2023’s big beauty post

In the morning I wash my face in the shower, tone and moisturise. It wakes me up and prepares me for the day. In the evening as soon as I get home I change into my pyjamas and remove my make up with a wipe off cream cleanser, tone and moisturise. This small ritual separates my work time from my leisure time, relaxes me, and allows me to empty my head and enjoy the ingrained ritual of cleaning my face.

My aim is that my skin feels comfortable when I wake up in the morning (not tight) and that it can go through an entire day without starting to feel dry and taut or oily and shiny.

I don’t believe in anti-ageing creams, or claims of miraculous removal of wrinkles. Nothing except surgery takes away wrinkles. And how many wrinkles you have depends on genetics, lifestyle choices (diet, the sun, smoking, alcohol). But you can keep your skin smoother and more comfortable. The wrinkles smooth out a little when your skin is not dry.

Morning (every day)

• face wash
• shower gel
• conditioner (I wash my hair once or twice week but I condition several times more than that)
• body lotion
• deodorant (always an unscented stick).
• toner
• moisturiser
• hair styler and leave-in conditioner in one

Evening

• eye makeup remover
• wipe off cleanser
• toner
• moisturiser

If I don’t shower in the morning then I bath/shower in the evening. I often do this when I have early mornings so that I can have an extra 15 minutes in bed in the morning (I am not a morning person).

I tend to change most products around regularly because I get bored but I stick to hair products that I like because I have long curly hair, which is very fussy. Some of my favourite products are:

Hair

Shampoo

• Philip Kingsley Extreme Moisture (this is my favourite shampoo of all time)
• Redken AllSoft

Conditioner

• Philip Kingsley Extreme Moisture
• Redken Curvaceous
• Redken AllSoft

Hair Mask (pre-wash)

• Philip Kingsley Elasticiser

 Hair Mask (post-wash)

• Redken AllSoft
• Redken Real Control
• Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair

Leave In Conditioner 

• Sebastian Potion 9 (a one of a kind product. I will literally cry if this is every discontinued)
• Redken Anti-Snap Extreme Anti-Snap Leave In Treatment

Styler

• Sebastian Potion 9

Serum/Oil

• Wella Professionals SP Luxe Oil
• John Frieda Frizz Ease Original Serum

Straighteners

• GHD

Blowdrier

• Parlux

Body

Shower Gel

• Lush (Grass and Rose Jam)
• Body Shop (most of them)
• Victor Vaissier Atmosphere

Scrub Gloves

• Soap & Glory

Body Lotion

• Body Shop Body Butter
• Nivea Body Milk for dry skin
• ACO Body Lotion Rich
• Yves Rocher Riche Creme Body Lotion (often free of charge when you are a club member)

Razor

• Gillette Venus
• Schick/Wilkinson Intuition (I love this razor as it has the shaving cream and razor in one and does not slip.

Foot File

• Microplane (I will never use anything else)

Toothbrush

• Phillips Sonicare Diamondclean black
• Oral-B

Tweezers

• Tweezerman

Perfume

• Antonia’s Flowers

Skincare

Eye Makeup Remover

• Yves Rocher Pur Bleuet Express (the best I have ever used)
• Lancôme Bi-facil

Scrub/Exfoliator

• Clinique Freshly Pressed Renewing Powder Cleanser
• Dermalogica Microfoliant

Cleanser (wash off)

• Lancôme’Perfectly Clean Cleansing Cream/Moisture Mask
• Yves Rocher Creme Ultra Rich Cleansing Cream

Cleanser (wipe off)

• Lancôme Galatée Confort
• Beauté Pacifique Cleansing Milk, Dry Skin
• Body Shop Vitamin e
• ACO Face Clean Lotion
• African Extracts Soothing Cleansing Lotion
• African Extracts Advantage Hydrating Creamy Cleanser

Toner

• Bioderma Micellar Water
• Garnier Micellar Water
• African Extracts Refreshing Toner

Moisturiser

• Clinique Dramatically Different Moistuiser +
• Astalift Night Cream
• Dr Hauschka Rose Cream
• Weleda Skin Food

Mask

• Fiolorga Oxygen-Glow Mask
• Body Shop Chinese Ginseng & Rice Clarifying Polishing Mask

Spot Treatments

• Mario Badescu Drying Lotion

Facial Wipes

• Garinier Micellar Water Cleansing Wipes

Facial Cleansing Tools

• Konjac exfoliating sponges

Make up

Mascara (black or dark brown)

• Huda Beauty Double-Ended Volumizing and Lengthening Mascara
• Sweed Cloud Mascara

Eye Shadow (browns and beiges)

• MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Groundwork
• Clinique Chubby Stick in Lots O’ Latte

Eye Liner (black)

• Dessin Du Regard Waterproof Eye Pencil in black (have not used anything else in years)

Lipstick

• Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey
• Clarins Lip Perfector in Plum Shimmer
• Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in Super Strawberry

Multipurpose Products

1. Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream
2. Homeoplasmine
3. Försvarets hudsalva
4. Yu-Be
5. Lucas PawPaw Ointment

Discontinued

1. Tigi Curl Jam
2. Yves Rocher Anti-Ageing haircare series
3. Bourjois Coup de Theatre mascara
4. Clarins Alpine Herbs Cleansing Milk
5. Yves Rocher Serum Vegetal Facial Wipes

About Dermalogica

Dermalogica is not a brand I use extensively or exclusively, but their products are brilliant and I would recommend them for sensitive or problem skin. They are also fantastic for men. They have very gentle products if your skin is sensitive and if you have problem skin there is nothing that will cause flare ups.

• I have used one of their gentle toners in the past when I had an allergic reaction to something I had eaten and another time when I had really bad sunburn.
• Their polishing grain exfoliator is fascinating and the gorgeous feeling of your skin after having used this is actually addictive.
• I love their Thermofoliant exfoliator as well. It heats up as you used it and it leaves your skin feeling clean and smooth but not try.
• They also have sun protection that you can mix into your regular moisturiser, and a range of boosters that you add to your regular skincare. These I use regularly.
• I love their facial masks as well. A nice combination of a clay mask and a moisturising one that does not dry on your skin.

About Skincare

Remember always that you are the person who lives in your skin 24/7. You know how it feels, what it responds best to, which products make it look and feel your best. Do not let sales assistants pushing particular brands on you for commission tell you what to/what not to buy if you are happy with your skin and what you are using. Do not let them force entire ranges on you without offering you samples to take with you and try first. Don’t let them insult your present products if you and your skin are happy with what you are using.

You don’t have to use an entire range if you do not want to

• Everyone’s skin is different. What suits you may not suit the next person. If you are happy with your cleanser but would like a new moisturiser, don’t feel you have to switch to an entire range to get the best effect.

Expensive is not necessarily better

• Many of the cheaper brands and expensive brands are owned by the same company (for example L’Oreal owns Redken, Kerastase and Kiehls) so the expertise and ingredients trickle down. Once again, it is always down to your particular skin. My skin loved Superdrug’s copy of Clarins Beauty Flash Balm way better than the original. The Superdrug version was called Instant Radiance Balm and my skin lapped it up, even though it cost £1 against Clarins which cost about £25 at the time. Another example is that when Nivea Brought out its Nivea Q10 moisturiser, the only other brand containing Q10 was a La Prairie one which cost about 100 times (yep, really) what the Nivea one did. The Nivea one was very very good. One of the few times I could actually see a huge difference in my skin when I used it. It is also one that I always go back to.
• Remember also that only a small part of the budget actually goes into the product. The rest goes into advertising, packaging, branding.

Some brands you don’t like may have good products for you

• I avoid Yves Rocher moisturisers like the plague and many of their products are not good at all, but they have good shower gels and makeup, and their eye makeup remover is the best I have ever used.

Use them as you feel suits you best

• I don’t use the Clarins method of applying my moisturiser, I don’t subscribe to Dr Hauschka’s belief that you should never moisturise at night, but I love their products. In fact, my skin loves it when I slap on their magnificent Rose Cream as a night cream. Sorry Dr Hauschka!

Don’t be scared to ask for samples of products you wish to try

• If someone is aggressively trying to flog me a product or entire range of products, using fancy words about new ingredients, nanosomes, microscopic capsules and miracle herbs they often don’t understand themselves, then I expect samples. If they do not have sample sachets, I carry small empty pots with me (unused ones from travel kits or little pots of products I have finished and then sterilised) that I ask them to fill from their testers (which are usually hygienic). If they say no, then I DEFINITELY  don’t want their product.

Read the ingredient labels

• if the amount of the ‘miracle ingredient’ (yes there always seems to be one, doesn’t there?) is minuscule (i.e. last on the list) then it is not likely it is very active.
• if the product is made mostly up of (i.e. the ingredient is first on the list)  an ingredients you skin does not like (petrolatum, mineral oil, glycerine, lanolin) then avoid.

Nothing can make you younger or remove wrinkles

• But well moisturised, calm skin looks smoother, because the depth of the wrinkles is reduced. It feels nicer too.

Be sceptical of advertising and articles about products

• the photographs in advertisements are always retouched
• the groups these advertisements mention in their claims of X% noticed a significant improvement in their skin are often very small
• the language of advertising beauty products is very creative (see link below)
• the magazines who write so-called impartial reviews of the products rely heavily on advertising revenue from these giant corporations so they are never negative about the products. If you want to find honest reviews, find sites where people who paid for the products give their opinions, read opinions from all ends of the spectrum, and believe the end where most votes lie. It is not 100% accurate but it is better than believing a magazine advertorial for a product they received for free from one of their advertisers. Word of mouth is always best.

Read more of my posts here

• Which beauty brands are owned by the same umbrella company
• Yves Rocher product recommendations
• How beauty brands fool you into believing their hype
• South African beauty brands
• Swedish beauty brands
• The best international beauty brands.

My skin has always been quite good. My mother was very fair with flaming red hair and freckles and my father had olive skin so I am fair but I go very brown in the sun (see photo below, you can’t miss me!). . I have never been spotty and I don’t have sensitive skin. I have quite a few lines now, probably because of sun-damage, losing a lot of weight in my 20s, and having the same fair, dry skin as my mother. The only two things I have ever been allergic to have been Dior Diorshow and Maybelline Great Lash mascaras.

I used to suffer from rosacea – my face would go really red if I consumed dairy products. But luckily I have not had a flare-up in at least 20 years.

I do have more and more lines now I am older but people often comment on the skin around my eyes. For some reason it is unusually smooth when I am not smiling. Which is strange because I have never used eye cream. Sunscreen I only use if it is built into a moisturiser or if it is the Dermalogica booster mentioned above. I don’t like the chemical smell and feel of sunscreens on my face, or the film they form.