🐌 Fantastic Skincare: Jump through flaming hoops, repeat, 'Beauty is Pain', and acces to this thread will be unlocked

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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.

I am very slowly working on consolidating the gathered information from previous threads into easier to read formats but it’s slow going. 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

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?

NEW SERIES:

So You Want To Buy A Retinoid - A Guide

I have got pale skin and use the Hourglass luminous bronze light. I had one of the 6 palette editions initially which I really liked so have since bought the bronzer separately. I have never really got on with bronzer in the past as I found them all too dark or too orangey but I really like this one. If you are very pale I suppose you could use the dim light ambient powder as a bronzer maybe?

@VillageFete

Need to catch up on this thread, life’s been hectic. I’ve got to catch up from page 32, so before I settle in to read I just wanted to ask a question...

Those of you who are seasoned Tret users, when did you notice a real difference?

I’ve had a month of 0.15, then 0.25 and now i’ve had a month 0.5 - all with Dermatica.

I’ve just started using 0.5 every other day. Very slight peeling (make up looks crap because of it. Do I buff the dry skin off?)

There’s a definite improvement, but it’s subtle. Still wouldn’t feel confident without make up, and I still don’t have that lovely fresh/flawless look. Does it take while?!

I have to be honest and say that years of Tret have done very little visibly for me. What has been the game changer is P50.

@VillageFete - Have been using Skin+Me for around a year. Initially there was no irritation, but then around the 9 month mark, my skin became really dry, and also stopped the other actives.

Am now on 0.30% (which stayed the same from last month) and there is definitely a difference in skin texture and pigmentation.

Oh, and DD1(14) is obsessed with Dr Sam Bunting, most of her advice doesn't seem to clash with own Dermatologist, so guess there are worse influencers out there for teenage girls.

One of the recommendations that I think makes sense is taking Vit D as a spray which I have adopted.

My skin is having a breakout. I've got dermatitis on my hands, acne and angular chelitis or whatever it's called at one side of my mouth. Bad skin

Thanks Sallie. I'll have to have a look on the hourglass site again and figure it all out.

I'm not totally pale by English standards Cad. But still quite pale. In Nars concealer im the colour creme brûlée (if you're familiar with that). I will have a look at the luminous bronze light too. Thank you. And yes, I'm worried about a bronzer looking too dark or orangey.

Hi Village, I use tret for acne. I use 0.05% and it took about three months to see an improvement. Had a big purge at the start and was covered in spots. My friends told me that my skin started looking glowy around that time too. I also use prescription azelaic acid and that makes a huge difference (if I don't get carried away and over use it). I would like to try P50 but scared with the tret as my skin is sensitive.

Hope your skin clears up soon Queen.

Thanks Sallie I tend to go darker too or end up looking the same. I can be very dark in Summer but Winter jaundiced corpse is an apt description. I once got colour matched in Kat Von Dee, and they pulled out an actual grey foundation that they kept for teenage goths and it was the same colour as my skin

I bought the Trinny bff eye and have been having a play. I have hideous dark circles but have come to the conclusion that if I cover them I need to wear full coverage makeup and I dont want to do that much anymore.
I can never seem to get that dotting of concealer and a swish of lipstick and you are done look right. It looks patchy.
I had tried the much talked about Sisley concealer in London a few years ago, hoping it would be the one, but it didn't meet expectations. Though looking back on it I was quite ill at the time and the sales assistant just kept layering and layering it over the Makeup I already had on so it didn't get to stand a chance.
Anyway, Trinny is mad as anything and her insta is fabulous for entertainment, but I thought her products might be a bit shit.
This is exactly what I wanted and have been looking for ages for. The colour is exactly right, I can just wear the concealer over sunscreen. It's in no way covering them up but just making me look like I may have slept a bit last night (I doubt anything other than filler will make a difference...maybe the will really make me love him)
I wore just concealer, lipstick and mascara yesterday, if I can be arsed to dye my eyelashes today maybe I can skip the mascara for a while

Queen hope that clears for you soon, it sounds very sore.

Mrobama I finally got DH to agree to see a derm. He got the same prescriptions sent to the GP and has also admitted he should have done it years ago. The NHS waiting lists here are obscenely long, esp with covid, for a derm apt especially for a "common issue" it seems this is the way forward.
DH couldn't even get to see a GP about his skin, as why would a man be concerned about having acne.

Bo I'm so happy I paid attention to the previous threads. The A313 has worked a treat. Massive reduction in KP and I have soft body skin for the first time in my life.
I was also googleing at home body chemical peels and then on a whim (remember buffalo hide skin)
Smothered myself in TO aha/bha red peel as it seemed the same.
So I did this about a week before I started with the A313 and now I'm practically slippering about in my clothes instead of sawing my husky snakey body in. So thank you yet again for the recommendation/listing what you've been up to

70s and/or Bo what is A313? I’m starting to get chicken skin (which I assume is KP) on my legs and would like to nip it in the bud before summer, I’ve got the Cerave smoothing body cream but it doesn’t seem to be helping much and I’m not crazy about the texture as it takes a while to absorb.

I hope your skin heals soon Queen I get angular chelitis occasionally and it’s horrid

It's Pommade A313 Sallie, it's a French pharmacy OTC thing but you can buy it in the UK too, I gather, I mean if Duvet can get into NI, I'm sure the rest of the UK must be a doddle. It's made by the same company that made Avibon if that rings a bell (OTC tretinoin in France that had to be taken off the market as it required a prescription). It's a selection of retinoid derivatives, incidentally the most unproven ones to work. I'm a bit iffy on their other retinoid characteristics but it's really good at excavating everything out of pores so that's the most (and to me only) noticeable quality. It's very itchy though if you use too much so I tend to dilute it with a plain body lotion (Kiehl's creme de corps in my case but no need for something that fancy, just something unfussy without fragrance).

Glad to hear it worked duvet, I actually recently saw Dr Shereen Idris (not sure what to make of her, she's a derm but doesn't necessarily give typical derm advice but she seems to be changing her tune now that she's building a following) actually recommend it for KP so it feels somewhat assuring that my experiment isn't as mad scientist as I thought.

Fête, I'm not really sure tbh, it was a couple of months in that I went ooh, it was a subtle thing though, I noticed I looked better without concealer than with (as the skin had thickened up, I didn't have very dark circles or wrinkles but there was a shadow of sorts). Most people notice pores first but I think my usual skin care routine already got them looking as minimised as possible so that wasn't a noticeable thing for me.

I've finally caught up! If I had been up to date I probably would have posted a photo of my hand to see if you could guess my generic origins and I am a fit worried about what my accent will do to my face, as what Bo said does kind of fit I need to keep on track with this thread because last week I forgot to do my oil cleanse first, for the first time in over a year.

There was a thread (I think it was at the start of the year) where someone ended up with vision problems as a result of having botox, so I've decided that I'm definitely never going to be brave enough to go down that route. Instead I'm going to join Skin and Me and/or get a Bear at some point, I want to use various things up before then because I have developed a bit of a hoard of some things.

I said a few mo this ago that I would come back on and review the Q&A skincare bundle that I bought. I'm near the end of the Niacinamide toner, I will always keep niacinamide in my evening routine, but the Revolution one is cheaper and I dont really see a difference. The Q&A toner is more natural may appeal to people more though. I used the Q&A hyaluronic acid for the first time yesterday, so I need to use that a bit more before I form my opinion. I think I would struggle to fit it in on a a typical morning.

@70sduvet - brilliant - it was so helpful for DD1 going private and impressed that the consultant realised that the cost was a factor so referred back to GP. Have heard that some GPs take a dim view of bouncing back and forth and a friend of mine was instructed to, 'go back to fancy dermatologist..' to get repeats prescription.

Quick query. Does anyone think there's an issue with layering sunscreen? Am using Altruist face fluid 50 as a base followed by Heliocare tinted.

Sallie I bought the A313 on Amazon, it was about £18, I know Bo was able to get it for around £6 a tube, and it is around that in France. But its not available available in the UK as far as I know.
It was a bit cheaper for multiples.

I tried it as a punt that worked out as I've had terrible KP all my life, I was really bullied in primary school because of it (swimming lessons in an all girls school ughhhhh) Obviously as an adult I've come to not really care but my ears did prick up eyes did pop out when I heard read of Bo's good fortune with the A313.

We had a discussion earlier in the thread about there being two types of KP which I didn't know before. Obviously thanks to Bo and her great cavernous mind of knowledge.
There's the type that is buried keratin plugs which get stuck in the hair follicles (which I have and I think bo too)
And I've now forgotten the other type as I write this, sorry but it's back in the thread above somewhere...

I've used almost a full tube as bo described, just with a plain Avene body moisturiser. I have a little bit of roughness still on my forearms but they were the worst.

I dont know if this is going to turn out to be a long time cure, but its something I'm happy to do a few times a year to quieten things down.

Its an almost miracle.
Covid is killing me!!! I NEED all my friends to stroke me appreciatively and acknowledge how soft my skin is for the first time in my life. I'd let Buffalo Bill make a skin suit out of me if he admired my beautiful skin first

ahhh all silky soft

Yes, I buy it from Soin et Nature where it's around €6, I'm sure they ship to the UK (maybe not NI) but you'll get and admin and VAT bill on arrival (I assume) but if you're bulk buying it may work out.

Yes there's people with KP that's more like oily skin and then there's us who are on the drier side and like to hoard keratin

Hmm I’m not sure what sort of KP I’ve got or even if it is KP - it’s like goosebumps but doesn’t go away even when I’m warm and a lot of the bumps are red. It’s on my upper legs/lower thighs.

I’ve seen the A313 on Amazon now but given I’m prone to itchy legs anyway not sure if I want to risk it though sounds like it should be ok if I dilute it.

The other thing I’m looking at is the body P50 but OMG the price

I have combo/oily skin on my face but very dry skin on my body (especially legs) and I’m very prone to scaly skin and itchy rashes (usually because I’ve reacted to a perfumed shower gel or moisturiser) but never had this before and it isn’t itchy.

Does sound like KP, the keratin hoarding version.

I've thought about buying P50 body before, I'm sure it's great but it just seems like so much faff (you also need to buy a ridiculously overpriced silicone glove to use with it, it's €55 IIRC).

You could try a glycolic acid body lotion, I like the Alpha Skincare one (not the same brand as the liquid gold), I buy it from Amazon US but Face Theory has something similar, fragranced, lower concentration glycolic but also lower pH so about the same active ingredient. I think it's a thicker balm like product though, which puts me off as my skin isn't that eager to absorb things (as it's fairly balanced).

Used a sample of the purito comfy water spf today and I really really like it. Hoping it comes back once they've sorted out the SPF ratings..

disclaimer I was only going to the supermarket at 10am so I wasn't fussed with the spf being lower!
I've had to stop using the body shop spf as it is stinging my eyes like crazy

Had you been using TBS one long @QueenPaw ?

@Purpleblondelady I had used it before the reformulation and this is the first one since. Used it about 4 times as I like it but I've worked out it makes my eyes sting and water

Ah it did go off sale for a while didnt it, I can't remember if that was because of the UVA rating or if I'm thinking of a different brand

I was they’d sort the Purito debacle out as it was perfect for me, I using the Garnier for face one now and whilst I’m not getting any irritation (eyes or elsewhere) I’m not super keen on the texture. I’m thinking of trying heliocare or the altruist anti redness one next. I do like frezyderm but until the weather warms up I’d like one that doubles as a moisturiser.

But I have GOOD NEWS a lovely friend in the US is sending me some timeless Vit c, hope it won’t take too long to arrive. It’s also available on yes style now though I think we maybe discussed this before and had some concerns about the shipping time?

Thank you for the KP advice Bo I’m thinking of going with the Alpha one you’ve mentioned. In the meantime I have some salicylic acid 2% serum I bought for a couple of quid in Superdrug but it’s too tacky for my face, wondering if that might help?

I have the fenty SPF on today which I really like. I need a moisturiser under it but if you're less dry it would work alone

Just a quick one to let people who like foreo know that brand alley have a couple of their other devices on at the moment, not the bear or the mini bear but the led ones that you use with face masks.

@SallieSallow - Take care with the Altruist anti redness. It is green and when you put it on you look as if you've been Tango'ed. The Altruist Face fluid is good, and use it as a base, and am a huge fan of Heliocare, although quite expensive.

Really excited for you about the Timeless...:)

I've been using the Cloud Dew Oil-Free Gel Cream from Summer Fridays for a couple of weeks. I like it.