JDSTR That is all Was wondering how I'd missed the NE being swallowed up by a black hole and impenetrable by the sun as a result, that Telegraph article would have me believe it's all down to eyebrows

Would just add for Fledging's sake that as JDSTER has so eloquently put it UVA (to which the little-known PPD ratings relate) are the rays predominantly responsible for photo-ageing, UVB (to which SPF ratings relates) are the ones that cause burning and sun damage on the upper layers of the skin and their presence and strength fluctuates but UVA rays are the same year-round and reach indoors and even on cloudy days.

Here's something to add to the Sunday supplements from The Sunday Times about facial workouts.

Would anyone like TO high adherence silicone primer? I've used it a couple of times but makes no difference to my skin. Happy to pass it in to a good home. Also got NIOD photography fluid if anyone would like it? Hollin as a makeup aficionado would it float your boat?
(Don't even ask me why I bought it )
along with most of the NIOD line when it came out

I would ADORE the photography fluid! I use it when I'm modelling all the time

Ha ha, my instincts were right . PM me your details and I'd be happy to send it to a good home!