🐌 Fantastic Skincare: Bear Shaped Pseudo Face Vibrators, Don't Ask us What They're For(eo) 🐻

[botemp]

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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

South I suspect tomatoes may be a trigger for me, and generally I avoid them but sometimes I do eat them in a sauce, for example with pasta. I think they're known to be a known potential trigger.

There's a bit of a thing around red foods and rosacea in general isn't there, peppers, chili's, red wine, etc. I think the general group is food with histamines. I stopped eating legumes after a fodmap elimination diet, though I've never had full blown rosacea, just hints of it and it runs in my family, but since ditching the legumes (and a few other ingredients) I don't flush as easily anymore. YMMV and all that. I think alcohol and spicy foods are the most common ones.

NMC well that's great, what do you get in the Liberty's subscription boxes? I used to be signed up to their newsletter but post Brexit exit they didn't ship outside of the UK, looks like they are again now (just not BR) I remember they had offers on all the time, and vouchers, I'll have to sign up again, they always have good sales.

This was the first box and came with a lovely wash bag
So you pay £20pm, it all gets banked so you can buy anything beauty with it, free delivery on all beauty and you get a box every quarter
I just see it like a savings account for beauty products

Well tomatoes have long been a staple favourite food of mine so that’s very disappointing.
Liberty is such a lovely shop and has a much wider price range of products these days and they do frequent discounts. I was pleased to get

Hi all, happy new year! I would love some advice on skincare... I am 40 close on 41...

Thanks for all the info sheets at start of thread. I never realised exactly how serious sunscreen was, thinking the one in my moisturiser was enough when outside. Am sorry to say I have had bad burns more than once, can anyone recommend a sunscreen that would be good for someone doing IVF trying to avoid anything that will affect hormones etc on that note ...

We have done 4 rounds of egg collection in the past year and a half and approx a year and a half before we started that journey my rosacea flaired up - so 3 years of bad rosacea. I had to give up the prescription meds for rosacea from my GP to do IVF and doc recommended waiting till after IVF to see a dermatologist. My skin is just very red and tired and spotty...

I basically have up skincare while doing IVF as I found trying to figure out what was safe for ivf and what wasn't very confusing. We won't be doing any more egg collections for a while but hopefully 2 transfers sometime mid year after some other issues get seen to.. so I have reintroduced skin care. Murad probiotic cleanser, Murad vit c serum (should I refrigerate) , espa moisturer (which stings). But I'm not sure what other actives and what not would be good to add?

Also I hoarded lots of unopened product that I just bought before IVF or were gifts during IVF and wonder if they are still good to use? I am feeling a bit pinched financially so would be good if they are ok!

On that note, I splurged in the Xmas sales, possibly covid boredom... waiting on pcr results.. am up now with night sweats XD

I purchased a currentbody led mask and a foreo UFO, to treat my rosacea. I am worried the ufo may be a waste of money. I don't have money to burn but my skin is awful. After purchasing it I realised the led wattage wasn't strong enough to treat deep into skin so that's why I purchased the currentbody. The ufo2 is still on the way through the postal system... am considering returning it unless it would actually really help tackle what's going on. If we get lucky enough to get pregnant I would like to look good for the little one at the school gates!

Anyways, I know that is very rambly but would appreciate any guidance if that's ok.

Happy New Year everyone 🎇 I've just realised we usually do our annual Snailies at the end of the year. Are we up for it again, can only speak for myself, but I don't think much has changed, but happy to pull up the template and I usually post my previous winners, that might be useful to some?

Hi and welcome jobby. I'm not aware of any issues with skincare and IVF, have you been reading things about endocrine disruption? That is mostly scaremongering to get you to buy so called 'clean' beauty. It really shouldn't have influence on your IVF/pregnancy journey but I appreciate that you might just want peace of mind with a better safe than sorry approach even if there isn't any meaningful scientific evidence being 'clean' beauty. IVF can make your skin more sensitive and drier though, combined with rosacea that can be quite a lot to deal with all at once so it makes the most sense to me to keep things as simple and pared back as possible.

With that in mind, you'd have to use mineral SPF which are a lot less enjoyable to use but least likely to irritate and the rather safe than sorry option in terms of ingredients.

I'd send the UFO back, especially if money isn't plentiful right now. It's an added extra, a treat as opposed to a treatment. It's not going to cure your rosacea anyhow. And realistically, when the little one comes along (hopefully 🤞) you're probably not going to have the time to use it.

WRT the current body mask, I was under the impression (but haven't thoroughly researched it) that they had the right range for results and was one of the few that did (inclusion of near infrared range iirc). Would note that although it's supposed to be safe in pregnancy, LED hasn't ever been tested on pregnant women so there's a conflict of advices on whether to use it or not. Hormones + light can result in pigmentation and you're already more prone to that when pregnant (and maybe that's probably the case with IVF too considering the hormones involved). To mitigate some of that it's probably worth using a good antioxidant serum with it to limit damage and at any sign of pigmentation I'd discontinue use. I'd be more worried with a blue led than red mask as that's more prone to cause pigmentation issues.

Murad vitamin c serum is a derivative I think, check the ingredients, if it has l-ascorbic acid and no silicones or similar then it might need to go in the fridge. If the espa moisturiser stings it's likely too irritating to use. Murad tends to have fragrance in, for that reason I don't tend to recommend them, especially for someone with sensitive/rosacea skin but if you're using it without issue don't make me stop you.

I’d love a Snailie best of the year. I always used to read them and may have even completed one myself once!

Specially for you then South I'll try to get round to doing mine this week:

🐌🐌 THE SNAILIES 2021 🐌🐌

The Well Hello There - newest and latest find that gets your motor running

The Flusher- money spent on this product would have been better put to use by flushing it down the toilet

The Jack & Rose- the product you’ll never let go of because there’s plenty of fucking space for the two of you on that piece of wood. Damn you, James Cameron, for breaking my poor little tween heart.

The LTB- it all seemed so promising, everything was going so great, then they turned out to be a narcissist gaslighting bastard

The Child Prodigy- that one product that’s annoyingly good and isn’t afraid to be smug about it

The Worker Bee- never the centre of attention but has been steadily chugging along like no other

The Troll- the one where you repeatedly asked, ‘Is this doing anything?’, but continued to use it anyway…

The Flabbergaster- that one product or technique that wasn’t really supposed to be used like that or delivered well beyond your non-existent expectations

The Sinner- oh, admit it because we’re all guilty of it, what did you do or use that wasn’t all that sensible like take an acid bath and had the disastrous results you really knew to expect

Oh good thanks
I really hope that it isn’t just me though!
Will make my list later.

Belated Happy New Year everyone 🎉

I’ll have a go at the Snailies later though my routine is very basic at the moment as had my brow adjustment before Christmas so still avoiding acids and retinols.

Happy New Year all! I'm in for some Snaillie Action - also thought I'd show you my brow before and afters. The second one is after the touch up last week and they'll fade a little, but honestly I wish I'd done this years ago!

Oh the brows look great Tsmummy!! And you have beautiful eyes. I actually booked myself in to discuss doing my brows .... then will decide if I want to proceed. Want something very natural and been researching a lot of the places available to do it in Athens. .

Also a very happy New Year to all of you 🎉 wish you all a very happy and healthy 2022!

Any comments very welcome for my Snailies....

The Well Hello There - as suggested by you - Avene Triacneal for anti-ageing (I am hoping) and also immediate skin smoothing. No side effects and I like that retinal has good evidence it works.

The Flusher - Oribe Texturising spray (see also Ouai wave spray) - smells terrible. Am better off with OGX salt spray (sorry I know it isn't skincare but I couldn't think of anything else).

The Jack & Rose- Azelaic Acid (Dermatica/Ordinary/Dr Sam Brightly) - all have been amazing on redness - fantastic. Formulation didn't matter but Dermatica is the best price and texture wise (thanks to this thread for this).

The LTB- Hyaluronic acid. None of them seem to work for me unfortunately. Grapeseed oil is better....

The Child Prodigy- Biologique Recherche p50. Glad it's sold at Liberty's and plan to use the lower strength soon.

The Worker Bee- LRP Cicaplast and/or Eucerin Urea 5%

The Troll - Erborian 'Skin Hero': sort of a primer, but I am not sure why I use it (I love their CC cream). I used to buy Erborian at Pharmacie du RER at La Defense for a great discount.

The Flabbergaster - Glossier Futuredew: bad as a skin serum (smells bad, itchy, pore clogging) but works well in tiny microscopic amounts as a highlighter. Subtle and pretty.

The Sinner - BR-p50 overuse. I don't know why it says x 2 per day and I should know better as have been using a fair while. It acts as paint-stripper if used more than x 2 per week....I will switch to the p50W when it's finished.

HNY to everyone.

What are people using Vit C wise?

It's v quiet on here! I caved and bought the net a Porter advent calendar at half price

Tried this tonight. Remember when everyone was burning their faces off with peels on here? Yeah. It's the strongest at home thing I have ever tried

https://www.spacenk.com/uk/skincare/treatment/peels/diamond-instant-glow-MUK200018769.html

MyCat I hope you look 10 years younger and your face hasn't fallen off!

Ninny Since I had my brows done my routine has been really boring and I wasn't really using any other actives while using tret (which I stopped end of October) with the exception of a mild vit C/tranexamic acid Hado Labo toner that Bo recommended (I think). So that's the only vir C I've been using for ages, however, I did start using a rosacea treatment from Dermatica on my cheeks and lo and behold my skin has been looking great, less redness on my cheeks and not pink anywhere else. AND I can use other actives like PHA without insane stinging and redness...

So now the question is, do I try tret again at a v low dose (Skin&Me have agreed to start me off at 0.006 - their lowest dose) - or do I ditch the tret completely and use a gentler vit A (I've tried a sample of Medik8 R-Retinoate with no issues) plus other actives?

Has anyone else stopped using tret completely and feel their skin is better for it or has it started to show signs of "ageing" (pores, tone, lines etc) again? Any thoughts? Thanks!

My face has not fallen off! I did have some flaky/peeling skin this morning but it actually looks quite glowy (took this in daylight)
Pleased how my forehead is now without Botox

MyCat Your forehead does look impressively smooth - shows how effective skincare can be alone!

@Tsmummy08 - I have had to ditch most products. I ended up going back to Dermatica as they prescribed hydoqunione/tret at .050% which seems to help hyperpigmentation. I liked Skin + Me better but they wouldn't prescribe hydroquinone .

So, I just cleanse with an oil based cleanser, and Tret/hydroquinine every other day and Aquaphor at night. And sunscreen. That's about it.

@botemp - would know more about what percentage is useful but if Skin + Me is prescribing such a low dose, maybe better off with the products that are working for you?

Sorry, I keep meaning to do my Snailies and then I put it off I don't have any comments for you South but agree the Oribe texturing spray is pants (don't like the smell either).

Ninny, I'm still using Geek and Gorgeous C-glow and still like it.

Tsmummy, in your situation and finances not being an issue I'd just go with R-retinoate or similar, I think the back and forth with tret aggravation just isn't worth it. For me, tret delivers a lot but on its own, just on skin aesthetic appearance vitamin c and pha deliver more, tret is the heavy motor that chugs it all along long term but doesn't necessarily give me wow skin on its own, especially at lower doses. R-retinoate did really give me good skin despite not using it at their recommended frequency (I used it every other day, they suggest twice a day, daily), if I wasn't able to tolerate treat I'd have carried on using that.

Bo I just checked the price of the R-retinoate! 😱😱 Yikes! I definitely wouldn't say finances aren't an issue (my foray into AB Rich Cream was a treat - still loving it unfortunately) but I guess it depends on how long the Medik8 lasts and how much it helps - especially given how basic (cheap) the rest of my routine is now. compared with 6 years ago (or whenever I joined this thread), my spending on beauty/makeup is minimal (which is a bit galling - how much money was wasted on shite over the years?).....

On rereading my previous post, I want to clarify I don't blame this thread for my over-spending at that point in my life!! For a while, I was trying to fill a hole, and buying loads beauty/makeup in an effort to make myself feel better. Not unusual - but looking back (and looking at the pile of makeup I've got which will never be used), it makes me wince!

If you can get a sample of Medik8 crystal retinal that's potentially an alternative, or the Avène versions. R-retinoate did last very long for me, but I don't really remember how long. I just assumed as it's a single dose pump you'd go though it quite quickly, probably does it you use it twice a day.

Bo Yes I've got the Crystal retinal too (got a bunch of testers from Feelunique), will give that a whirl after the retinoate runs out. I just never got on with retinol, particularly at the higher strengths (due to conversion steps?), and thought tret would be better but technology has moved on.... If I did go for the Retinoate, it would be an evening thing so I could use other actives in the morning - might even try Vit C again!

I've heard mixed results with the Retinal, most people seem to tolerate with absolute ease but some still react to it so it's a bit of a toss coin if you're sensitive. R-retinoate is hassle free but it comes at quite the price, I was really impressed by its effect though, it somehow strengthened my skin barrier and my forehead looked like I had Botox 🤷