Do you think investing in a good moisturiser...

youngmum_2

...is worth it?

I'm currently researching what new skincare products to buy. One's I'm considering are Liz Earle, Clinique & YSL.

They are very expensive but my skin is rank and obviously none of the cheaper products are helping. I'm also 32 and think maybe it's time to invest in my skin for the future?

Be interesting to hear all your thoughts on this matter...

minerva_windsong

A good skincare routine as a whole is an investment in my eyes, so I would say yes. But then expensive doesn't necessarily mean good, I've found products that work wonders on me for pennies and others that I paid a bomb for which turned out to be rubbish.

For the ones you're considering, I'd maybe try and get some samples (admittedly less easy with the Liz Earle but certainly worth a go with the other two) and see how you feel with those, or look on eBay to see if you can find them cheaper.

Bronnie

As above! Why do you think your skin is "rank"? (Your word not mine:D) and what are your skin problems?

What is your current skincare routine, lifestyle , diet, health, do you smoke etc? I think fundamentally making sure these things are right is more important in the first instance than investing in an expensive product.

Sorry for all the questions, but might help you get a better answer!

Hermia

I think it is worth investing in the moisturiser that works for you. I have dreadful skin so will happily pay more for something that works for me. Just don't always assume that expensive is always better (for example, I tend to find the more expensive moisturisers tend to upset my sensitive skin more).

As others have said what is your skin problem and what is your lifestyle like? If you are eating rubbish, smoking, binge-drinking and sunbathing all the time a moisturiser won't save you!

youngmum_2

Bronnie wrote: »

As above! Why do you think your skin is "rank"? (Your word not mine:D) and what are your skin problems?

What is your current skincare routine, lifestyle , diet, health, do you smoke etc? I think fundamentally making sure these things are right is more important in the first instance than investing in an expensive product.

Sorry for all the questions, but might help you get a better answer!

Lol... I guess I say my skin is rank cos I always seem to have a spot or a blemish! I follow Weighwatchers and exercise and so am healthy and don't smoke and never have.

I think it's more my age as well. Now I'm in my thirties, I was wondering if it was time to invest...

beautyscientist

All the advice you have already got sounds pretty good to me. But I have had a couple of people asking me very similar questions lately so I am half way through a blog post to answer them. This is where I am with it.

Most people under the age of about 30 don’t need to even think about moisturising their face. Unfortunately it is simply a fact of life that as we age the quality of our skin goes down. There are some things you can do to fight back a bit but ultimately time always wins. There are a few cases where some of the effects of time can be somewhat reversed, but in general your skin will betray how long you have been in it.

To understand what you should be thinking about when assessing a skin cream lets remind ourselves of the two major things that change as your skin gets older. First, it starts to get drier. This happens because the barrier the skin forms between you and the outside world weakens and you start to lose water across your skin more quickly. The other thing that happens is that the collagen that gives your skin its elasticity starts to break down. As it does, your skin becomes less tight and more prone to wrinkles.

How can these processes be slowed down?

The biggest factor in the loss of collagen is light. The more you go out in bright sun the worse it will be. Stay out of the Sun as far as you can. A sunscreen product will help a bit. My personal preference is for physical sun blocks such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, but any sunscreen is better than no sunscreen if you are likely to be out in direct sunlight. I don’t recommend any particular SPF value, and in fact I think a low one is probably as good as a high one in the long run. The trick is to keep an eye on your skin and make sure you are using enough to stop your skin changing colour.

The barrier function is easier to deal with. You basically need to pick a moisturising cream that restores the balance of water loss to what it used to be. This varies enormously from person to person. If you aren’t losing much a light lotion might be far and away the best choice. If you are losing a lot then you might be in the market for something like Nivea or Attrixo. You can tell pretty quickly if it is working. If you aren’t getting a noticeable benefit in about a week or less, change the amount you are using or change your product.
How much should you pay? My advice is to completely ignore the price tag. If your skin happens to need a very expensive product, well that is just the kind of high maintenance person you are. If you find a cheap one - lucky you.

It is largely a question of matching the amount of oil in the formulation to how dry your skin is. In an ideal world the oil content would be marked on the pack to make selection easier, but the marketing guys would have me assassinated before they let me demystify the products that they sell to that extent.
But the best advice is to just keep trying different things until you find one that suits you.

I hope that is helpful.

LittleMissAspie

I think it is worth it but it depends what you call "good". I wouldn't call those big brands good in my opinion because they are probably full of lab-made chemicals. Good to me is natural and I've been using plain oil on my face for a while now. I actually have a greasy skin type and always struggled to find a moisturiser that didn't leave me looking like a chip pan after a few hours but surprisingly the plain oil doesn't leave me shiny. Strange but true.

I was using raspberry seed oil which was great. I tried argan oil too and it's quite nice but will go back to raspberry seed oil when it runs out. That's in the morning and in the evening I use coconut oil which is heavier.

I also add a few drops of essential oil to the right %. It sounds like you might benefit from a bit of lavender. 1 ml is 20 drops so if you have 50ml of oil/moisturiser you can add 10-20 drops for 1-2%.

suki1964

youngmum wrote: »

...is worth it?

I'm currently researching what new skincare products to buy. One's I'm considering are Liz Earle, Clinique & YSL.

They are very expensive but my skin is rank and obviously none of the cheaper products are helping. I'm also 32 and think maybe it's time to invest in my skin for the future?

Be interesting to hear all your thoughts on this matter...

Best thing that cleared my skin up was the OCM - cheap as chips - and if it dont work you can use it to cook your chips

Benson

I love liz Earle and aveda, they would be my best buys. However having seen a load of reviews recently, I popped down to aldi and tried the one that's being raved about and at 1.99 I have to say it really is fab and much better than some of the expensive ones I've had in the past!
Lots of ££££ doesnt mean the best!!

sahm_in_spain

I am the same age is you and I like Marks and Spencers skincare products which are reasonably priced but good quality. I think the most important thing at our age is to protect your skin from the sun.

NickyBat

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

I think it is worth it but it depends what you call "good". I wouldn't call those big brands good in my opinion because they are probably full of lab-made chemicals. Good to me is natural

You couldn't be more wrong, certainly with Liz earle - her whole range is natural.

To the OP, i have been using Liz earle now for 12 years, and my skin was "rank" when i first started off but since using Liz i haven't looked back my skin just behaves itself now.

if you have a look at the Liz Earle website you will see everything available and i for one don't think her products are particularly expensive.

Many years ago i went with my cousin to have my make up done at Clinique and the girl commented on how clear and soft my skin was and asked me what i used, i told her (she didnt seem to have heard about it) and she proceeded to cleanse my skin, well i can only describe it as feeling like i had had acid put on my skin. it was awful and i had a bad reaction to their cleanser, now i accept that Clinique is a big brand and probably doesn't suit everyone but i personally wouldnt use it if it was free.