🐌 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

Ok, Dublin based shop, not so good according to trustpilot, the tone of their responses is really unprofessional as well so I'd avoid.

I got that email from Timeless and ignored it thought it was some sales/promo guff. Gutted about the Vit C it’s the only one I’ve got on with

So the search beings again .... any recommendations for a similar one (watery and not sticky or gritty) at around the same price? happy to try some of Asian beauty brands especially now that I’ve got the yesstyle account.

Oh this sucks re Timeless. I've not used it for months but hoped to revert to it at some point.

Brexit and the likely No Deal is proving a total nightmare for Amazon sellers (of which I am one). Even Amazon confess that they don't really know what's going on. We're sending a bunch of stock to a fulfilment centre in Germany so that we have stock there in plenty of time.

What?! Argh. It's the only one I like
What's the other best option?

Ok googling gave me these, not sure if anyone has tried them!
https://geekandgorgeous.com/products/c-glow

https://skinspace.co/products/mad-hippie-vitamin-c-serum-30ml?variant=30399780716618&utmmedium=cpc&utmsource=google&utmcampaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgejGo6O7AIVBrDtCh1qPANdEAQYASABEgLDeDBwE

Hmm, mad hippo is SAP based so no to that.

The geek gorgeous (🤮 for that name) is high pH and lower %, not insurmountable but it won't be as full on in effect as Timeless. I still have a fair amount so I'll wait and see what happens, I'll probably just buy through amazon.com and make note of the seller I buy from (or anyone else that does and gets a fresh-ish product).

Yesstyle did actually use to carry timeless but not sure if they still do (long delivery times would put me off though, especially in spring/summer). Otherwise Asian skincare doesn't really have a lot of vitamin C.

The Vichy Liftactiv antioxidant is still good, and identical in consistency to Timeless. Provided you can get it on offer it's not too bad, still more expensive but easy to get. If it gets really annoying, the rest of my routine is very cheap these days so I may just pay out for Skinceuticals 🤷

*hippie but mad hippo could totally be a knock off brand of Drunk Elephant 🤣

I've read up a bit more on G&G. Heads up, they're EU based so potentially not a good choice in the long term in case of no deal, also, under €25 the shipping is really high (€15 within the EU, that might go up too with no deal). So you have to spend €25 at least and vitamin C isn't something you can really stock up on.

I've also found this discussion on Reddit that speculates why it's been pulled for not abiding by EU regulations but all others including Skinceuticals and G&G would also not be abiding so it's a bit confusing. Also, the ingredient in excess isn't that harmful according to a well known cosmetic formulator.

Last post, just to confirm my suspicion as I remember the Vichy Liftactiv antioxidant one uses alcohol den. as penetration enhancer so that doesn't contain the 'controversial' ingredient, in case anyone wants to be extra cautious as all others that seem to contain it do appear to have it in excess of safety regulation limits.

I think I'll wait and see what happens, and if not I might swap to the sam bunting brightly as I have wanted to try that!

Forgot to say I've been using rapidlash for my eyelashes, and it's made a huge difference. I used it years ago but kept forgetting to repurchase

Thanks for your research @Botemp..I am thinking I may have to stump up for skinceuticals for now too as I think it is the most important item in my routine..I can find that for £95.50 at the moment, so at least its discounted..& just have to hope timeless reappears soon!

Bo what tranexamic are you using?

Torres There are lots of options other than Skineuticals. Medik8 C Intense is good. I also quite like the NIOD 30%

Thanks for all the research Bo due to my history with Vit C (I’ve had irritation and itchiness from most I tried before timeless) I don’t want to spend more than around £25ish & I didn’t get on on with the Vichy one unfortunately

I’ve seen that Purito do a Vit C and also hada labo but I’d have to order from yesstyle so not ideal due to long delivery time. They still have some Timeless products in their site but no Vit C.

Came on the thread to ask about using vit c alongside benzoyl peroxide and see vit c is causing much drama. The bulk of our imported stuff comes from the UK and EU so looks like timeless is going to be hard to come by.
Anyway if I can get my hands on some vichy vit c would it be ok to mix. I've been using 2.5% benzoyl peroxide for a month now and it has done wonders for my skin in terms of no more cystic spots and minimal blackheads but theirs still a fair amount of discoloration and scaring from old breakouts and I was hoping vit c might help even up my skin tone a bit.

In other news (probably the wrong time of year for most of you) i'm pretty impressed with uriage spf. It held its own in UV of 14+ 40 degree weather no burning or even redness at all and despite the huge quantities applied ( I used the whole bottle over 5 days) I didn't have a major breakout either just the odd teeny tiny white head. My only complaint is it does have a fragrance but its not to unpleasant.

This one from Hada Labo, MrObama.

I've found another potential vitamin C here. A bit annoyed about lack of pH mentioned instead some weird lowPH trademarked thingy but could potentially be good and a UK based shop.

Medik8 intense (that's the tetra) and NIOD are derivatives and the none derivative one from Medik8 is weirdly full of essential oils. The purito is ascorbic acid but only 5% so not really in range to be effective. I need to dig through my inbox, skin actives had one as well but they changed names at some point.

Out did you ever end up getting the Inkey list tranexamic acid? The combination of vitamin c plus tranexamic acid is a really good one.

Could I please ask a retinol/spf related question?

I’ve been using Medik8’s R-retinoate for about 18 months (the regular one as opposed to the intense version). It’s my first foray into any type of retinol or derivative, I really like it and skin very happy on it but would like to up the ante a bit. I don’t know whether to jump straight into Dermatica or similar for a prescription retinol or whether a move to Medik8’s Crystal Retinol would be a better stepping stone?
I’m late 30’s, skin is reasonably normal I think but I try to be as gentle as possible with it. It did use to be quite sensitive and reactive but after following these threads and recommendations I have found the products that work for me and realised that a lot of products I used to slather on were full of essential oils and actually really stressing my skin out rather than calming or balancing it - so I owe this thread a big debt of gratitude for that, thank you!

I know a mineral spf is recommended when using retinol and the one I use (Omorovicza Mineral Shield) I really like. It’s lovely to apply, no white cast, I think it actually improves the appearance of my skin, never blocked pores or caused a reaction. I know it’s pricey but I buy mine for about £50 and you get a generous 100ml tube so actually works out quite a bit cheaper than eg Clinique. But I’m worried that it doesn’t offer the same level of protection as some of the big hitter spf brands. Maybe it’s just a lovely cream and not a great sunscreen. Is there anyway to tell how effective an spf is (beyond the anecdotal my face has never burnt while using it!)? The other one I’ve seen is Dr Sam’s Flawless Daily Sunscreen, does this one seem like it would be a safer bet/offer better protection?

Any advice or insight would be much appreciated. And again, a big thank you for these threads, they’ve been invaluable and I feel like I understand my skin so much better these days.

Bo Sadly not, I decided to try the benzyl peroxide to sort the spots and haven't been using any other actives while I trialed that. Typically now both the traxemic acid and timeless vit C are out of stock with both instragram sellers i've used. Fingers crossed they get new shipments soon

Sorry, I realised I didn't answer your interaction question out, benzoyl peroxide shouldn't be used with vitamin C they cancel each other out. Not sure on tranexamic acid, I'd have to Google. Any chance your Instagram sellers carry Hada Labo?

Hi Babooshka, difficult to say, it's really how much can you/your skin put up with. R-retinoate is completely problematic free so it's quite a change. You can do what I did and take it very slowly and just switch out one r-retinoate routine with Tret and gradually build it up with low strength (you just need to communicate that to Dermatica as they seem to level up people pretty quickly without asking).

Mineral is not essential but my skin couldn't tolerate chemical sunscreens for a while. I used the neostrata one although the tint made it look a bit odd when dusty, I also liked one from Japan (pigeon UV). You do need SPF50 and a quick Google says SPF30, are there two different ones otherwise I would suggest going for an SPF 50 (otherwise stick with what works well for you, did you ever post previously, I remember this SPF coming up then and I pointed out it wasn't that crazy priced per/ml?)

There isn't really much you can tell about sunscreen efficacy, the PA+ system or uva in a circle gives additional information but otherwise all sunscreens are subject to the same regulations so provided you use enough product it will give you the SPF protection.

Hi botemp,

Thanks so much for that. I think I will go straight to Dermatica and like you said, go very, very slowly with it and see how I go.

Yes, it was me that posted about the spf ages ago - good memory! I think I’m so floored to have found a sunscreen my skin actually loves I can’t quite believe in it! Sadly it is Spf 30 though so it looks like I need to retire it. Could I still use it one for the mornings after a non-tret night or do you think spf 50 all the way?

Was at Boots yesterday, huge branch and they weren't stocking The Inkey list tranexamic acid. May have been sold out.

Bo How do you rate it, specifically for pigmentation? I know you didn't use the Inkey one..

Hello lovely ladies, have any of you tried vitamin c serum capsules?
My Vit c always oxidises before I can finish it and I end up throwing it away, my thinking is that the capsules would stay fresh but I’m not sure whether any of you had actually used these and would recommend?

www.facethefuture.co.uk/products/exuviance-af-vitamin-c20-serum-capsules

Baboosh I use the Neostrata tinted SPF and I really like it.

Thanks Ninny, I’d already gone ahead and ordered the Dr Sam Bunting one, ingredients look good so fingers crossed but will bear the Neostrata one in mind if I don’t get on well with it.