Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic

Welcome to our new weekly column on the YOU magazine website, www.you.co.uk  Below you will find the current question and our advice, with a list of where to source the products mentioned.  To look at past columns, click here. And for lots more solutions to your beauty dilemmas, visit Q&A, just click here.

January 17th, 2010: Choosing skincare products

Q I'm 53 and not sure what skincare products to use. I feel I have outgrown the product I've been using for some years. I'm also heavily influenced and swayed by the very good TV advertising for brands such as Nivea Visage, Olay, L'Oreal, Clinique, Boots own natural products and M & S - to mention just a few! But my skin doesn't seem to be happy with any of them. I'm very fair-skinned, blonde with blue eyes, and haven't had any spots or real skin complaints for a very long time.

A One comment first: it sounds as if you might have been swopping and switching brands a lot.  If that’s right, it’s not entirely surprising that your skin isn’t completely happy – though obviously it’s not too worried as you haven't had any breakouts.  

There are good products in all the ranges you mention but if pushed, we would recommend trying Liz Earle’s Natural Active Skincare brand, which suits virtually everyone we know.  Jo, who has the same type of skin and colouring and is about the same age as you, considers Superskin Moisturiser, £31.50 for 50 ml, ‘nothing less than the greatest moisturiser ever created!’. Specially created to nourish mature and dry skin, it’s packed with moisturising natural oils including borage oil and cranberry seed oil, plus vegetable-derived glycerin, which is a humectant i.e. it draws water from the atmosphere on to the skin to help hydrate it. 

Jo votes for Superskin Moisturiser as her desert island must-have and Sarah never wants to be without Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser, £11.25 for 100 ml, the highest-ever-scoring product in the Beauty Bible Tried & Tested consumer surveys (the biggest independent surveys in the world).  After a spell trialling lots of other cleansers, some of which were nice and effective, Sarah’s skin heaved a sigh of relief at returning to Cleanse & Polish – and settled down to looking and feeling smooth, supple and healthy again. 

In our book The Green Beauty Bible, Liz Earle products scored very highly indeed, featuring in no less than 18 Tried & Tested categories.   We’re also fans of the Gentle Face Exfoliator, £12.25 for 70 ml and Intensive Nourishing Treatment, £12 for 50 ml, a truly hydrating mask that made one tester comment: ‘my skin felt like a ripe soft peach’! 

We . . .New ID Cosmetics i-gel, £20.  We’re big fans of gel eyeliner for their smokey effects and staying power;  the easy-to-apply gel formula gives plenty of ‘playtime’ and is way more forgiving than liquid eyeliner.  Individually gel liners can be pricy but it’s fun to play with shades – so three cheers for this clever compact, which contains a trio of colourways (you have the option of Copper/Bronze/Stone or Graphite/Carbon/Granite). 

Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Archive

January 10th 2010 - Parabens free make-up
January 3rd 2010 - Cosmetic Dentistry

Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Archive 2009