Skin care help desperately needed

[Seriouslyconfused3]

Inspired by another thread I am seeking help!

I’m 35 and have virtually no skin care routine and am starting to age

At the moment I use Micellar water morning and night (sometimes I settle for baby wipes ), a clean and clear face wash when I get break outs and I use pretty much any moisturiser under my make up.

When I type it it looks shameful!

I have pcos and am prone to spots (never was as a teenager- typical) and am starting to get smile lines. My eyes look dark (poor pigmentation) and my skin looks really dull.

Help Mumsnet skincare gurus!!!!

Get some flannels and look up double cleansing. Caroline Huron's' blog has some good general advice.
Use micelles to take off eye/face make up and do a double cleanse.
Use a SPF of at least 30 every day.
Start small with a reliable brand such as La Roche Posay for cleansers, a toner and a moisturiser.
I have dry skin so can't give you specific advice on your skin type, but once you've got the basic routine then you can start adding in serums to treat specific issues .

Caroline hirons cheat sheets are a great place to start. Google her blog.
I personally find a lot of her latest recommendations to be very exxy when there are so many effective and affordable alternatives but the cheat sheets are a fantastic framework.

Just start with cream cleanser, warmish water & flannel, morning and night and a daily SPF. build from there. Add a moisturiser. Then get specific with skin needs, areas you wish to target (serums, Vit c etc etc). HTH

I have oily skin and hormonal acne and I've ramped up my skincare regime for lockdown and I'm seeing improvements already! I've used neutrogena salicylic acid face wash, the ordinary azelaic acid (good for wrinkles and spots), the ordinary hyaluronic acid and cerave moisturiser. I use a prescription spot cream only on the areas affected and do this twice a day.
I was terrible for using baby wipes and sleeping in makeup (I know) and my skin looks dramatically better from just this simple routine, oh and not wearing any make up throughout lockdown.

Thanks everyone- that gives me a great starting point!

La Roche pousay skincare is fabulous

Spots and lines - retinol (online prescription such as Boots and Dermatica) such as adapalene combined with niacinamide or benzoyl peroxide. You will need to use sunscreen with this (make sure you remove sunscreen with through cleanse and flannel)

Azelaic acid is a good ingredient
Salicylic acid is good too - Paula's Choice is a good brand
Cerave moisturiser seems to be recommended a lot, particularly good for dry skin

What is your skin type OP?

I must be quite oily at the moment but I can get very sensitive skin

I agree that Caroline Hirons recommendations can be expensive but you really don’t need to spend a fortune. At least initially.

The Body Shop Chamomile cleansing balm or oil is very good. Superdrug also do some great products. Lots suitable for sensitive skins.

Introduce things slowly. Don’t go mad on acids. The Nip + Fab pads are good as they are buffered so don’t cause too much issues. I used them for ages then switched to Pixi Glow tonic which was a mistake for my skin. Also quite sensitive.

I'd recommend double cleansing too. It doesn't have to be expensive M&S pure range do a fantastic hot cloth cleanser that comes with the muslin cloth for a tenner, then follow with a tonic, something to exfoliate the dead skin cells and brighten the skin. You say you have dark pigmentation? Vitamin C is good for that and PIXI do a vitamin C tonic I use myself which is £18. I use a serum on my skin by the Ordinary again very reasonable price and seem to get good reviews. Then I use a hydrating moisturizer again from the Pure range £22. I also exfoliate about twice a week now to remove dead skin cells as well. My skin care routine was very much like yours was, decided to invest in some products and time for me and I'm really happy with my skin at the moment.

What you wash with doesn't make that much difference. I was using a fancy face wash but ran out and used soap with my flannel - no difference. Moisturiser is a similar thing; Creme de la Mer is pretty juch the same as blue tub Nivea, by all accounts. What does matter is serum and acid. The biggest difference to my skin has been from putting on a zit zapping serum (ie 2% salicylic acid) and using some sort of glycolic toner (Nip and Fab best for me and cheaper than Pixi). A facial oil is also very nice - slap one on before bed and look like a glowy, well-rested goddess in the morning! I like rosehip oil but I've used a few different ones.

Wow thanks- I’ve been online and ordered some cleanser, serum, toner and moisturiser. Got them coming next day delivery so hopefully I’ll get them tomorrow. Ideally if I can sort my skin out I’d like to go foundation free (which I haven’t been since school)

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice. I’ve bought some nice products and already my skin looks so much better!

@Seriouslyconfused3 what did you get?

I got cerave moisturiser, la Roche posey effaclar duo with tinted moisturiser, la Roche retinol, some decent cleanser and la Roche eye cream. So far so good- I’m even foregoing foundation and just using tinted moisturiser! Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated

I came on to start a thread like this so delighted to see it’s already been done! I’m 33, no skincare routine, pregnant with a toddler and have awful (pregnancy induced) spots but desperately want to get into a manageable routine now that I can stick to when the baby is here (early Nov so plenty of time).

Under normal circs I have combination skin, prone to hormonal spots, very pale so I should be wearing spf more than I do! I just clean my face with wipes and occasionally moisturise atm 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

@harrietM87 it really has made such a huge difference in a really short period of time!

You have to add a sunscreen to that. If you are using stronger skincare with proper active ingredients (like retinol) you risk damaging your skin in the sun, leading to for example pigmentation spots.

I recommend the dedicated skincare threads. There are links to all the threads in the first post and just reading the first one is very informative. There are also fact sheets linked in the OP. This is the latest one:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3773960--Fantastic-Skincare-Is-Everyone-Having-Botox-Without-Me?pg=1&messages=100

Definitely add sunscreen (I personally prefer those with zinc and titanium dioxide in the ingredients lists). Other than that, you have more than enough products for now.

Sorry I forgot sunscreen- I did get that too I swear

Ah good, you had us worried there I still recommend the skincare threads of course!

If you're looking for serums, acids, peptides etc.., have a look at The Ordinary. Very good price point, tons of choice, lots of advice of what not to mix'n'match and they have an online chat option where you can discuss your specifics. This may not be available at the mo, but be careful if you're new to it all - retinol can be very irritating and vitamin C can react badly with other formulas.