Cheap skincare - is it worth it?

[Tyson]

Expensive brands are all they are pumped up to be

I have used a lot of products over the years. A lot of different price ranges including Creme de La Mer, decleor, elemis. Well it's easier to say every brand that John Lewis, Fenwick, House of Fraser, Boots and QVC sell.

My skin is very reactive and will burn and tingle if something irritates it. The number of times a sales associate has told me this should calm down once my skin gets used to it I can not remember.

In my opinion they're only out there to make a sale. They see us as vunruble women who is after something to help our skin and we are prepared to pay xxxamounts of money for results.

I now my skin is allergic to certain ingredients. I now use products that are sls, paraben, sodium layrl and Lauren free. I have found that my skin is behaving when I don't use products that laden with chemicals.

I use to products on my face Spieiza cleanser with the exfoliating cloth and Spiezia oil moisturiser. The less products you use the less likely your skin will react. I don't use masks anymore which dried out my skin if my ski is in need of more moisture I will use Greek yogurt on my skin instead and the live cultures in the yogurt acts as a gentle exfoliator too. Exfoliating with a conventional exfoliator used to make my skin lobster red and that was exfoliating gently.

The other thing I do is drink water, organic juices and organic tea to keep myself hydrated through the day. I use sun lotion from Greenpeople. To me you can't stop the ageing process and anti ageing creams are a ploy to charge more. The way to help keep your skin from ageing badly is to keep it hydrated.

What I'm trying to say is find products that work for you. Ignore the price of the cheaper brands you buy if they're working for you stick with it. If not try another product within your budget. You don't have to use everything by one brand. If I didn't have reactive skin then I would be trying Aldi's skin care as beauty reviewers always give them high scores.

 

[Weathergirl]

Creme de la mer... Blinkin' eck, Tyson!! Seriously though my skin ( and spending) sounds similar to you over the years.

I believe that if you cleanse properly you can use whatever moisturiser that suits you... lard included !!!! However it sounds like you may like LE sheer skin tint in lieu of lard!

 

[minim]

Sorry if this has already been covered (haven't read all posts) but when you lovely people on here say someone looks good for their age, what does that mean?! At what ages should you expect to see a few crows feet? How does someone of 30 differ from 35 - 40 etc...am interested to know if I'm growing old gracefully or need more help!! I don't *think* I look my age but then I don't see what others see...when I compare to my boss who is 5 years younger (and hopefully doesn't subscribe here!) I think I look 'better' than her, she grew up in SA and had far more sun exposure than me so is a little more wrinkled I would say. She's also had 3 kids and all those related stresses while I haven't. Maybe it's cos I don't really see myself as a grown up yet?!! I am far from perfect by any means but I reckon I look younger than her and when she was 40 a couple of years ago, quite a few were surprised. Or does she just look really, really old? Did I say I hate my boss?

Personally, I honestly think it's all down to the genes you inherit. You can slosh & slap as much as you like, if one side of the gene pool had faces that 'collapsed' at 50 hope the other side didn't and you got lucky.
Stress? Not sure. At least you don't hate your boss Leighton Orient so that's one stress less ......

 

[Akimbo]

Part of the younger/older image is less to do with wrinkles and crows feet and more to do with how you present yourself to others. I'm not talking about mutton dressed as lamb. My outlaws are a case in point: the daughter in law is 9 years younger than me but because she's joined at the hip to her mother they shop for the same frumpy shapeless outfits and have identical hairdos. They're miserable as sin and won't engage in conversation with anyone outside the family if we're out for a meal for example and rarely smile. They don't seem to have fewer laughter-lines than I do, but they come across as grumpy old farts. By sharp contrast, I have an elderly neighbour who is still very young at heart and is still able to chat to my teenage kids as though she knows what they're talking about, and the twinkle in her eyes completely distracts from the lines on her face! I know who'd I'd rather look like when I hit 80!

Talking of faces collapsing has anyone else noticed that Jamie Redknapp (who must be terrified of looking like his dad Harry) has a slightly less mobile upper face these days?

Jude xx