Dior skincare - worth it?

[sittingonacornflake]

So I'm about to turn the big 3-0 so finally need to get a good skincare routine going.

No real clue about good brands to try so went for a mooch in Debenhams and ended up at the dior counter. Sampled a few bits and my skin felt lovely so think this could
Potentially be one to go for. Only thing is - it's so damn expensive!

For the micellar water, toner, capture totale dream skin (moisturiser?) and capture youth glow booster oil it will come to approx £200.

Before forking our I wanted to harness the good old MN wisdom and experience and ask whether it's really worth it? Any bits I should look elsewhere for? Or am I going to be very bloody happy with my skin after this purchase?

nonononono, dont spend £££ it on overpriced and overadvertised on Dior stuff! their serums are usually silicon-laden, heavily fragranced and what boils my blood - with pic's of 17year old models advertising the anti-age products, and yes, did i mention - overpriced.
have a look at caroline hirons website - she has great tips on age specific skincare routines and on what to spend /save your hard earned money (i.e. moisturizer or cleanser doesn't need to be expensive!)
finally, if you've got some money burning your pockets - go into spacenk and ask for recommendations/samples (they are brilliantly generous) or get a mini/travel version of a product (there are plenty of these, and now is a perfect time because of all these xmas gift sets with minis in them!)

I would say no, spend your money else where. Recommending Garnier Micellar Water, Cerave Hydrating Cleanser and also their moisturiser. Toner is effectively pointless, if you need a hydrating step, La Roche Posay Hyalu B5 Serum is hyaluronic acid based. As for an oil, a basic Rosehip will be fine

No, it’s overpriced and tested on animals for 5he Chinese market.

Your better off using an oil to remove make up, a foaming cleanser to clean the skin and an antioxidant serum to protect from pollution then an spf 50 sunblock.

Damn. But my skin felt so lovely! I did wonder if you're just paying for the name though....

Body shop ‘oils of life’ range feels luxurious and smells great. Lower profile French brands such as Avene also produce some excellent products.

I wish at your age someone had told me the following things as, being a reformed high end/luxury brand face care junkie, I’d have saved a vast amount of money over the years:
1/ the expensive brands are more about advertising and packaging rather than results. They often test on very small samples - 60 in the case of dream skin - or use woolly terminology for their claims. The high end might feel/smell luxurious but many of brands at the more affordable end of the market achieve pretty similar results.
2/ You don’t initially need to invest in a whole range . A lot of what we buy to whack on our face has an emotional root. We really, really want to believe their hollow promises. If you need to scratch that particular itch then just get one thing rather than spend huge amounts on the whole range, some of which is guaranteed to just gather expensive dust. Remember that claims about the whole range being more effective used together will be more about making a bigger sale rather than true necessity.
3 The measures that will really help your skin are avoiding sun damage and keeping hydrated. Personally, I’d also want to avoid parabens and all the other grot chemicals some of the high end brands use and go for something which has cleaner ingredients.
4 Over time, skin will get used to whatever you use and it’ll become less effective. So, it’s good to change brands periodically to give skin a boost.

Do you want a) for your skin to feel sooo lovely or b) to have a skincare regime now you are 30 to help it stay looking 30?

Presumably the latter given it's turning 30 that has made you think of this.

There is no magic in skincare but a lot of smoke and mirrors and marketing. The things that are proven to work are well known.

Cleanser - something that you like. Not worth spending £££ on, it's on your face for seconds. It shouldn't leave your face feeling squeaky clean but neither are any fancy ingredients worth paying for. No wipes.

Moisturiser - unless it has something actually in it to help you skin, it's just contributing 'a feeling of loveliness'. Good high street option is Cerave which has ceramides, hyaluronic acid and niacinamide in for a v bargain price, all of which other brands will try to sell you as high end.

Things that actually do some good:

Not smoking

Using SPF daily

Using a retinol cream at night

Final option - Vitamin C serum

Using an acid toner - salicylic if you are concerned about blackheads, sebaceous filaments on your nose and oily skin, glycolyic or lactic if dry skin. All widely available, Mumsnetters have many tried and tested favorite brands.

Thats it. Anything else is just adding extra fancy bits on which might make a small extra bit of difference but that is the nuts and bolts of skincare.

If you want one brand and don't want to put any thought into it, I'd go with Paula's Choice who have pretty much done all the work for you.

Wow thank you all for the advice - I've been making notes!

@AnnaMagnani if you use the retinol cream at night does that mean you would only use the vitamin c one in the day? Or would you has vitamin c at night too?

Defo not worth it. You just need good active ingredients and this routine: acids/vit c in morning/retinol at night/Cerave moisturiser occasionally.

This is what Caroline Hurons, Nadine Baggot etc will tell you.