My face looks like an old potato

[caramelchaos]

I saw a photo of my today and I look like a lumpy old potato. Help! My skin is dull, I've got jowls, marionette lines, dark circles and generally look haggard I'm 36, overweight, patent of young children, stressful job. My eyebrows are non existent but am scared microblading (previous shitty demi permanent eyeliner) so use a pencil but I find my face gets shiny as the day goes on and my eyebrows smudge which really adds to the 'fucking mess' look that I'm rocking just now. My hair is wavy and never behaves which also isn't helping just now either. What the hell can I do?

@caramelchaos

I saw a photo of my today and I look like a lumpy old potato. Help! My skin is dull, I've got jowls, marionette lines, dark circles and generally look haggard I'm 36, overweight, patent of young children, stressful job. My eyebrows are non existent but am scared microblading (previous shitty demi permanent eyeliner) so use a pencil but I find my face gets shiny as the day goes on and my eyebrows smudge which really adds to the 'fucking mess' look that I'm rocking just now. My hair is wavy and never behaves which also isn't helping just now either. What the hell can I do?

I am a Microblading and semi permanent make up artist and I can assure you that semi permanent brows don't have to be shit. They can make a massive positive difference to your face and lift the whole eye area. It looks way better than pencilling them on every day

I regularly see ladies who've had work done before that isn't great and I can usually sort it out and vastly improve their brows.

I'm a member of an association of PMU artists so I'd happily direct you to a reputable artist in your area.

You could also look into botox, op? Just a little bit...its meant to be what gives a lot of celebs that glass skin look because the injections also have loads of hyaluronic acid in them.

@caramelchaos

Sympathetic arm pats to all my fellow potatoes. How the hell did this happen? I'm interested in retinol though.... How do I know what type to get? I might be totally wrong, but I'm sure I read somewhere that the off-the-shelf retinols don't have enough to to make a difference? I did look up pharmacy grade tretinoin but I couldn't even find it from a dodgy online chemist goddammit!

You can get it from a Spanish online pharmacy. It’s called Retirides.

You need to use a very very small amount and it causes skin peeling on about day 3 but it’s just surface level.

[quote TabithaTittlemouse]@VVKills27 can you recommend a retinol please?[/quote]
Revolution do a very nice retinol serum which is on sale currently on the ASOS website ☺️

Ooh, thank you so much everyone! Great advice, I'm feeling more positive about my old potato face already.

I'll stop with all the exfoliation and get myself aboard the good ship retinol and give it a go! I've ordered my first dermatica which I believe has both tret and niacinamide in it so we'll see how that goes!

@PollyPutTheKettleOnKettleOn

You could also look into botox, op? Just a little bit...its meant to be what gives a lot of celebs that glass skin look because the injections also have loads of hyaluronic acid in them.

Would there be any specific places for Botox injections that would help with this? I remarkably have no forehead wrinkles or laughter lines, but am developing some 11s.

I'll pm you too Polly if that's ok, I'd love to know about reputable microblading experts that will remodel my invisible brows!

Fuck, I can't work out how to pm I'd be looking at Central Scotland for treatments

Feel free to pm me but I'm not the microwaving expert

I'm afraid I can't help on botox provider recommendations, it's part of my future plan! I'd make sure you see a medically trained clinician and not any old beautician. You could try British plastic surgery registration lists as a starting point.

I love your sense of humour @caramelchaos , I've just woken DH up having a good chuckle.

I'm also a potato - you know one of those ones that's gone a bit rough and wrinkly in its old age? I'm only 41 though, god knows what I'll look like by the time I'm ancient.

I'm one of those that looks like they have no eyes on photos, you know the type? Doesn't help that I'm fair and have blonde/gingery lashes and brows so don't really have anything to frame my face.

If you click on the ... Next to "bookmark" at the bottom of @planetme Post you should be able to PM her :)

*microblading

I am neither a microblading expert or a microwave expert

@PollyPutTheKettleOnKettleOn

Feel free to pm me but I'm not the microwaving expert

I'm afraid I can't help on botox provider recommendations, it's part of my future plan! I'd make sure you see a medically trained clinician and not any old beautician. You could try British plastic surgery registration lists as a starting point.

Ah fuck, my brain is an old potato too

🤣

@familyissues12345

I love your sense of humour *@caramelchaos* , I've just woken DH up having a good chuckle.

I'm also a potato - you know one of those ones that's gone a bit rough and wrinkly in its old age? I'm only 41 though, god knows what I'll look like by the time I'm ancient.

I'm one of those that looks like they have no eyes on photos, you know the type? Doesn't help that I'm fair and have blonde/gingery lashes and brows so don't really have anything to frame my face.

Unfortunately the only thing that frames my face is more face

I'm on the app and I can't work the bloody thing. Sorry @planetme for misidentifying you. Polly, I used to work in wetherspoons kitchen when I were a lass, so I'm ok with microwaving

Vitamin C is great for skin. I use the body shop range and the moisturiser is very light and refreshing. Maybe worth a try.

Reframe it. Potatoes are awesome!

You don’t really want to be exfoliating and using the Pixi, they are both exfoliants. As PP said could be making your skin dry or dehydrated which then makes it produce more oil. You need to be moisturising in the morning and using an SPF (or finding a product that does both). This will be even more important if you start on Dermatica.

There are plenty of elegant tinted moisturisers which don’t settle in fine lines these days, eg Nars, Trinny, Bare Minerals, Laura Mercier.

Skin & me or Dermatica, and a 50spf light moisturizing but non comedogenic sunscreen, will do you good alongside your cleanser.

I love Charlotte Tilbury Legendary Brows. Makes my sparse brows look fuller but naturally.

Do you smoke? Drink? Not good for skin. Poor choices food won't help either

I could have written this OP. I feel sooo ugly

Hello, it looks like I’ve found my fellow potato fam 👋🏻 I can’t promise this is a cure, but it helps me feel less shit about my old potato face, and it’s quite low maintenance as I’m lazy AF.
I use tinted moisturiser every day, it helps the greyness, I use clear mascara and a burts bee tinted lip salve. I use a tiny bit of bronzer to warm up my complexion. I get my eyebrows tinted too.
I do drink 2L of water but bloody hell, I’m sick of going to the loo because of it! Do you ever get to a point where it just all ‘stays in’ somehow I wonder?!?
Oh yes I’ve had ‘curtain bangs’ cut by a lovely young hairdresser who assured me it’s the done thing now, and it covers up the old potato forehead a bit!

If you feel your eyebrows are too sparse I really recommend microblading, just do a bit of research into technicians in your area and have a look at their portfolio. Lasts for me about 3 years needing no pencil at all.

Tone down the exfoliation, over exfoliating could be contributing to your oily skin, I would use Alpha H liquid gold, its 10% glycolic acid and I use it 3 times a week on its own after cleansing and then no moisturiser on top. You wake up literally glowing!

Get yourself a jade roller and keep it in the fridge to help de puff and tone your face.

Retinol and vitamin c make a huge difference to the texture and tone of your face, make sure you they are both stable formulations and stored properly out of heat and light so you get best results.

Also look into led light therapy treatments and micro needling again great for texture, lines and even skin tone.

Niaciamide (vitamin b) and salicylic acid are great for spots!

Just to say that I find niacinamide quite drying/irritating to my skin but prescription strength retinoid (retinol is the high street's much weaker less effective sister) sorted out my hormonal acne brilliantly on its own. With the added bonus of being a powerful anti-aging ingredient.

So if you have retinoid in your dermatica formulation you may not need the niacinamide but see how you go.

Thank you so much for all the replies!

Seems like I am not alone in my spuddishness! On recommendation, I now have ordered spf, moisturiser and dermatica, will commence a military style regime once they get here. I already have a jade roller, do these actually work? I hate to admit the last time I used it, it was to jade roll my dogs ears he seemed to enjoy it.

Admittedly, the diet is a bit shit but no drinking or smoking.

I also just remembered I bought a foreo bear yonks ago but have barely used it. What's the thoughts on this piece or gadgetry?