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

[botemp]

Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 Thread 5 Thread 6 Thread 7 Thread 8 Thread 9 Thread 10
Thread 11 Thread 12 Thread 13 Thread 14 Thread 15 Thread 16 Thread 17 Thread 18 Thread 19 Thread 20 Thread 21

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

Ninny my GP surgery isn’t overly busy as they don’t deal with anything virus related & not getting people shuffling in for coughs and colds. They usually do telephone/video initially but happy to see people in person too, guess it depends on what yours is like but maybe worth trying a video appointment initially?

Thanks for the Depop info Bo I made the mistake of liking a few pairs of boots and now getting the Babes and Hun messages which I’ve ignored. The girl selling the boots I want seems nice, I’ve messaged her & she’s replied and sent some more info/photos so think I’ll go ahead with those. They’re very bargainous anyway so don’t feel the need to haggle unless she asks me for £20 postage or something, I’d better ask about that!

Just give them a call Ninny. General advice here has been not to delay reaching out for medical help, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it just means a lot more work in the long term for them when everyone does that.

Yeah, Sallie, you have to save things (looks like the bookmark icon on here, third icon in) instead of liking, then the seller won't get a notification and you'll be spared from being spoken to in emojis and xx everywhere.

Thanks for the welcome. I decided to start right at the beginning of your threads because I wanyed to get serious about anti-aging, but there are so many brands, products and price points out there that I wanted to get a fuller picture of what people were using and what they found worked. It take take me a while to read the whole lot but it was interesting to see which products came and went and which are still being talked about. Bo, don't worry I had seen enough of your general character by then not to judge you on these comments. Also I have purchased a couple of products from The Ordinary (serum foundation and Argireline) Infact I repurchase the argireline just last week because I couldn't find an alternative product with it in. I'm sure the 1st time I bought it there were other products containing it, I think M&S did some capsules with it in, but I couldn't find them again.

On the subject of products being too harsh without enough warnings on the packaging, I've currently got a REN AHA (Just sample size from the M&S beauty bag) but that states to use it twice daily, surely no one should be using an AHA twice/day every day? I use it a couple of times/week if that (but that's maybe why I'm not really seeing any results from it!)

Any great deals on Amazon Prime today as it's Prime Day. Nothing really struck me as a great bargain.

Am I missing anything?

I can't remember, Purple, think it's mandelic or lactic acid, something very mild anyhow. Still wouldn't recommend it daily, think some people found it really irritating but it was probably down to fragrance and citrus essential oils (?) instead of the acid.

MrObama, I only see anything in my cart of interest with a good prime offer on the US one. I don't think I can sign up to their Prime though, the German one won't let me anyhow and insists I use the local one which is annoying as the German one is often cheaper and has more on offer.

Amazon.nl is still very much in its infancy even though it's been live for quite a while. Reviews haven't been ported over from other marketplaces, still, and there is no PPC functionality yet. Most people use .de as you say. Amazon.se (Sweden) is now live. I guess they plan on having lots of smaller marketplaces.

I didn’t see any bargains on amazon prime though they’ve given me a kindle unlimited deal 7.99 for 3 months. I sign up sporadically when they have the deals on and cancel when it goes back up to full price.

I’ve ordered two pairs of boots from Depop both very good bargains and nice sellers, friendly and helpful but not hunning me. Thank you Bo for letting me know about the bookmark, will remember to use that in future rather than liking stuff.

In other news I’m getting winter skin might have to drop tret back down to every other night.

I am trying Dr Dennis Gross pore perfectors set
drdennisgross.com/alpha-betar-pore-perfectors.html

AM the cleansing gel from the set in the morning, followed by vit c paula's choice & spf
PM the pads, serum from the set & Jordan Samuel the performance cream

Need to go over my skincare and come up with some sort of rotation week on/week off retinol & acids.

You're right Bo, it's lactic acid and various citrus peel oils. It's not a product that I would recommend.

Clarins seem to be really going for it with adverts for their serum, they're everywhere! Nothing about their adverts is making me at all intrigued and making me want to look into what it offers at all though.

Sallie Interesting that you're getting winter skin... I found mine was pink and reactive yesterday after being lovely for a few weeks (thanks for the advice on finally ditching L-AA Bo - definitely the right move for me). I've been using my S&M most nights (the amount of tret has gone up to 0.021 recently, still pretty low), but with Missha First Treatment essence morning and night, Glossier MAP in the morning, and Ceramidin as a moisturiser night and day.

That's been working really well, no pinkness until now... And my face healed from the burns amazingly quickly - my wrist was much more badly affected but even that's almost back to normal. The body's capacity to regenerate is pretty cool to watch!

Am definitely getting winter skin, but also am spending more time outside in the evening as DD2 and DS are doing running on the track. Think it's also the combination of being outside in the elements, and then coming into central heating.

Did notice that Skin + Me last night started to sting and am only on 0.18%.

Loving the effect of Dr Dennis Gross skin perfectors set. I did 4 days in row, I think I am going to do 2 more before trying to figure out weekly split between it and tret days

What are your favorites to protect hydratation & skin barrier while using actives?

I thought I might avoid winter skin this year as I’m spending less time in the office but seems like any form of heating dries my skin out, I’m very cold blooded though so can’t deal with no heating in my house or car.

Mia I use cerave PM at night and Purito centella SPF 50 in the morning, I find the Purito very moisturising so don’t need to use anything else but have oily/combo skin - with dry patches in winter as moaned about above

That’s great that your burns have healed so well Ts I’m guessing they might have left your skin more tender/sensitive than usual especially with colder weather thrown into the mix as well. Maybe leave off tret for a bit longer?

I’m still using tret every night, I can deal with a bit of dryness (or dustiness as Bo calls it ) as I’m wearing fairly minimal makeup these days but if it gets any worse or starts stinging I’ll cut back.

No dustiness for me so far but my hair has been struggling with the change in seasons. Not quite sure whether it's down to the new Hada Labo lotion or that I started using a deluxe sample of Cerave's normal moistuiser (was a bit wary as it's heavier but I'm only using a smidge and it works really well) when my usual LRP ran out and I thought I had a backup which I didn't.

Glad things are much better now Tsm good thing SpaceNk were able to take back the DE serum.

Purple, I've become quite insulated from beauty marketing, so not sure what serum that is. I've always wondered what direction they're headed as they have that conundrum of having a loyal (but very much older) base but are rapidly becoming irrelevant with all the competition and all those counters are not cheap to maintain. It's just not sustainable long term, they used to be front runners and now they're lagging behind.

At the moment, am quite liking Apothaka Comforting Moisturiser, although quite expensive so probably won't buy again. The texture is perfect. Shame about the price.

Am also quite liking Neutrogena gel/cream, which is fragrance free. Initially bought the gel which has fragrance, but the gel/cream is fairly good.

Over the weekend, went into Space NK shop, and usually spend too much get excited about some of the products, but since being on this thread, it was just, 'meh...' and had lunch with DD2 at Wagamama

DH has a new job and it comes with a private GP service. I've had a virtual consult and she wants to refer me to a derm (because I also have an issue around the inner corner of my eyes now too).

This is after a chemist told me to try steroid cream .

So hopefully I'll have some answers soon.

She did mention perioral dermatitis Sallie: and steroid cream is a main trigger .

Bo- it does seem almost panicky the amount of advertising that they're doing! The skincare market seems saturated at the moment and other brands have perhaps overtaken them in the results that they offer and they are doing it cheaper.

Has anyone done the skin analysis app on Olay/Nivea/L'oreal? They generally say that my skin age is younger than I am, but I have had results from ages 19-40 on the different occasions that I've done it! The time that I got aged 40 was first thing in the morning though. The L'Oreal one compares pore quality, firmness, radiance and pigmentation to other people of the same age and gives you a % score. My radiance and pores were in the 80s, but firmness was in 40s, which was a bit because radiance can be improved or at least cheated whereas firmness is hard to improve.

Don't get disheartened by an app, considering all the variables between phone cameras those things will never tell you anything accurate. I'm a bit wary of what they do with your data/pictures, and I'm too lazy to read through all the fine print. Those numbers are confusing as well, I initially read it as radiance and pores were like someone in their 80s 🙈 for firmness tretinoin helps a bit. There's also some newfangled fillers that make you look chiseled but I find them quite scary looking.

I must admit, Ninny, I've always been a bit mystified by the British enthusiasm to take advice from pharmacists (they're only allowed to advise on use of a prescribed medication here and flag up potential issues when using multiple medications). My hunch was correct then that your skin is being its unpredictable self again and needs someone with more knowledge.

I didn't say I'd taken the advice Bo. I mentioned it to the chemist as I was having my flu jab whilst I was waiting for DH to set up the private healthcare for us all (he's a bit tardy for my liking!).

I don't think my skin likes being called "it's unpredictable self".

I did go back and change what I'd written because I thought it might read as if my skin rating was in years, I obviously still didn't get it right! I do take the apps with a pinch of salt.

In the UK there are often NHS/Government adverts asking us to seek advise from a pharmacist before going straight to a GP or A&E. I've found generally though that the pharmacist just says that a GP appointment is needed after all Although I know people who have gone to their GP for things that didn't really need an appointment (one person had a sore throat for 2 hours!)

Well, after following the online GP's advice (no products, apply emollient cream and take an antihistamine it's cleared up .

In fairness it was very mild: she could barely see it in the corners of my eyes, apart from a bit of redness. That only started last week so I don't even think it was linked to the retinol after all. It does sound very much like perioral dermatitis so thanks for mentioning that Sallie. Maybe it's something like touching my eyes after using an antibacterial gel or a new hand cream a friend bought for my birthday, or a face mask, which I am careful not to wash with fabric conditioner but who knows!

I'll keep the derm appointment because I haven't needed to see one for 10 years and my last one was 2 hours away, so it will be good to be registered with one, have moles checked etc.

Hi, could I ask a question, has something happened to the timeless vitamin c ?! I cant seem to source it anywhere now and all I can find is a message saying it is no longer available in the UK?! Is this true, I so hope not, and does anyone know of a comparable product?! Thx

Torres, I got an email yesterday (I think) that they've revamped the website. Timeless UK now just sells timeless but no vitamin c and the new site barefection is basically the old Timeless-UK site. I've linked to the vitamin c but it's currently oos, so potentially when back in stock it'll pop up on both sites. I assume this is some sort of No Deal Brexit move as they'll have a lot of European customers, last time no deal was looking likely they did something similar with a EU site but they then got rid of that 🤷

If you're really desperate you can buy it from Amazon US, it's about $28 shipped (plus vat, potentially, I think the threshold is lower for the UK than where I am, but Amazon will display the the full cost on the item page if you're logged in) but it's a bit iffy, it's dispatched by Amazon but from different sellers. I don't question the authenticity but it could be older. Although this seems to be less of an issue in the new packaging, my latest order from Timeless UK wasn't very fresh and kept in the fridge it seems fine but some reviews weren't great, but Amazon does tend to be good about issues IME.

Purple, well if the NHS encourages it I suppose it makes sense, even if I still think it's weird, but perhaps I spent too much time watching House and am therefore left convinced any small thing is a symptom of some really rare disease. Don't worry it was my own quick reading that left me confused, it was clear when I read it properly.

Glad you got it sorted Ninny.

Tranexamic acid update, it's working a little too well. I'm looking a little ghostly 👻 just in time for Halloween, I suppose...

I've just seen the same message on Timeless' US site now saying the vitamin c is no longer available in the UK and EU 😱😱😱😱 2020 really knows how to kick someone when they're down

I did see it for sale here as well from a Dublin based shop but I don't know how legit that site is, you'd have to research it a bit.