Another skincare one - all suggestions welcome!

[mangopumpkin]

Hi all,

I'm hoping some of you will have some brilliant ideas/holy grail products for me... My skin is broadly ...okayish... by which I mean I don't get major acne breakouts. I do however have increasingly noticeable dark bags/patches under my eyes (some of my relatives have these - theirs seem to have got worse with age?), really obvious pores on my nose and cheeks, and just generally a very bumpy face. I don't really know if that's the best way to describe it - it's not what I would call 'spotty' (although I do have a quite a few spots in addition to what I'm trying to describe), it's just very bumpy! Like mini spots I guess.

I have quite an oily complexion (but weirdly dry skin pretty much everywhere but on my face!), and my skin is really sensitive.

I've already noted the obvious stuff (drink more water, drink less cocktails!), but I'm looking for more ideas, and in particular skincare product suggestions!

Thanks for reading!!!

Any redness/prone to flushing? If so, you have a lot of the symptoms of rosacea and it's worth getting checked by a medical professional. If no redness then it sounds like you're combo/oily but dehydrated as opposed to dry.

For both situations BHA is good, if it's not likely to be rosacea I'd go with Paula's Choice 2% BHA liquid, if rosacea go for the same brand but the 1% calm range. Can't really recommend any other products as rosacea would mostly need a different approach than oily skin with barrier issues.

@botemp that's a really good point - I don't really get red/flush easily, but I don't have white skin so maybe it would show up differently? I might look into it! How often would would you recommend BHA?

General advice is to start slow, using it once or twice a week and slowly building up to every other day/daily use, it depends on the person but I suspect you'd be more in the EOD or less frequently category.

Rosacea tends to be more common in Celtic/northern Europeans, and rarer in others. Do you have a thick dermis, you can check roughly by the thickness off the skin at the nostrils. In that case, you may want further chemical exfoliating (AHA or PHA) but see how you get on with BHA first, especially considering your sensitivities.

My skin is oily, bumpy and I have pigmentation. Or rather I did.

I bought some of the Torricelumn range from Elizabeth Grant in the QVC sale and honestly - I'm so impressed and don't think I could live without it now!

My bumps have gone, I don't get a shiny face, my pores aren't as noticeable and my skin just looks nice.