Skin care heroes.

If you have read any of my blog you will know that I have issues with red skin on my face, I have mild roseacea that flares up once a month or when I get stressed and general diffiuse redness that is more or less pronounced depending on all sorts of factors.  The one range that I have found that has had any noticeable impact on my redness is the Avene range.  I had used the products in the past but whilst I was happy with the results had overlooked them mainly because I like to treat myself to expensive skin care and at around £9 a product they didn't really fit the bill.  Shallow doesn't really come close does it!

When this winter my roseacea was particularly bad I decided to give them another whirl and I am seriously pleased I did.



The gentle cleanser is heaven to use, its a very light, non scented gel that you can massage in well and rinse with tepid water and a soft cloth or for mornings when you just refreshing your skin rather than removing make up it can be tissued off, which is lovely for me as my skin is not a fan of water.  No tightness or dryness with this at all.

The Rich skin recovery cream is fantastic, it is thick the sort of texture normally associated with a body butter, but on my skin it soaks in well.  I use it as part of my night regime but also add a dab in the morning to any particularly angry looking patches.


The redness solution moisturiser has a light green tint and whilst not sufficient to make any major difference it does seem to tone down the worst of the redness without any shrek effect.


It's a lovely cooling moisturiser and if my skin is being grumpy its all I use.

The eye cream is not too heavy so I don't end up puffy eye'd.  I don't think that is having a huge effect on wrinkles but my eye area and the skin underneath is very crepey and on my mum it was the first area to really show signs of ageing so I am keen to keep it nourished.

When my skin is playing nice I also dip into my lovely Elemis products.
 
Oh how I love them!  Both the pro-collagen day and night are bliss to use.  They are perfumed, not massively in my opinion but enough that they are pleasant.  I love how both of these make my skin feel and whilst they are stupidly expensive if you were ever to buy at full whack you do only need a smidge.  I had a 15ml sample of the day cream on 3rd December and this morning had to cut the tube to get the last of it out, having used it sparingly but pretty much daily since.

I really like the Pro-radiance cream cleanser.  Its a lovely cream cleanser that doesn't lather or bubble, more of a balm effect.  You apply a thin layer to dry skin and massage it in, after a minute it starts to suck up all your make up and gunge off  your face and turn it into a paste, if you have ever used Clarins facial peel its a little like that but with slip so its not dragging on your skin.  My face  always feels super clean but never tight after using this.  I don't use it daily but tend to do every other day, just in case my skin freaks out.

The papaya enzyme peel and the pro-collagen quartz lift mask were also in the gift set I had for xmas.  The papaya peel is a peachy coloured cream with a fruity smell.  I was warned only to use this when my skin was on its best behaviour, which I have stuck to and have had no problems.  The quartz lift mask is heavenly, its a thinner white cream with a lovely warming fragrance it contains Argan Tree Oil and feels intensely moisturising without being clogging.  

I had a full size bottle of the Exotic Cream moisturising mask for Christmas too.

This is lovely, one of the biggest benefits is that you can apply a thin layer at night and leave it on overnight for intensive moisturisation, which my skin LOVES.  It is another peachy cream and if I am being honest I don't completely love the smell, its a bit fruit yoghurt to me but the very visible benefits more than make up for this.  It leaves my skin plumped and glowing even if just leave it on for ten mins and not overnight. 

I also use the Clarins gentle facial peeling, once a week generally sometimes a couple of times and its a great prep before one of the masks.

So thats me, skin care for a 44 year old with red, stressy skin! 

Oh and one other thing I have been meaning to say.  As you know I take photos, some of them of people and I always feel a duty of care for those people so apply a little skin softening or maybe get rid of a blemish, in the way I would want someone to do for me!  One of things I have really noticed when taking photos of older ladies is that irrespective of how good the skin on their face may, or may not be, generally their necks are in less good nick.  Having noticed this I resolved to make sure I ALWAYS make sure my neck gets a good slather of moisturiser too - in the past I have been guilty of overlooking this but with the photographic proof that in your mid sixties this oversight will come back to haunt you I am being extra careful and wanted to share! (Relevent only if your mid sixties are only 20 years away, any more than that and I guess you can forget about this advice for a while, but be warned!!)