Skin neglected

[ByLilacMember]

To all beauticians, aestheticians and people good at skincare,
Since I had baby I have really neglected my skin. I have a awful patch of hyperpigmentation I think from attacking spots and then no sun protection, skin looks tired and dry, much more prone to spots. Also, this sounds a bit dramatic but my face shape is changing, I can see on pictures that it's kind of closing in! Heavier brow and chin, cheek bones less defined. Any advice on techniques, products, etc that could make me look a bit nicer! Even make up suggestions really welcome.

I think post children is when most of us are the least likely to do anything proactive with our skin. I have religiously washed and moisterised my whole life, with effort made on products etc. But in those post-baby years, I was down to the BARE MINIMUM! .

Depending on what you're doing now I'd go with a fairly simple routine to start.

Night
Cleanse - something gentle. I like a balm cleanser myself (use a Farmacy one. Elemis gets rave reviews and there's ac ouple at M&S I always see people talking about on here). Squalane cleanswers can also be good. Lots of people will recommend cleansers with actives but I think that's better once you're in a routine and you know what you need/ want.

Serum - as you're starting out here a good all rounder is a good option. I like Clarins Double Serum. It's expensive (although good value for money). The Revolution one is surprisingly good on the cheaper end - but the smell annoyed me personally. Longer term, you might want to try a retinol, but again, I'd start small and get your routine going first before introducing anything more hectic like retinol.

Moisterise - a good hydrting moisteriser. I like the Neutrogena range for every day. La Roche Possay always gets good reviews.

Morning
Don't bother with cleansing if you don't want to. Splash of water. Or a very light cleanswer if you prefer.

Serum - vitamin C. really good to start wth. Inkey List and Ordinary both do good options at the cheaper end. Murad's vitamin C is expensive but great. I Believe MediK8 do a good one too. But most brands offer vitamin C serums.

Moisteriser - whatever you like really.

SPF.

Good luck!

If you don't wear makeup this is lovely and soft and cleans the face with just water.
I use L'Oréal hyaline acid and aloe vera serum it definitely helps with the glow. I'll let someone else recommend a moisturiser as I have mature dry skin
Also use a daily SPF I didn't but I don't go out in the sun so don't have much sun damage

Thank you so much for taking the time to advise and recommend straightforward products. My worry was going into selfridges looking ropey and asking what I need! Id need so much they wouldn't know where to start and id end up with pricey products that I'd feel are too precious to use! Thank you again

Thank you for recommending I will definitely try it. Knowing products that actually work for people takes out some of the guess work! Thank you

@ByLilacMember honestly, you absolutely could go into a department store, pick a brand, and ask them to sort you out with a full routine. If you're lucky, you'll get one where they're practical and generally good about adapting to what is suitable for you, but it can be hit and miss. I suspect though that that's why I've always liked Clarins - I generally find they dont' try to push a bunch of additional products on you. The Ordinary online also does a version of this which can be quite nice - without being too pushy! But most people I know, even people like me who love The Ordinary, dont' like to use ALL their products. eg I personally don't like their moisterisers, although I do buy them for my DC.

I think to start with, getting a sense for what you like and feel comfortable with is the best option. You can always add and upgrade your products once you work out what you like/don't like. So start with the basics, even at the cheaper end, and go from there.

It does annoy me when I hear people say that they went into a counter and got given these 20 products but it was hugely expensive and a complete waste because now their skin is breaking out. Of COURSE it's breaking out - you can't go from 0-100 in one day!!!

Before baby I had good skin that only needed tweaking every now and then with different prods but now it needs a bit of a rescue! Sorry to pick your brains but my pores look really large, any pore minimising products you recommend either skincare or on top of foundation? I used to love aldi's Rose Glow Toner but ant get it anymore. I was a big toner fan and despite trying various high end brands and Korean products that ended up being the winner!

I'm afraid I'm not really great on the pore thing as my skin problems are more around redness and/or dullness and extreme dryness. I think that acidic exfoliators are generally considered good for this - to really get inside to clean them, without irritating them or making it worse? Something with a BHA in it?

I would go onto The Ordinary's website. You don't have to use their products, but you can go through the questionaire to get a sense of what they recommend. Paula's choice also look like they do one of those as well so you could try that too. Basically, put in your concerns, and then see what comes up and you can start picking and choosing based on what. makes sense to you?

Thank you I will do that, you've been wonderful! Thank you so much xxxxxx