🐌 Fantastic Skincare: Happy Snail Year, Bring Spoons!

[botemp]

Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 Thread 5 Thread 6 Thread 7 Thread 8 Thread 9 Thread 10

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):

Where to Start

Basics of an Actives Routine

Skin Types vs. Skin Conditions Info Sheet

Anti-Ageing Info sheet

Adult Acne Info Sheet

NEWish since previous threads:

Understanding Which Sunscreen(s) to Buy

Do I Really Need to Wear Sunscreen Every Single Day of the Year?

A Damaged Skin Barrier - Now What?

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. Newcomers are always welcome but please note the following:

Questions and asking for help on this thread is encouraged, however, we can’t give you a specific routine to follow and hope it works out for the best. There are no overnight miracles in skincare whether it be in the form of products or techniques. It’s about perseverance, understanding your skin, assessing its needs and responding to that in a diligent manner.

These threads were created to help those who want to learn for themselves. We’re a group of interested and invested skincare nuts happy to offer tea and sympathy and dole out advice. Everyone’s journey with skincare is different, what is universal and binds us is that through actually learning about the different active ingredients it helps us get to know our skin and help us adapt as it will change many times throughout our lives - with seasons, hormonal changes, ageing, genetics etc. It's in everyone's best interests to get to know their skin and to keep reviewing those changes with the confidence that comes from the gathered knowledge here. We really encourage you to spend the time reading through previous threads and linked info sheets that the many contributors have taken the trouble to share.

By no means are we experts, we're only a bunch of amateurs that can only respond by suggesting what we would do in your place, for any severe conditions please seek out professional help.

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.

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JANUARY 2018: Thread 11! we're getting old. A recap of The Snailies categories for those still meaning to get round to them:

🐌🐌 THE SNAILIES 2017 🐌🐌

The Well Hello There - newest and latest find that gets your motor running

The Flusher- money spent on this product would have been better put to use by flushing it down the toilet

The Jack & Rose- the product you’ll never let go of because there’s plenty of fucking space for the two of you on that piece of wood. Damn you, James Cameron, for breaking my poor little tween heart.

The LTB- it all seemed so promising, everything was going so great, then they turned out to be a narcissist gaslighting bastard

The Child Prodigy- that one product that’s annoyingly good and isn’t afraid to be smug about it

The Worker Bee- never the centre of attention but has been steadily chugging along like no other

The Troll- the one where you repeatedly asked, ‘Is this doing anything?’, but continued to use it anyway…

The Flabbergaster- that one product or technique that wasn’t really supposed to be used like that or delivered well beyond your non-existent expectations

The Sinner- oh, admit it because we’re all guilty of it, what did you do or use that wasn’t all that sensible like take an acid bath and had the disastrous results you really knew to expect

Sorry, I should explain better bo facial acupuncture is not to try to treat the whole body particularly (as other Chinese med treatment does) it's an acupuncture version of a cosmetic beauty treatment, if you get my drift. Not medicinal.
Yes, Chinese med generally has a good research base, though obviously a very different frame of reference to western med. Do need a well trained skilled practitioner though of course...still, even in china people will choose western or Chinese med depending on the nature of the problem. I like this approach, both systems have their place.
And oops yes, sorry to mention the H word!!
Erm shall I just add to the ret discussion A313 cream......prescription obvs..or not...but no one is advising that 😬😬🤐

Oh and I'm 2 years in bo.....2 years....

Oh and just to channel my inner enid and make multiple posts....for those people who do brows, what does one use to fill in black haired brows? Actual black looks wrong. Is there some kind of soft black? I have looked but can only see taupey type colours.

yong A313?

All this talk of thermal waters and I’ve picked up the Vichy one today which Bo professed her love for. How do you actually choose between LRP, Avene or Vichy anyway

Enid, have you been yet? I've realised I'm nearing a year if I don't go soon

No I haven't and I really need to. It's long enough to get that terrible layer cut off now. I think I've developed a mild phobia of hair salons...

yong Have a look at some matte eyeshadows to use as eyebrow powders. Also, some of the ones that look too light can seem darker when on. Not sure how you can test that though. My eyebrows are dark ash brown and I use an eyeshadow and a tiny angled brush. Just make sure it's matte!

^unless you want a pencil or a wax.

A313 isn't prescription though, is it? OTC in France only IIRC and a synthetic retinoid, think it may even be Retinyl Palmitate. It's Avibon's watered down replacement but supposedly still pretty strong.

JDSTER, I didn't like the Silica in the Avene, it leaves behind a sort of protective barrier that I find unpleasant. The LRP has a really nice nozzle and my skin just took a massive liking to Vichy, it always did like LRP but it absolutely loves Vichy . There's not much logic to it.

I'm like Enid, ashy very dark brown brows. Black brow products make me go Groucho Marx. Anastasia Beverly Hills has Granite (cool) or Ebony (warm) but Granite oxidises to ebony on me and I find them quite severe (the dip brow especially) but if you're more in proper black territory it's probably a good fit.

I mostly use a tinted brow gel, the Essence Make Me Brow is surprisingly good despite it only existing in two colours, the brown works for me. Before that I used Eyeko's brow gel for forever which is a slightly tinted cool colour but does give colour weirdly enough.

For pencils I've only ever found a handful that are dark dark but not black and not warm, the Chanel in Noir Cendre (not as severe as it sounds), Sisley Phyto-Sourcils Perfect in 03 Brun. The H&M precision brow liner (looks like an ABH brow whiz) in espresso brown is the only one I've found on the budget end that doesn't oxidise on me but it's used up quite quickly and not very long lasting on the face. I've also recently tried the new waterproof Chanel one at counter which allows you to draw really nice fine lines that look hair-like but felt it was a bit pricey for very little product.

I'm the same Enid, I don't have split ends yet and the shape is miraculously still good but I don't want to sign up for another year of growing my hair out. Must make an appointment though, I managed not to go for well over a year once (maybe I got close to two) but it was much longer then.

Mint - I'm not very knowledgeable but was also going to suggest to avoid products with SLS and silicones. You can check out the Curly Girl Method which advocates avoiding all these products.

Yongnian - Hello! Yes I'm starting to get into the ingredients thing so I hope not to waste more money. Managed to take back two unopened products to my pharmacy today: a hydrating face mask which contained paraffinium liquidum and a Neostrata glycolic face wash as have far too many acid products at the moment.

Generally I'm disappointed that high-end pharmacy brands put paraffin and mineral oils in so many products. Spent 20 mins in the pharmacy today looking at labels.

Thank you JDSTER. Sorry you had said that before but I didn't register. I think I am aiming for anti-aging rather than anti-acne (think my spots are caused by ingredients in products) so that retinol probably isn't the one for me.

Botemp - I might go to see my dermatologist when back from hols. I will ask her about the retinol products which I think might be of use to me as well as the tretinoins.

I take it the TO vit C is a sticky texture too. I'll have a look at the Skinceuticals one and see the price. Do you mean you use the Vichy one for longer than a month because you keep it in the fridge?

A friend here had a Skinceuticals retinol 0.5% refining night cream and said it really dried her face out. She also has rosacea though. I'm not sure if she used it just the once or whether she wasn't sure how to use it and put it on on consecutive nights. Must ask.

My wish list now is:

good retinol product
good hydrating serum (going to check out the Vichy one)
good vit C product (again the Vichy looks promising but will look at Skinceuticals too)

What do people think of Dermalogica on here? Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. I used to be a big fan and still got some products. I've been checking ingredients and Dermalogica doesn't seem to use mineral oils or anything like that.

Hopefully I’ll love Vichy too bo. Do you use after cleansing? Blot off? We are in a hard water area so I liked the idea of it since you recommended it

I definitely do have split ends bo. I can easily disguise them with oil and a hairdryer, but they're there. Plus I really really want my fringe back, I'll feel more me with a fringe.

Botemp is the Vichy 89 a moisturiser or a serum? Could you send me exact name of product please? same with the vit C one please. thank you

On holiday at the moment and lots of time to browse mumsnet. I’ve gone back to thread 1 in 2016 and yong mentions the A313 . I haven’t found my first post yet

Thread 1 was in 2016??!

I mean if I think about it it makes sense but that sounds so long ago!

I've been using sulphate free for a while now but no difference to the spots. I don't get on well with no/low poo at all as my hair and scalp definitely need a clean.

Good sleuthing jdster! and happy hols!
Oh yes, I forgot it's not quite as sinful as all that the A313 bo. I think because I had quite a bad reaction when I first started using it, I got a bit mixed up as to whether I should have been using it or not...I use it on my hyper pigmentation now and it's really effective. I keep it away from where I had problems using it before though (forehead).
Thanks for the brow advice all. I do have proper black brows. I've resisted the trend til now because I've always had a strong shaped brow and only ever removed stray ones to tidy up. However I've noticed this year they are starting to look slightly sparse. Don't know if that's age, better light in new house or that I'm so used to seeing the filled in kind now mine are looking a little underwhelming. I do have a soft charcoal chantecaille matte eye colour which could be good with an angled brush. Also do have a very fine nibbed KIKO eye pen (proper black) which gives good strokes to fill in like hairs but a bit too black.
sophie I don't find the TO Vit C sticky as such. Good work on taking stuff back.
Yes, it will be a month short of two years for me with the hair...long story (scuse the pun)...no split ends as I've been sort of curly-girling so no blow drying but ends definitely dry and layers now just dreadful p. Got my old lovely hairdresser back so fingers firmly crossed!!

My Botox has definitely kicked in now! The difference is amazing

Yong I have TO foundation in 1.2 YG and 1.2 N - I really like them I think they just suit my combo skin. I can imangine they might be too dry for some.

Re eyebrows I use either a dark brown/black eyeko brow gel or a clear one by Pixi (the latter is daytime just to tidy my very unruly eyebrows)

I'm defo going to buy some Thermal water spray then, because I just need that extra fresh spritz feeling which I can't quite put my finger on as too why like enid but I just do.

olli yay to the botox

Jdster now I'm all confused as to which thermal water to get avene or Vichy (I will see which ones on offer somewhere

Sophie I have the TO vit C which I loved but it does make your skin itch sometimes esp if you add moisturiser over it. Its a bit grainy so I wore it at night. I think I will join you in trying the Vichy serum.

mint hi

Hi tant
*
Bo* when I did my acid this eve (decided to cut down to once a week for a while) there was quite a bit of base on the cotton pad despite me cleansing twice with the avene (I do massage and cleanse well, I think!) any suggestions? Also it's my forehead that seems to be very shiny and I also have filaments on forehead too (as well as on nose and chin grrrrrr) but my forehead is definitely the oilliest part of my face.

Bo I didn't buy the LRP HA in the end. DH is going to NY in a couple of weeks and will get me the DE one

Here's my forehead now. Skin is clearing up at last thanks to acnecide!

Sophie yes it's the Hylamide SubQ anti-age serum by Deciem, and yes a small bottle with a purple label. Seems to be harder and harder to get hold of these days, the Deciem website seems to be the only place that has it in stock, it used to be in boots so you could use points and/or take adavatge of their offers. The founder of Deciem seems to be having a meltdown at the moment (I must go back and look at those posts as I only skimmed last week) so hope they are not going bust, I've stopped using anything from them apart from hylamide subq and a couple of hand and body products from their Hand Chemistry brand but I'd find it hard to do without those

I haven't been to the hairdressers for over a year either but that's pretty typical for me as I hate going and won't have anything more than a dry trim done anyway.

I use an IT cosmetics eyebrow pencil, it's 'universal' and gets darker the harder you press. Sounds bizarre but works for me, not sure how well it would work on blonde or red brows. I have a benefit pencil too but that is black, looks ok on me but I do have very thin black brows. Which reminds me I need to start using the rapidbrow, it arrived when I was away and I keep forgetting about it.

Re hair cutting - I have poker straight long hair and just never get around to getting it trimmed even though my neighbour a few doors down has offered to trim it for me. Anyway last week I got really fed up with the dry ends and looked up on-line how to trim it myself
I followed the video's instructions and ta da managed to cut it into a perfect straight line according to friends and family (who all could not hide the fact they thought I was completely bonkers)

heres the link - I used the 3 hairband approach

Oh well done tant. I have trimmed mine a couple of times over the last 2 years. Needs a proper job though now layers-wise.
I also make a reasonable job of the eldest DD in terms of tiny trims and also of the ponies' tails!! .
I think it's one of these things we're conditioned to think we mustn't do ourselves...though you cannot beat a decent hairdresser for anything more than a nibble-trim I think.

at everyone not cutting their hair for a year.

pupsie see if your DH can get us all samples of DE Vit C

mint for whatever reason my forehead is my oiliest part too

Hello,

My first ever post!
I’ve been reading these threads since the first one and am a little in awe at the levels of skincare knowledge and very grateful for all the tips I’ve picked up along the way. I love the sharing of info and collective wisdom and wondered if I could ask a couple of questions?

Vit C - I know it’s been discussed at length here. I’ve been using one for a couple of years, l love it and my skin definitely lacks something if I stop using it but I suspect it’s firmly in the over-priced camp.
Tiny ingredients list which is something my skin has always got on better with and seems like a very stable formula. I have used a Medik8 one years ago, can’t remember if C or CE Tetra and think I liked it but obviously stopped using it for some reason. Also tried the Skinceutical Phloretin CF which I liked but feel like it oxidised so quickly and then was terrified to put it anywhere near my face; was also horrified at the resulting waste of money!
What I would love to know is whether this is a really effective, well formulated vit c that is worth the cost, or if I’d be better off with say TO’s one?
My skin does tolerate vit c well so I’m keen to use a fairly strong one. I did have a look at the Skinpep one mentioned which does look good but slightly wary of the HA in it, small suspicion that that is a problem ingredient for me.
Anyway, here it is after that ramble!
Ling Skincare Hi Vitamin C Serum
www.cultbeauty.co.uk/ling-skin-care-hi-vitamin-c-serum.html
Would really appreciate your thoughts on it.

These threads also finally got me over the delusion that SPF in makeup (REN’s BB cream) would cover it and I now use a stand alone product.
Similar question really, I love it and my skin has never had any problems with it, no silicones, physical formula, everything I’m looking for in a suncream but is it good enough protection-wise?
Omorovicza UV Mineral Shield
www.cultbeauty.co.uk/omorovicza-uv-mineral-shield-spf30.html

I’m happy to keep buying these products if they do measure up.
Moisturisers, cleansers etc are all at the budget end of the spectrum so for actives and the really important stuff I feel I can justify splashing out! Plus, my skin can be fussy and I give up very easily with products I’m not sure about so I tend to blindly stick with something it gets on well with.

Also watching the retinol discussion with interest, it’s something I’ve been dithering over for years but having hit mid-thirties it’s definitely time I jumped!