Dr Nick Lowe The Secret is Out skin care range

As you may know I have been using the Liz Earle skin care range for quite some time and have been loving it - my skin has been calm, happy and unblemished.  I know it has it's nay-sayers but I have got on really well with Cleanse and Polish, I think for me the fact that it has got me actually cleaning my face properly has made all the difference.  Back in the bad old days - before I read Beauty Mouth (Ness - the link there is for you! xx)- I had decided that my skin didn't tolerate water well so used cleansers I could smooth on and tissue off.  My head spins round thinking about that now!  I my defence back then I was also wearing much less make-up, but even so it would explain why my skin looked pretty crap a lot of the time.  Muslin or face cloth, makes no odds but using a cloth gives your face a mini-exfoliation each time you cleanse and its this that I think is key to clear, happy, healthy skin.  

Soooo, whilst I loved the Liz Earle Skin Repair cream and the C&P I had decided that perhaps at 45 I should be looking more at preventing the affects of ageing than I was.  I have already mentioned Beauty Mouth, if you have never read Caroline's blog I urge you too, her credentials are massive and her knowledge more so, anything I know about skin care has come from reading Caroline's blog.  She wrote a brief post here recently and it was the point aimed at over 40's in her precis at the top that hit home!  I had no idea which products contained Vitamin A and what peptides were let alone where I could find them.  At this point I should say if I had a big enough budget I would just buy every product Caroline ever recommended - I don't, so I needed to find some alternatives that I could afford.  I am completely aware that in doing so I am no doubt buying products with less active ingredient than their more high end counterparts, but I figure its a start!

Necessary peptides - did a bit of googling and apparently Matrixyl and Argireline are the top peptides to instantly reduce appearance and creation of wrinkles.  Hylauronic acid is also hailed as being massive in helping the skin to restore mositure.  So next I googled "skin care Matrixyl Argireline" and up popped this Dr Nick Lowe The Secret is Out Anti-Age lifting cream.

Ta dah! contains the necessary peptides and costs £25 - bloody brilliant! It also has Vitamin A, C & E and an spf of 15.
I had a look at the full range on the Boots site, then on the Dr Nick Lowe site, then I did some further googling for reviews and found several including this one here which pretty much answered all of the questions that I had at the time.  I was in the car and off to Boots faster than you can say early on-set dementia.


To make things even better Boots were running their 3 for 2 promotion on skin care so for £53 I got the Lift and Repair Night cream (£27.56) and the Lifting Super Serum (£25.52) and I got the Anti Ageing Lifting Cream (£25.48) free!

I genuinely hadn't expected to see any visible improvement in my skin, anti ageing is all about the long haul after all, but I was actually very surprised at how much better my skin looked even within a couple of days.  My complexion was clear and even and whilst I am aware that this makes me sound nuts, I did look younger.  Maybe this stuff has something into it that seeps into your pores and then into your brain and causes delusions, I have no idea, but I could literally see a difference.  


I am using the Lifting Serum in the mornings after cleansing.  It does contain some Dimethicone, so if that is an issue for your skin you might want to avoid this.  You know when you apply a primer that is just Lancane in a fancy tube or any product that claims to make your skin instantly feel like silk  that you have just masked your skins texture with a heap of silicone? Well this doesn't feel like that, I can still feel my skin through it.  What they say about it:

The Star Ingredients

• Linseed Extract to improve skin's elasticity and firmness.
• A powerful Peptide Complex that visibly refines the skin's surface, fading expression lines .

Additional features and benefits

• Acai and Goji berries - extremely rich in antioxidants
• A powerful Peptide Complex that visibly refines the skin's surface, fading expression lines
• Vitamins A, C and E to help smooth, rejuvenate and protect the skin

I follow that with the Lifting Cream, this is a very heavyweight moisturiser that I can still feel on my skin - I apply it on my neck and decolletage as well - in the evening when I am cleansing.  I have dry skin and like this sort of heft in a moisturiser, I would strongly recommend going to Boots and trying this from the testers before buying if you aren't as dry skinned.  What they say about it:

• New generation peptides Matrixyl®, ChroNOlineTM and Argireline ® to help reduce instantly, and over the long term, the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
• Hyaluramine® and Hydralys® to help restore the skin’s capacity to retain moisture. With time, the skin recovers its supple and elastic qualities.
• Anti Age Cranley Complex combining potent anti-oxidants Ferulic Acid, Pomegranate and Raspberry with Vitamins A, C and E.

In the evening I am using the Avene Emulsion reviewed here and then the Lift and Repair night cream, this is my absolute favourite of all the products. It has a body butter like consistency and an orange flower smell that I just love, its soothing to apply and the fragrance is so relaxing, if this was giving me warts I would still be tempted to use it! What they say about it:

This rich, readily absorbed cream works during the night helping to tone and firm the skin. The advanced tightening and hydrating formula with Sodium Hyaluronate, peptides and super fruits Acai, Blueberry and Pomegranate also helps to replenish and revitalise. With regular use, fine lines and wrinkles appear reduced the skin looks more youthful, fresher and more radiant.

I think by now you have got the gist of this post!  I am really loving this range and wish I had found it years ago.  I asked the kids for the Cleanser and am not completely loving it, it does seem to be more aimed at smooth on tissue off cleansing and I am not going there!  I think I am going to buy a balm cleanser too and then alternate between the last of my C&P, this cleanser and the balm to keep my skin in tip top condition.  From the range I'd like to try the Neck and Decollete firming cream too and maybe the Instant Face Lift too, just to see what happens *ping and I'm 9 all over again* maybe?! Has anyone else tried any Dr Nick Lowe products?  What did you think?  I am rushing around recommending this to anyone that will listen!

Top: Serum, Middle: Day cream, Bottom: Night cream

Serum ingredients:
Aqua (Water), Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Glycerin, PEG-12 Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Alcohol, Euterpe oleracea Fruit Extract, Linum usitatissimum, Lycium barbarum Fruit Extract, Xanthan Gum, Lecithin, Carnosine, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Retinyl Palmitate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Potassium Sorbate, Glyceryl Caprylate, Sorbic Acid, p-Anisic Acid, Tocopherol, Silymarin.

Lifting Cream ingredients:

 Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Octocrylene, Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, Bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine, Butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl olivate, Dimethicone, Sorbitan olivate, Glyceryl polymethacrylate, Hydrolyzed glycosaminoglycans, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea butter), Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Pullulan, Methylparaben, C13-14 isoparaffin, Parfum (Fragrance), Propylene glycol, Butylene glycol, Rubus idaeus (Raspberry) leaf extract, Cucumis melo (Melon) fruit extract, Ferulic acid, Propylparaben, Punica granatum (Pomegranate) extract, Sodium lactate, Algae extract, Laureth-7, Disodium EDTA, Phospholipids, Sodium benzoate, Sodium hydroxide, Potassium sorbate, BHT, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Retinyl palmitate, Quaternium-15, Caprooyl tetrapeptide-3, Dextran, EDTA, Tocopheryl acetate, Ascorbyl palmitate, Palmitoyl oligopeptide, Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7

Lift And Repair ingredients:

 Aqua (Water), Cetearyl ethylhexanoate, Glycerin, Prunus amygdalus dulcis (Sweet almond) oil, Cetearyl alcohol, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, Cyclopentasiloxane, Polyacrylate-13, Punica granatum (Pomegranate) sterols, Phenoxyethanol, Butylene glycol, Cetearyl glucoside, Polyisobutene, Parfum (Fragrance), Salicyloyl phytosphingosine, Benzoic acid, Disodium EDTA, Isoquercetin, Sodium hyaluronate, Sodium lactate, Euterpe oleracea pulp powder, Polysorbate 20, Decarboxy carnosine HCL, Sorbitan isostearate, Dehydroacetic acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium hydroxide, Vaccinium myrtillus (Blueberry) fruit extract, Potassium sorbate, Sorbic acid, Hexapeptide-9, Benzyl salicylate, Hexyl cinnamal, Butylphenyl methylpropional, Limonene, Linalool, Alpha-isomethyl ionone.

Superdrug Optimum Swiss Apple Overnight Skin Renewal Serum

You may remember that I raved about the Superdrug Swiss Apple cream recently.  To update I am still using the cream and am liking it very much although for my super dry skin, that is now being wrecked by having to increase some medication that I have to take, I have had to add some Simple moisturiser into the mix, just to make sure that my skin is suitably hydrated.  I was sent the Swiss Apple Overnight Skin Renewal Serum to try alongside the night cream and again I have been as pleasantly surprised by this as I was by the cream for during the day.

Nice glass bottle with a pump, perfect for dispensing - I use about 3 pumps of this to do a good slather on my face and neck.  Like the day cream this has no real smell and unlike the day cream no slight tingle either, which is nice - I am happy for the day cream to tingle on basis if the tingle increased and felt like it was causing a problem I could deal with it, with night serum if similar happened I might sleep through and wake up with ravaged skin!

The serum feels lovely when you apply it, nice and cooling which I like as often my face feels over heated, its quite thin so doesn't feel like its clagging up your skin and I have added a drop of facial oil afterwards a couple of times when my skin is feeling particularly parched, ladies with normal skin would not need the addition I suspect, my skin is super dry!

I have to be honest and say that a couple of times a few people have commented on how radiant my skin looks and whenever someone has passed comment it is the day after I have used the serum the night before - sometimes I am a bit rubbish and forget to use it! 

So for £14.99 would I recommend this?  I think I would in all honesty, it is lovely to use and whilst my skin hasn't been transformed it does seem better when I used this serum.  I have to point out that my skin is having a complete meltdown at the moment, partially hormonal and possibly because I haven't been too well recently so I think anything I used that was going to give really visible results would have to be a tiny bit short of a miracle.  I think if you are in your 30's and wanting to ward off early on set wrinkling this could be a good thing to try.

Organic Surge - Overnight Sensation Night Cream

Saw this reviewed on A Model Recommends and decided that I would have to check this range out when I was next in Boots. Ruth's reviews are really good and although she frequently reviews products that are a little out beyond the means of a frugal blogger she often suggests a less expensive alternative, which I really like about her blog.

On the basis that Ruth was loving this I thought I really ought to give it a go, frankly any product a 20 something model is using probably doesn't have to work too hard, totally different story on a 44 year old, rather lived in face!



The first thing I noticed is the delicious scent. It reminds me of something else I have used and its bugging me that I cant think what it is. It has, obviously, a rose geranium scent which is really soothing, perfect for a night cream. The cream itself is dense, again great in a night cream especially if your 44 year old lived in face tends to be dry into the bargain. I found that it soaked in well and left a layer on my face that I liked. Used a mask on Friday that I think I might have issues with and my skin has been red and a bit stressed since, this cream calmed it down really nicely. Sadly when I woke up this morning I didn't really look like Ruth. But for £7.99 that was perhaps expecting a little too much! My skin did feel soft and well moisturised and much calmer than it has done since Friday. The cream comes in a nice heavy weight jar and the packaging is very attractive.



Whilst I was in Boots I had a play with some of the other products in the range, the Sensitive cleanser is next on my wish list, it has a lovely lemony fragrance and the eye gel was very cooling so that's a possible for the future too. Thanks Ruth for sharing a great find!