Getting older is getting very expensive!

[JMAngel1]

Anyone else feel like this?
I’ve always been high maintenance since my teens but in the last year or so, the list of what I need to keep me looking well presented and feeling “normal” seems to be getting longer.

This morning I’ve just placed orders for what I now consider essentials - plumping serum, vaginal moisturiser, hair dye, neck and chest cream, hair styling cream, 4 different supplements and progesterone cream. I’m 48 and my budget seems to be going more and more on these types of products and there is less and less for clothes and pretty things like make up.

At this age I thought I would be shopping at Jaegar and John Lewis and buying Bobbi Brown or Charlotte Tilbury. Instead I have to buy from eBay and Primark and most of my makeup is MUA or NYX.
Anyone else feel like this?

[quote FlyingByTheSeatof]@JacobReesMogadishu I've used the ordinary one and it's crap did nothing whatsoever. Most of their other products didnt agree with my temperamental skin either, and I tried out quite a few. It was the TO Retinoid Granactive 2%.[/quote]
TO are very naughty about their retinoids. That 2% isn't active ingredient, that is 0.3%
Same with most creams/serums containing retinol.
For the percentages of retinol, rule of thumb is to divide what it says on the box by 10. It also depends if you're using retinol, retinal, retinA, retistar or retinoid.

I haven't got a clue either but watched a Nadine Baggott video. I have Tret 0.25 which I'm happy enough with.

I guess the Matrixyl 3000 is also doing some of the hard work in the Boots retinol. I don't care really as I like what it's doing so I dont care about the percentages or whatever so long it is actually making a difference for me, which it is and not melting my face off in the process.
For some reason I trust that they have done their research and given the lowest price point possible which is why I decided on a whim to try it out with my Boots card special combined offers etc.

[quote trumpisaflump]@GrumpyHoonMain google vaginal atrophy and you'll find out[/quote]
Exactly. I envy women who have to ask this. It’s the worst thing about the menopause and beyond.

I just took some photos of my eyes and I do have some very thin lines you'll be pleased to know. Which must be lines and not dehydration but something I can't notice when looking in the mirror and I've looked in the mirror and can't see them in the way I can in the photos

Thinking about it my partner is 48 and hardly had a line around his eyes. I always assumed it’s because he’s a miserable sod and had spent his life refusing to smile. But thinking about he has perfect almond eyes which are positioned in such a way that he has zero bags either. Whereas my eyes are deep set, and I’ve been nurturing lines around them every time I laugh since I was in my teens. So it probably is just how your face creases which is dependant on bone structure.

Can anyone recommend a decent retinol then where you aren't paying over the odds for fancy packaging/advertising, etc?

I bought my 3 tubes for £40 on special offer so approx £13 each

Can anyone recommend a good eye cream

@pictish

That’s some list. I’m 45 and don’t buy most of that stuff. Do you really think throat cream makes any difference?

I started looking after my neck when I was 15 and have never stopped. I am 65 now and my neck is not an age giveaway at all. I put it down to years of dedication and cream obviously

@Anordinarymum
Necks are the biggest giveaway of aging, i'm glad it's not only me!

@FlyingByTheSeatof
I use a "simple" eye cream which is fantastic, it was pretty cheap too

I never understand the ‘natural is best’ camp in the context of either childbirth or beauty. Nature just ‘is’ with no moral weighting and is variable in its effects for humans- sometimes good, sometimes bad. Death and dogs dirt are both natural and we do all we can to avoid both! All human advances in terms of science and civilisation deviate from nature. Do what you want or don’t want to do. Let others make their own judgements.

So how does neck and chest cream differ from face cream or body lotion then?
Genuine ask.

It doesn’t.

I think avoiding the sun has probably helped some of the ageing process on my chest for example. But I have three obvious rings around my neck horizontally and tend to wear a lot of high necked things as I focus too much on them.

I have a wrinkly neck and it's because over the years my sun block stopped at my chin :( My advice to my DD is don't forget your neck.

TBH the worst thing about ageing is not wrinkles unless they are very deep, but sagging. That can only be fixed with fillers done very well, or surgery. It's easy to not get wrinkles- use high spf, don't smoke, don't drink, and eat loads of good fats.

I ran out of expensive moisturiser during lockdown and my skin got very dry. In desperation I bought a tube of Eucerin Urea Repair for very dry skin. It's been so good I now use it all the time as my main moisturiser and its fab. Not too greasy and my skin looks far more plump. I'm 54.

I can understand that applying a cream with a sun protection factor to the neck and chest area would help to minimise sun damage...but you can achieve that with any cream with an SPF factor.
What I want to know is what factor makes a s neck and chest cream specifically?

What I want to know is what factor makes a s neck and chest cream specifically?

Bugger all. Nothing does.

it's to make you buy another product!

Same as eye cream. Unless the cream for you face is like whale oil, you can use it on your eyes (avoid perfumed ones.)

That’s what I believe too.
I’m wondering how the manufacturers of such creams convincingly differentiate neck cream from face cream.
I’ve had a 10 minute Google and can’t pinpoint a selling point that couldn’t also be applied to a vast array of face creams or body lotions. Plumping, tightening, pro-retinol A...blah blah blah.
Is it a simple case of putting ‘neck cream’ on the packaging? I think it is.
Enlighten me.

@pictish

That’s what I believe too. I’m wondering how the manufacturers of such creams convincingly differentiate neck cream from face cream. I’ve had a 10 minute Google and can’t pinpoint a selling point that couldn’t also be applied to a vast array of face creams or body lotions. Plumping, tightening, pro-retinol A...blah blah blah. Is it a simple case of putting ‘neck cream’ on the packaging? I think it is. Enlighten me.

I don’t think we can enlighten you. DesignerDesigner is right. It’s a money making exercise.

Yep.
My neck is the most youthful bit of me. it's the Astral since I was about 12. I should just wear a bag on my head really. Looking at my neck you'd think I was 30. (I'm 54)
Eye cream- I went for the hype in my money laden youth and tried Dior Chanel, Elemis you name it. Nothing, but then at 25 when I was buying them I probably didn't need one anyway.
Kiehl's creamy avocado has definitely softened the eye lines, because it's a rich plumper.

The new Olay night cream in a purple jar has retinol in it. Probably about 0.3 which is standard when it's in something else. Inkey List supposed to be fine. Or a subscription with Dermatica.

I have done Thai tret from ebay that everyone on here bought a couple of years ago. I also have a tube of A313 which is fake retinol from Amazon and apparently "one of French women's best kept beauty secrets".

Some Thai tret.

I never understand the ‘natural is best’ camp in the context of either childbirth or beauty.

I agree. Some preservatives are necessary in skincare to stop bacteria growing. Some "natural" creams need to be kept in the fridge and used within a couple of weeks. I can't get through a pot of cream in that time.

I don’t mind ageing as such but I don’t like it when people (usually my Mum) ask me if I’m tired/cross/upset. Drives me nuts!