Overwhelmed with skincare options - please give me your list of essentials for someone in their mid 30s

[Soggybiscuits17]

Hi there!

After years of neglecting my skin, I''m trying to put together a fantastic, solid skincare regime but feeling a bit totally overwhelmed when looking online. I'm mid 30s, skin is normally oily/ combination but starting to show signs of aging (some melasma, dullness, lines, loss of volume in cheeks).

I'm looking for good quality, relatively clean products. I've heard good things about Skinceuticals & have had good experiences with Kiehl's / REN in the past..

Which active ingredients should I be looking to include? Vitamin c or some kind of acid? Which products would you absolutely recommend? Any amazing serums? I would rather just a simple routine with a few high-end ingredients, but I'm clueless! Please help!

*AHA peeling

I’ve seen sod all effect from exfoliating acids for my face, but I’m lucky not to have an issue with breakouts and am very much about whether things make my skin feel good NOW. With combination skin I’m also wary of hammering it too hard and sending it into panic stations.

Morning

cleansing oil (etude house perfect cleanse)
neutrogena hydro wash thingy
Niacinamide serum (just use the ordinary)
spf50

evening

double cleanse again
Niacinamide
tret
flexitol dry skin moisturises
vaseline

pretty much everything is cheap and cheerful. I only really started this routine recently so still quite flaky from tret, hopefully will see the benefits at some point,

I swear by Dermalogica, there products saved my skin.

The daily exfoliation in particular made the biggest difference.

TBH much of that isn't really essential, for example the toners. Just be careful introducing a whole load of new ingredients at once, especially actives - your skin might not react well.

With the cerave moisturiser in the morning with spf50, also make sure you are applying enough to get the proper sun protection. Especially if you are using actives, your skin will be more sensitive to sun damage.

Also, while Skinceuticals is a great product, it's ridiculously expensive for something that only lasts a month or two (vitamin c loses efficacy after a while), so unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, you could try one of the many decent alternatives for a fraction of the price. Just look for the main active ingredient of L-ascorbic acid at 10-15%.

No one needs to be using hyaluronic acid skin products.

Great video regarding this from a dermatologist:

I use:
AM
Foam cleanser or vitamin C soap
Vitamin C - Medik8 c-tetra luxe (love)
Moisturiser - wish formula (fermented hydra ceramide thing - tbh any one will do but I do like this)
Biore watery essence SPF50

PM
Oil cleanser - pai or whamisa (love both but whamisa smells better)
Serum - corsx snail slime (is a new purchase)
Moisturiser - as above

I used to use Medik8 crystal retinal too which was fab but I've fallen off it as we went on holiday and didn't want any reactions as it would be sunny and I'm VERY sensitive. May get back on it..

This.

Don't even bother getting the tret from Skin and Me/Dermatica. They tell you that the product 'expires' after a month when it doesn't, and also often tell you to use the product more often than needed. You can get Retirides from the Farmacia Andorra website for relatively cheap and then you can just use it at your leisure rather than getting tied into a subscription where you are paying for product that you don't need/use.

I like to use Weleda skin food as a moisturiser at night as its nice and rich, but literally any moisturiser will do, it's for preventing moisture leaving your skin. I also use hyaluronic acid on damp skin before moisturising, but I don't know if you need that.

Oh and you need a cleanser (don't know about double cleansing, as I don't wear makeup for every day, but I guess it makes sense).

Everything else is largely a con, especially the expensive products.