🐌 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

Re: moisturisers. I'll probably repurchase the Cerave PM. It's so light. There's none of that claggy feeling. No SPF of course but light enough to layer sunscreen on top without it getting mucky.

Best thing is that a bottle lasts 6 months through some witchcraft. I bought a 2 pack on eBay last year and I still have a quarter of a bottle left.

Good point about the SPF, I must order some. It takes forever to arrive from Japan. I've emailed Skincity to ask for help re my BR order.

Thanks, Bagel, that sounds great - will definitely check it out!

JDSTER I use Retin-A and P50 - the former every other day and alternate P50 every 4 days (if that makes sense). I took the P50 down a notch and will probably increase it to every other day in the summer when I reduce my RetinA usage. My face (dry, 44 yr old skin) hasn't fallen off yet and I've been using them together since April but YMMV etc etc

I've ordered the new makeup revolution concealer. Meant to be a tarte shape tape dupe
Love the hydrating lotion toner I got, really seems to make a difference to my skin

Thanks tsmummy.
That BBC programme was as you’d expect. The next day I had an email from ‘look fantastic’with top ten retinols and body brushes - right off the back of that programme. And of course some people will start using retinol, their faces WILL fall off because they’ll slap it on every day or they’ll becone so dry they’ll give it up anyway

Thanks Bo. Been busy, so no time to come on until now! I am definitely missing an exfoliating toner around my nose, as I can almost feel the build up of skin. My cleanser are all a bit old, so I have purchased the LRP one that has been mentioned on here to try out.

JDSTER Indeed, but then my skin seems to react worse to Retinol Retin-A. It's certainly not something to go slapping on your face without knowledge of the potential side-effects. I'll have to find the programme on catch-up.

Joz hmmm, just realised that my Biore SPF is feeling a little light and I need to make an order, pronto... hope it arrives before this one runs out...

I haven’t watched the BBC programme but sounds like they should have asked us lot on, especially Bo

Elspeth I have the same issues with finding products that really make a difference, it’s a massive trial and error for me (mainly error!), I wish more of the expensive brands sold trial sizes and samples.

Just a quick one- is purging to be expected with the Paula's choice bha?

(I've been using two weeks and starting to get spots on chin where I'm using it)

I always reorder SPF when I open my last bottle. On the basis that it takes blooming ages to arrive... likewise cleanser, rosewater, & thermal water if at all possible.

Blacksails I’ve been using PC BHA for around the same time and yes I’ve had a few whiteheads around my nose and chin this week, only tiny ones luckily but it’s a long time since I got any whiteheads at all so I did wonder if there was some sort of purging going on.

I’ve just gone back to work though after a long break and being in the office (think it’s the recycled air and long days wearing a full face of makeup) seems to make my skin more oily so could be that causing the breakouts.

Mine are little white heads too userallisedup Hopefully someone who has used it for a while can tell us if it is purging or not!

They pretty much spent half an hour on nonsense with weird tests, and honestly who has 'normal' skin except a 15-25 yo without any hormonal influences on their skin. So saying normal skin doesn't need moisturiser is a bit odd, as most of us don't have normal skin. Thought it was also very odd that they didn't mention the most sensible reason to be using sunscreen, you know, skin cancer

Also thought the Sali Hughes section was most odd, a huge amount of time spent filming her preening in the mirror to then turn to her into some sort of game show host. I figure you hire SH to appear for her opinion, but I guess not

And for an avid beauty junkie and vlog/blog watcher I thought it was rather bizarre that she was so surprised by the tret/sunscreen answer to it all, I think it won't be common knowledge to everyone but anyone dipping their toes into beauty enough will at least know that.

Speaking of the Biore SPF, I saw there are new ones in the lineup that are also primers. There's several version, one for coverage (I think this one would be marketed as blurring/pore putty here), one for brightening (it looks pinky), and one for oil control. The release date is in February but the oil control and brightening one are already available on Amazon Japan although I'm not sure if they'll ship it. They sound interesting as they promise maximum oil control, no shininess but a dewy finish.

I have to check but the Medik8 R-R promises visible results in 4 weeks, I'm not sure if they have some sort of money back guarantee with that but I think there was something like that available. Forgot to mention with the Retinol list above, Dr. Sam often recommends the normal retinol in different strengths from Medik8 as well, which are reasonably priced (think somewhere around the 25 mark).

Sails, purging can happen with any exfoliating acid but if it continues then it's probably not a good thing. BHA does draw deeper and brings thing to the surface so it could be that, just monitor it carefully.

botemp how long should it last for if it is just purging?

I'm so pissed off with that programme and I haven't had a chance to see it yet - and don't know if I'll bother.

Yy - who has normal skin? Ppl are annoyed that no women of colour made up the ridiculously small test group.

Sali Hughes is saying that they cut out all the balancing info she gave about foundations. Ie, skin type, age etc

An FB "beauty" group I'm on - so many ppl wanting to order "ooh yes, I'll just slap TO 1% Retinol on my face every night for 10 days, no sunscreen and ill be fine, right?" Grrrrr.

Sails, with a normal product used daily purging should really stop after two weeks but assuming you're using 1-2x a week to start (if not, this may be the issue) then I would say the purging shouldn't last longer than 2-4 weeks.

I haven't checked in on the threads, but I've seen a sudden increase in sunscreen and retinol queries. Had they used 30mins instead to explain the intricacies of retinol and sunscreen and why one cannot be used without the other I'd be applauding the effort but it's bordering on irresponsible, besides the factually incorrect, and dressing it up with lab coats and 'science' whilst presenting a rather skewed narrative. Although YADBU, Bagel, for being on a FB beauty group with such poor skincare knowledge

Sali H reckons lots of bits were cut out. Haven't watched it yet but I'll have to as I think my DM will probably have watched it and will ask me if I agree with whatever they were saying. She has excellent skin though so doesn't need their advice. (Whatever it was.) Will watch tomorrow afternoon I think.

I accidentally ate wheat yesterday so I'm back on day one of wheat free eating. 🙄 It's easy to avoid but you really have to comb through the ingredients of everything. (Bit like skincare!)

Still weighing up the vitamin C serums. The Medik8 is the top choice atm but a couple more to look at before I buy.

Quick stupid question, will the bit C help skin 'texture'? Feels smooth but in some lights it's not looking smooth. Not wrinkle wise, just teeny under skin bumps. I know an acid would probably be the answer but just curious about the C.

*vit c

Thanks Bo for the info on new Biore SPF/primers. The brightening one I use now is pinky coloured and I’ve said before it’s a bit like a primer so I’ll be interested to see how this new one compares

I spent ages on Amazon Japan, found the new Biore spf/primer, set up an account and got all the way to checkout to find that indeed, they will not ship to UK

Quick review - make up revolution conceal and define. It's obviously a dupe of tarte shape tape! Liquid concealer with a large doe foot applicator. Massive shade range, I went for C1 which is the palest obviously for me!
Applied nicely, covers under eye well. Wouldn't say it was full coverage but it doesn't seem to crease much or oxidise. For £4 it's decent and probably the best cheap concealer I've used. Can see it being good for dry skin

Speaking of tarte, they have two new foundations coming out to add to the shape tape range. One is matte, the other is a hydrating one with HA in a gel type formula, I'm thinking maybe like MAC studio sculpt. Definitely one I want to try

Bo I can't actually remember why I joined it (fairly recently) and I've already been thinking of leaving it.

It's mainly ppl oohing and aaahing about the huge amounts of makeup they buy (to me it's actually insane). Some are very talented with makeup. Interesting point: Vast amounts wearing heavy foundation like ELDW, hmmm, maybe you should invest in skincare, not just makeup!

I did a little warning post last night about retinoids/Retinols - just asking ppl to do their research esp on % as it's confusing. Several admitted buying stuff in the past and their faces falling off and other posters not having a clue. But if that's a snapshot of what ppl took away from the programme, it's really not good.