Skincare, What’s Going To Keep You Looking Youthful & Glam Without The Need For Botox Or Filler?
I don’t know about you, but for years now I have found my skin changes from season to season. One season it gets sweaty and covered in spots, the next it’s dry, scratchy and irritated from both the cold outside and the dry heat indoors and don’t even get me started on the monthly PMS hormonal changes!
I know skin is skin, that’s common sense! But everybody’s skin has different needs depending on what conditions your skin or your body may have as well as lifestyle, environment, medications, diet etc. It has taken me so many years to understand what my skin needs and how to avoid the problems my poor skin usually faces on an almost daily basis, but I’ve finally found the go-to products that have turned my skincare routine around. I use them morning and night, and for in the winter I’ve worked out how to combine certain products to find the right balance to stop my skin getting too dry.
So, let’s get down to business and go though each of the products I wouldn’t be stuck on a dessert island without, and why I think they are fantastic investments for you as well.
Some of my Skincare Staples and Why I Keep Going Back to Them
Tip #1 Micellar Water to remove make-up. Micellar water is fantastic at removing impurities from the surface of the skin as it is gentle and non-irritant. My favourite is Garnier SkinActive Micellar Cleansing Water. All you need to do is saturate a cotton pad with it and wipe over the skin and watch it work its magic.
Tip #2 Facial cleansers. Cleansers usually come in 2 forms; a gel/liquid cleanser that you combine with water, lather up and apply to the face then rinse off, or a cleansing balm which is more on the solid side until the heat from your hands and face melt it into liquid. The balm can be used in 2 ways: as a make-up remover as it is fantastic at dissolving mascara, foundation creams etc, or as a facemask. Facial cleansers are designed to both cleanse the skin and also remove any residue of make-up, dirt etc before the rest of the skincare routine. My favourites are the Elemis Pro-Radiance Cream Cleanser, Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm and the Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel.
Tip #3 Exfoliation. Make sure to gently exfoliate your facial skin. Depending on what you use and how sensitive your skin is, this should only really be done 1 to 2 times per week as more than that can strip the essential natural oils from the skin. There are several ways to exfoliate your skin, but my favourites products to use are Paula's Choice SKIN PERFECTING 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, ELEMIS Papaya Enzyme Peel, ELEMIS Gentle Rose Exfoliator and Sand & Sky Australian Pink Clay. All these items are especially good if you suffer with frequent breakouts, or what I like to call “time of the month skin” where my chin and jawline get covered in a line of what to me look like volcanic eruptions. When my chin and jawline get like that, I prefer the Sand and Sky mask and use it twice that week. I also like the Charcoal Peel Off Mask if my skin is really spot prone.
Tip #4 Toner. Once I have cleanser my skin and removed all traces of make-up, I use a good quality toner. My favourite is ELEMIS Rehydrating Ginseng Toner which I prefer to use in the summer as it is light and refreshing and La Roche Posay Effaclar Lozione Astringente is my favourite for in the colder winter months as this doesn’t dry my skin out too much.
Serums, eye creams and face creams
Tip #5 Don’t skimp on serum. Serums are designed to penetrate deeper into the skin than just the surface layers as they are thinner and lighter than moisturisers and creams and are often water based so should be applied before moisturisers for optimum absorption and effectiveness. My favourites are currently La Roche Posay Hyaluronic Acid B5 Serum Concentrate 30ml, the ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Super Serum Elixir, the Lancome Génifique Serum con Fourreau and ELEMIS Dynamic Resurfacing Super-C Serum, Brightening Antioxidant Vitamin C Serum. Don’t assume that this post is directed only at women, everyone can benefit from good skincare, and ultimately good selfcare!
Why are eye creams especially important for antiaging?
Tip #6 Eye Creams. As we get older, the very thin delicate skin around our eyes begins to lose its elasticity, and the levels of collagen reduce making dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles deeper and more obvious. Depending on how well we look after our skin, our lifestyles, level of sun exposure, history of smoking and our genetics, for some people this reduction in collagen and loss of skin elastin can happen sooner and make us look older before our time. So, what role does eye cream play in this? Well just like serums, eye creams are something that both sexes can benefit from if used daily and, more importantly, used correctly. Eye creams provide moisture and hydration to the eye area, essential vitamins and minerals, provide a "youthful glow”, can be used to prep the eye area for make-up, brighten and firm the eye area and reduce any signs of puffiness. The list goes on.
One of the best and most essential ingredients to look out for in both eye creams and anti-aging products is Hyaluronic acid (“HA”). HA is produced naturally in the connective tissue in your body. Its primary function is to help your skin repair itself and reduce signs of sagging and wear and tear. This is why so many products now are made using concentrated HA as the primary ingredient as it is famous for combating the signs of skin degeneration and aging, especially around the eye area. My favourites are La Roche Posay Concealers & Correctors, 0.4 kilograms, Dr Barbara Sturm super anti-aging eye cream,
Tip #7 Day and Night Creams. There is a difference between day creams and night creams and that is the thickness. Day creams are typically thinner than night creams and often contain some sort of sun protective barrier such as an SPF together with vitamin C to protect the skin from sun damage and aging. A good day cream will not contain ingredients that will make your skin photosensitive such as retinol which thins the skin and can make it very sensitive, or glycolic acids. They are also thin enough to be applied under make-up. My favourite day creams are ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Marine Cream 50ml SPF30, La Roche-Posay Hydraphase HA light face care for 72h moisture 50 ml and ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Morning Matrix.
Night creams on the other hand are typically much thicker than day creams, and contain more active ingredients designed to repair the skin such as retinol, concentrated hyaluronic acid, glycolic acids, alpha hydroxy and beta hydroxy acids, ceramides, vitamin E and lactic acids etc. These are beneficial to the skin and are the active ingredients you should look out for when choosing a good night cream. Be careful with retinol though, especially if you have sensitive skin as this can worsen skin irritations and problems like eczema so should either be used sparingly or avoided altogether in those circumstances. Some of my favourite night creams are ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Night Cream, ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Overnight Matrix and ELEMIS Dynamic Resurfacing Night Cream.
Tip #8 Facial Oils. During the winter months, my skin can get especially dry and irritated and I’ve found that what it is missing was not only moisture, but oil! I’ve found that mixing facial oil with my night cream before applying it to my face makes a huge difference in the colder winter months. Just add a few drops of the oil to a small amount of the night cream between your fingers and rub your fingers together to warm both products up and apply to the face, avoiding the eye area. My absolute favourite facial oils are Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping night oil, ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Oil and Saira Skin Award Winning Hydrating Facial Oil.
Contrary to what you may have seen in social media videos where young girls are slathering oodles of product onto their faces, I have previously been told by a Dermatologist that this is the wrong thing to do entirely and can actually cause breakouts and skin issues, as your skin can only absorb so much. Using too much product is also a waste of money as good quality skincare is often quite expensive. It’s worth mentioning that for each of the items referred to above, you only require a small amount of product to be used at a time and I can attest that they last for a long time when not unnecessarily overused. I have been using these products in various combinations for easily about 15 years now and very rarely do I have to repurchase them, so please trust me when I say they are well worth your hard-earned money.
On a serious note, is there anything I really shouldn’t put on my skin?
I'm not a Dermatologist but there is a plethora of well documented and well researched information out there to support the scientific studies that, unfortunately, these are some potentially dangerous ingredients that should be looked out for when on the hunt for good skincare products. These dangerous ingredients have extremely nasty side effects and should be avoided at all costs. Look at the ingredients list on product’s box and leaflet inserts and if you see any of these ingredients then it is a wise idea to avoid using it. A list of these ingredients, some of which are carcinogenic (cancer causing) can be found online on a number of trusted medical sites such as WebMD etc.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please stay turned for part 2 where I will be covering the best beauty and skincare accessories to keep in your boudoir to elevate your routine and optimise how the products work on your skin. As usual, if you like the blogs I post, please feel free to click the like button and if there is anything specific you would like me to do a post on, please feel free to send me a quick email and I can put something together for you xx
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