Winter skin woes

About a month ago it started to get cold, proper autumnal weather. The sun is lower in the sky, the colours are orangey/red and my skin goes to pot.

It's been a few months since my first facial in August and the start of that new skincare regime. What I can tell you is that was working. WAS. Until this cold snap kicked in. Normally my skin is dry. In winter it gets even drier. The only area that doesn't get dry skin is my torso. I have a rather smooth toned torso, even if i do say so myself, thankyouverymuch. But everywhere else i get varying degrees of dry skin. Even in my hair - that's been the bain of my life since i can remember.

Back to the face. My cheeks get red blotchy patches and it looks like tiny acne/spot scars get redder int this weather. (I think it's only me that notices this). With that comes dry skin on my nose, around my lips, on my lips, down the sides of my face near the hairline and in my eyebrows. Yes, i get flaky eyebrows. That is more annoying than anything else.

About a month ago i read a blog (from someone whom a lot of people recommend for her skincare picks). Then she recommended a few products to someone else and i copied one of those products. It was meant to be pure hydration in a tube. "Well in that case i must have this miracle elixir that will end all of my dry skin woes, so that i may tip toe through winter with the dewiest of faces". Aye, i knew it wouldn't end well too...

I skipped to Boots. Dithered. Went home. Went back the next day, dithered again, and finally bought a 30ml (30 fucking mil) tube of Hydraluron hydration serum.

As the name suggests it has hyaluronic acid in it - more on that later... There's loads of science and graphs and time frames on the box, but basically, within 8 weeks it's meant to have transformed your skin into a moistened pillow of health. It's a clear gel and a little goes a long way. It feels nice putting this on my face and neck - a pea sized blob does all of that. But it's been about 4 weeks now of me using this juju and i can report that whilst it does feel nice applying it onto my parched skin after cleansing, my skin hasn't seen any marked improvements. In fact, I'd say my skin was the same as before. I won't say worse because I really do think the cold weather upsets my skin more but i would say no real noticeable improvements yet. I'm going to power through and stick with it. I'm not gonna quit you miracle gel thing, no I'm not! At £25 a tube i expected a lot more from this. I'll use it up but hardly think I'll buy it again.

Now before you start. I know that everyone has unique skin tones and types and what's good for one may not necessarily be good for the other. I'm just telling you my experience of this product.

At the same time i bought the Hydraluron, i also bought a new eye cream.

Now, here's another thing about me and my eyes. I have really sensitive eyes. I wear glasses too. I can't get contact lenses in and i only really started wearing eye make up in the past 3 years. Some products make my eyes sting. Some concealers do this, MAC moisture cover being one, some mascaras and most eye creams.

Near the start of the year I bought a La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense eye cream. It was good, great in fact, but most of all it did not irritate my eyes at all. Bonus! But after a few months use the pointed end of the tube broke off so that was the end of that. I was literally unscrewing the cap one day and the whole pointy tube came off too. I was in the market for a new one anyway. I bought a few cheap ones. They stung. So i laid off the eye cream for a few weeks. I mean i'm 35, i don't have really bad eye bags, they're not too wrinkly, but the skin around my eyes is thin and gets a bit crepey and of course, dry too. I wanted to keep them moisturised.

I decided the try another La Roche-Posay cream. I really do like that brand and it's reasonably priced and available in Boots. Although you can get it cheaper online. This time i opted the La Roche-Posay Redermic C for eyes.

This was to be the turbo charged eye cream. It's anti-ageing as well as suitable for sensitive eyes (all LRP products are good for sensitive skin). I had high hopes for this baby. I applied a few dots as instructed. It's a thicker cream than the last one and promises so much more. Helps deep wrinkles (not that i have those but you gotta strike while the iron is hot), it aids hydration and it has our old friend hyaluronic acid as well as 5% pure vitamin C in it. I mean come on ladies, 5% Vit C! Our friend, the latest beauty buzz words Hyaluronic Acid. Here's the blurb on that... 

this powerful ingredient can hold up to 1000x its weight in water, creating a plumping effect on the skin. 

Sounds great right?!

Anyway, after a few applications i thought yes, this is fine. But then midway through the day a slight sting would start to appear. My eyes began to water and that's how i knew this is not going to work for me. Grrrrr. Such a disappointment. AND the skin around my eyes appears to have gotten a bit drier. Now that of course could be the turn in the weather.

Oh but i nearly forgot. The end of the little tube is a pointy plastic thing. If you have a tube of eye cream you'll know what i mean. It means you can squeeze out a little at a time and not waste any product. But the end of that tube has a crack in it. This means that the cream is clogging in there and turning yellow. The eye cream has a slight yellow tone to it anyway, but when it clogs in that crack and dries it's turning a dark yellow colour and doesn't look nice.

the clogged tube!

This was an expensive eye cream too at just shy of £20 so I'd expect more. I'll try to keep using it if the eye irritation doesn't get too much. After that I'll go back to the less expensive but better for me Hydraphase Intense. It as more of a cool thinner cream/gel. Much better for my little peepers. We gotta keep them happy.

Angela x

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