A trip to the beauty counter at your local department store and you come home with a fortune in eye cream, day-night cream, serums, moisturizers and some ‘special products’ to treat spots, pimples, pores and wrinkles. And if the salesperson is to be believed all those things are equally essential! I have already written before in my blog that in general “less is more”. The more products you use the greater the risk becomes of skin irritation and allergy. Furthermore, as regards “unique ingredients” there is actually no difference between day, night, eye or décolleté cream. A serum isn’t necessary either if there is a high enough concentration of active ingredients in your usual moisturiser. In addition, most of the ingredients are multi-taskers; in other words they work to prevent pigmentation and spots, protect against sun damage, hydrate and soothe. So an all in one product, nice and easy and inexpensive too!
After reading “the recipe for beautiful skin”, you now know at least which skincare products you should have in your bathroom cabinet.
There is a lot of information in my blog about what does and does not work in the field of skincare. Information about such things as fine ingredients that really can improve the skin. Or about substances which you should avoid. About loose claims and indecipherable mock Latin. About the various skin types and complaints which come about from using incorrect, or the incorrect use of, cosmetics. But even with sufficient knowledge of ingredients, ingredients lists and your own skin, finding the right products is still a mammoth task.
The cosmetic industry is, with an annual turnover of around 220 billion dollars, one of the biggest in the world! And it is still growing. I wrote two years ago that the “average woman” uses around 9 products a day, it currently stands at 12. I am noticing though that people have lost their faith in the effectiveness of cosmetic products. It’s a pity, because despite my often critical comments, I believe more than ever in the possibilities of cosmetic products. Searching for your wonder cream…
My criteria for good skincare products is that they are able to keep the skin in healthy condition. Since it is only a healthy skin that is really beautiful. Believe me; you are better off focusing on this than on the lifting or anti-wrinkling effect of products.
I have written previously about the Toner (see here). There are quite a lot of discussions among Dermatologists as to whether using a Toner is worthwhile. I can understand why some experts are doubtful about this. There are many which are mainly just water with a hint of colour and fragrance. And if you are unfortunate there is also a large amount of mint, eucalyptus or alcohol added (for that fresh clean feel). All of which aren’t very good for the skin.
Now the winter tyres are on the car, the ice and snow clearing equipment is on standby in the garage (we don’t want to get caught out this year….), indoors the central heating is belting out we are suffering again. Dry flaky skin.
I receive a lot of questions about skincare daily via my blog. When I first began with the blog my idea was to share my knowledge about skincare with other people. Now that I have been busy for almost two years with it, it seems like a rather arrogant thought to have had. Because I steal a lot from people who have responded to my blog. I get to know about new products, I am also sometimes confronted with the fact that ‘what is written in theory’ doesn’t always have the same outcome ‘in practice’ and am regularly asked to find out about things which I don’t know very much about myself. For instance this story about tap water…
With our busy lifestyles an all-in-one product seems like a good option. Why shouldn’t you buy a moisturiser which contains a UV filter? Or a cleanser and toner in one? I, myself, am in favour of using different products.
Everyone has had dry skin at sometime. Flaky skin, dry lines, red patches; dry skin can sometimes all of a sudden add a couple of years on to you. Fortunately there is a lot that can be done, but before taking action you first need to determine the cause.