Middle aged skin

[DelphiniumBlue123]

Skin on my face is looking tired and a tiny bit pourus round my tzone.
Stressful life events are not helping.

Any reasonably priced suggestions for something I can slather on to help?

Have you tried Dermatica? Fill out their questionnaire online and add photos and their skin experts will suggest what you need. I used them for a skin condition called melasma (dark uneven patches) and not only did it almost completely fade the dark patches, it improved my skin enormously. I still use their face wash and moisturiser, which is surprisingly inexpensive as well.

I find acid toners make the biggest immediate difference. Pixi Glow is a good one but any AHA or BHA toner would work. You just use it like a normal toner a few times a week and it sweeps away the top layer of dead skin cells to give you a "glow".

Im four weeks in with dermatica and am just starting to notice a real difference

I find the best that works for me is ALPHA H liquid gold, its a bit pricey but I often get on offer with qvc, my face feel so much smoother when I use it, I did try cheaper, some pads things I got from superdrug, sorry forget the name, but it wasn't as good as liquid gold.

A Vitamin C in the morning, retinol in the evening and an acid toner when you're not using the retinol will resurface and give you glow. None need to be expensive. If your skin is dry a glycolic acid (Pixie glow which was the forerunner has 5% glycolic but there are loads more with the same now that are cheaper) if more oily then a salicylic (the Clinique toners were the original acid toners but again, there are loads now) An acid toner was the first "active" I introduced into my routine about 8 years ago now and was astonished by the difference as pp says.