Looking old and tired

[teacoffeeorpassthegin]

I suddenly look old. My wrinkles are more pronounced and my eyes puffy. Is there anything that works that I can shove on my face?

I'm 51 do not surprising I suppose but I hate it!!

How's your hydration? Are you drinking enough water / getting enough sleep? Weirdly when I'm not drinking enough water I feel like it ages more than a cream can reverse!

A good cold spoon (from the freezer) or ice eye mask really helps reduce puffy eyes, plus they're endlessly usable (just pop back in the freezer each morning!) and it only takes a few minutes to de puff.

I love the Sunday Riley jet lag mask (and so does my mum!) for giving a great hydration boost to the skin, helps minimise how deep her wrinkles look when she's well hydrated. She also swears by the Bobbi Brown face base!

For puffy eyes, I think cucumber slices on the eyes before bed really helps. I'm also quite impressed by Q+A caffeine eye serum.

@festivemouse actually hydration is a good point. At work I drink water all the time but since we've been off I haven't drunk anywhere near as much and I've also been hitting the wine!!

I'll look into the mask! Thank you

I was looking at caffeine serums. Maybe they are worth a shot

L’Oreal do an eye serum applied with a stainless steel roller wand which is cold.
I recommend it. Often on offer on Amazon.

8 hours of sleep, 2l of water and a Mediterranean diet seem to be the trend in findings amongst experts. Low to medium stress as well but that's often beyond one's control with kids, relationship and work. Cutting back on alcohol and caffeine a bit helps too but what fun is life then... There are a few similar threads, and botox and tretinoin are low cost winners to make an immediate difference.

Omega oil and biotin supplements may help (they work for me) though biotin may bring on some spots initially. How is your diet? Could a multivitamin help?

A light touch of botox too, of you are so inclined!

…agree that everyday elements such as more sleep, drinking more water, stress management, twice daily skin moisturisation, daily SPF, nighttime use of prescribed tretinoin for anti ageing superpowers (eg my personal favourite Monderma), light exercise, fresh air; a daily 20 minute walk all year round…great for the soul, body (and complexion!)….other products are really just money wasting (often useless) sidelines to all of the above

I met a friend the other day and was struck by how well she looked. She told me she’d just completed a course of polynucleotide treatment. I had been thinking about it myself for a while but seeing her convinced me. So impressive.

What's your skincare routine like? I am a bit younger but a couple of years ago I felt like this and I realised my skinare routine had not been adjusted to accomodate the fact that I was older. A good serum or two really helped - I started with a general serum (Clarins Double Serum) and Vitamin C and over the last year I've moved to retinol.

I also had to take a look at my make up and work out if I was still attempting to do it like I'd done it when younger. I've made a few changes there as well. Minor, but have been good - new foundation, cream blusher and quite different eye shadow.

I got a NuFace trinity and I think it's good, also inkey list caffeine eye cream is highly recommended and not too expensive.

Little things like using creme bronzer and using it higher up on my cheekbones helps too.

I use elemis pro- collagen marine cream in the evening and apply l'occitane divine cream before. In the mornings, I use Avene aquagel with shiseido sunscreen. I also, have regular facials. This is an expensive regime but does work to keep me looking younger. If you want something budget friendly, I really like avennd and biotherm.

Elemis/£30 pro-collagen marine cream in the morning to plump and hydrate your skin, and a Dermatica/Monderma/£10 tretinoin night cream for reducing fine lines and age spots will work wonders. All seem to be on post-Christmas special. Much of your feeling is surface damage and you'd be surprised how much a good retinol/retinoid can help. Tretinoin is the strongest and highly effective but there are alternatives.

@rumanah can I just ask whether and how you are sure the Dermatica/Monderma is tret? I signed up for dermatica and had no odea what was in it so stopped.

Water , sleep, retinol at night and Botox

Did it not have a label? I've only heard of people ordering tretinoin from them but I see they have other actives. I've had from both and asked for tret at 0.025% strength. Any higher, my skin peels.

Tret really helped with my crow’s feet and smile lines at 38. I couldn’t not use it now.

Yes less so tretinoin with frown lines. That's very much a botox job, although it still helps as far as topical goes. It works best for fine lines and hyperpigmentation near the mouth and eyes.

I also found LED masks help with lines but I had to stop using mine as I think it was darkening my melasma.