Fantastic Skincare - we're snail here 🐌

[botemp]

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I am very slowly working on consolidating the gathered information from previous threads into easier to read formats but it’s slow going. In order to make use of the below form and join in I would suggest reading thread 1 and at the very least the following info sheets (provided they apply to you):

Basics of an Actives Routine

Where to Start

Anti-Ageing Info sheet

Adult Acne Info Sheet

For those who are taking a peek and wondering what this all about, we mostly discuss a bit of advanced skincare here with a perspective of seeking out the right ingredients (rather than the latest new shiny product and all its empty promises) for our particular skin 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 and the linked docs) so we're not being asked to answer 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 . Please note, the form is not here to generate a routine for you, sometimes it involves product recommendations but mostly it's there so we can answer a specific question without having to go back and forth endlessly. Also, 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.

So good to hear all went well Olli!

Tree, you can just scan or photograph them, whatever is easiest. I can PM an email address if you like?

Everyone else... you're going to have to wait for my replies as I'm joining Enid on the pout couch as my newly cut hair is horrid. Way, waaaaaay to short . In fairness, it is technically cut really well and it does suit my face very well and it does that rare well-cut hair thing of wind blowing at it and it then falling back exactly as it should in a swishy glossy way but I still hate it, it's not what I asked for and it doesn't feel like me and I'm almost a 100% sure that without the fancy blow dry it won't play well with the natural texture of my hair at all. I can't decide whether I look like an evil fashion editor or something else deeply impersonal. Half my wardrobe now no longer suits as a result which was already diminished as everything is on average 2 or 3 sizes too large so I'm in a full-on identity crisis. Well style identity crisis, so forgive me while I mope and find some horrible trash TV and contemplate opening an art gallery to match my new hair.

Oh, and to top it all off their rather aggressive blow drying technique seems to have completely aggravated my skin

Oh Bo. Why do hairdressers just not listen to what you want sometimes?! Is this a new p!ace? V annoying re the skin aggravation to. Grrrr.

They have brought me loads of food as left overs on trolley. Tea is still appearing two mugs at a time! Up and walking an hour after the op

Olli so glad ur doing well, really strange question but I'm sure we have all realised I'm a strange person but how do u have ur tea? yes I know I'm weird.

Tree and shop thank you, don't think I'll bother with it then! I need something for spots! I have the seventeen phwoar paint but it's not great.

One sweetener or sugar. Strong and milky with teabag left in (yes I'm a northerner!)

I have a question.

If you use a serum or moisturiser with exfloliating properties should you use it alone, ie no serum or active underneath? I'm specifically asking about this Neostrata I use at night sometimes (recommended a few years back when I saw a dermo):-

www.neostrata.co.uk/product/bio-hydrating-cream/

Surely it should go straight onto the skin so that it can do it's work? Dr Sam's latest video got me thinking about this. She seems to advocate using a serum or moisturiser with AHA in it, rather than an acid toner. I have to say I'm not sure my skin benefits from acid toning. I'm thinking of not using one for a month and just seeing. I usually use this Neostrata about once a week if that, but I might strip my routine back a bit and use this more often.

Ooh ooh EXCITING NEWS! My TO coverage foundation has been dispatched! The serum version is still pending

Oh no bo you to! Do you have some big sunglasses to go with the new cut?

Speaking of hair drying technique... .
I also need to get my hair cut but expensive and I want to colour my hair but expensive/scary.

Olli The northerner at work moans about the water in london making crap tea, she bought me a bottle of tap water back from her mums and it does taste different.

Can I come and work in your art gallery bo? I can waft around scowling at people in the reception area looking arty with my too bloody layered hair.

All my sympathies Are you sure my moaning on complaining about my hair hasn't made you hyper critical and you might like it when you've washed it and styled it yourself?

that said. I just washed mine and looked at it properly and I loathe it still. They did not listen.

does that rare well-cut hair thing of wind blowing at it and it then falling back exactly as it should in a swishy glossy way that's what my lovely long swishy hair did before The Bad Cut. If any of you hear me even hint at getting layers ever again, take me out back shoot me. I need weight in it.

I've given myself until Saturday to complain about my hair so this might be the last time. You're allowed a week to mourn it bo and then you'll have to get used to it. At least we know hair grows and it'll be very healthy.

I have a hair appointment next Wednesday. Should I still go? (These things happen in threes). Sorry to make light of your situations bo and enid.

Olli that is exciting! Hope you're doing alright tonight. Glad they're looking after you.

Northern tap water does taste better.

Wound is a tad sore, and throat hurts. Up and mobile and outside vaping though and they said I'm a v easy patient. BP and pulse perfect

Run for the hills Pupsie!

Have you taken your throat sweets?

Yep. And I've had ice cream and milkshake

And still wide awake. Can never sleep after anaesthetic

Enid, sounds like a plan! It all makes sense now why gallery staff always look so miserable, who knew it's where the shitty haircuts go to exact revenge on the public by subjecting them to evil scowls.

No, it wasn't your moaning that prompted mine or made me hypercritical I need no help in that department at all. I had to go see a new hairdresser as my old one, not perfect but after many attempts I sort of managed to get an alright cut out of it each time, decided to become a waitress and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life she's 29 FFS!. He just didn't listen, I specifically said I wanted to keep the length at the front which was about shoulder length and he cut it to the length of my side bang layer, roughly at chin level. It wouldn't be such an issue if I had jet straight hair but I don't and I really hate that I'm now forced to heat treat my hair to make it somewhat okay looking .

I don't know what it is about hairdressers, they either take instruction well but aren't that talented with cut and/or colour or they're really good at it but completely disregard your wishes and the time you're willing to spend on styling your hair. Not to mention their stupid lectures on heat-treating your hair too much , I have yet to figure out how I'm meant to get the swishy style hair without some heat. I also hate the natural assumption that I want straight hair, I really don't. I can't figure out whether hairdressers can only either do straight or very curly and that everything in between just needs to adhere to one or the other.

A week sounds good far more than I planned anyway. Thankfully my hair grows quick so hopefully, the worst of it will be over in 2-3 weeks but it's really poor timing. This morning I realised why it's been bothering so much and had me on the edge of tears all evening yesterday (I've never really been this upset about hair or a beauty treatment), it looks exactly like the wig my mum had when she was sick. It wasn't anything like her own hair but she really liked it for whatever reason (I think because it was so different and therefore not like her when she wasn't sick) and now that's all I can see . Ugh this time of year is already always trying anyhow, the anniversary of her death has just been, I then subsequently get bombarded with lots of mother's day emails and it's everywhere in the shops (it's this Sunday here) and it's my bday soon which was always a special thing between us and her bday is very close after that. I know I'll be ok in a few weeks but this has just made it made worse than it needed to be.

Sorry for the deprressive moan everyone but it seems more reasonable than my only just averted impulse to buy a really expensive handbag last night

Catching back up with everyone...
bo no wonder the haircut is making you feel miserable, with such timing and reminders of your Mum and birthdays etc. Hope you can take some moments over the next little while to take care of yourself X
olli so glad surgery went well and you are up and about and it's all over! Good luck for physio etc.
pupsie congrats on your surgery, glad you are feeling renewed confidence as a result.
mintmagnum medium strength, no sugar, Yorkshire tea bags and milk first please!!!

bo, that sounds really upsetting and very triggering. Have a v unmumsnetty hug I know it is trite to say, but the great thing about hair is that it DOES grow- even after a few washes at home you'll hopefully find a way to work with it that doesn't make you feel so flat.

So, hello again everyone!I I de-lurked a couple of weeks back, but then had a whole bunch of LIFE STUFF happen that has meant I've had no time to come back here to participate. I have mostly kept up with my new skincare regime however!

You may remember I was moaning that my LRP retinol eye cream had exploded upon opening- escentuals were absolutely great and shipped me a new one straight away. Top service.

I am really enjoying the eye product, but I have to say I am a bit underwhelmed by the retinol R face cream- after an initial glow, it has actually left me wondering if it's doing anything. Is this a sign I need to trade up to anything stronger- if so, any recs? Am I jumping the gun (twas ever thus with me.)

On vit c, I have used a number over the years. I had a decent one from skinceuticals which worked well, but it was an eyewatering amount of money and it turned a funny colour pretty quickly and I dunno- it seemed to seemed lose its potency/ oomph.

I didn't get on with TO vit c at all. However, I am now using this product from indeed- www.indeedlabs.com/products/vitamin-c24

I love it- no pilling, a bit tingly for a spell after application (which I don't mind), but the best results for glow and smoothness that I've ever had. bravo!

Olli, Bo and Enid, for all your troubles. Hair issues v distressing. Triggering emotions even more so. Hope you all feel a bit better soon.

I've run out of the Bobbi Brown bisque colour corrector. I liked it but found it hard to blend. Any suggestions for an alternative? I hear Nars are good at this?

It's for the purple inner eye corners and I've a purple vein to the side of one eye that I also like to cover.

wilting I like the stila colour corrector palette...it does have the full range of corrector colours though (peach and orange for blue/violet, yellow for brown/purple, green for red and a pinkish highlighter plus a yellow pressed powder and a lilac pressed powder) so it might be more than you are after (I have a multitude of things that need coverage so I get the use out of it). Texture I find good, sits where you put it but stiff cream consistency....it's also small, pretty, has a useful little mirror and a flap to keep stuff out of the concealers.

If I had jet straight hair but I don't and I really hate that I'm now forced to heat treat my hair to make it somewhat okay looking

Amen to this. That's what's pissing me off too, I worked out it's going to take at least 6 months for the stupid back layer to grow down enough. Mine's also reminding me of an upsetting time. Very sorry it's bringing back horrible memories for you, no wonder you're upset.

They definitely don't listen. I took 3 photos of what I wanted, repeated myself and still at some point 3 inches off became 8 (the shortest bit) and I got layers totally wrong for want hair. Sounds like you were also very clear.

Balls to them! It will grow back though, we have to remember that.

wilting I like the Laura nervier version of the colour correcting concealer. It's very creamy but doesn't crease. Can't remember which colour I use for my purple leaning dark bits but it's a peachy coloured one.

*laura mercier