Saturday, March 13, 2010

Quest for perfect skin care

It must be my advancing years or something, but lately my skin has been much drier and more sensitive than usual. This means that the cheap skincare alternative I had been surviving on (Simple) is not doing a good enough job for me.

But I can't go back to the superior stuff I was using before (Shiseido Benefience) because that stuff is definitely in the pre-redundancy price range. A single bottle of moisturer in that range could buy me cafe lunches for a whole week (which would be a nice luxury - I tend to have cheese sammies or dinner leftovers for lunch).

And the stuff I have used in the past (Innoxa) must have changed formula or something, because the last lot irritated my face like undissolved lemon juice on a paper cut.

So, for now, my sewing obsession has faded and in its place is my quest for better skincare. What I want is something that moisturises well - preferably all day, doesn't irritate my skin and doesn't cost more than about $30 per bottle (which should a couple of months).

I got this book out of the library called Don't go to the cosmetics counter without me (or something like that). It's quite bible-like in size and even in the texture of its pages. It's organised alphabetically by brand name and the author rates each brand's cleansers, toners, moisturises and cosmetics according to things like - value for money, presence of sunblock, presence of various high-tech ingredients which have been proven to have some benefit, lack of irritants, etc. There's even a short section at the back which lists which brands are known to be tested on animals, which are known not to be, and which brands are still keeping their animal-testing status secret.

I was interested that the Shiseido Beneficience products I'd like so much were given the thumbs down, because the author thought they were pretty basic for the amount of money they cost. And some of the lower-end brands had products which she rated really well. It's too bad that one of the Ponds products, which rated well and is cheap, is an animal-tested product. It's also a pity that, being an American book, it doesn't include any of the NZ brands, because some of them sound pretty good but are not cheap enough to experiment on.

10 comments:

Deborah said...

I use a top quality moisturiser on my face in the morning, but I just use a generic vitamin E cream on my neck. At night, I just use the vitamin E cream. It means that my expensive moisturiser usually lasts long enough to get me from one "free gift with purchases over $100" to the next "free gift with purchases over $100". I only use the freebies for other makeup; I can't recall the last time I bought lippy or eye-shadow.

Amanda said...

Aveena and Oil of Olay are both supermarket brands that I find fine.

Anonymous said...

I've kind of been weaning myself off (Sothys - that my beauty therapist recommends) for a while.... my cheaper stand by brand is L'Oreal (while not cheap cheap i do find the products last quite a long time). I find that they've got a good range of products for different sorts of things? But we've got a friend who is a dermo who reckons that all you need is Cetaphil (sp??!!) lotion. And when I went on roaccutane they totally recommend Cetaphil. I think it costs like $20 for about a litre? He reckons that the 'expensive' part of cosmetics is making them look appealing and smell nice.

Anonymous said...

There we are

http://www.epharmacy.com.au/product.asp?id=40601&pname=Cetaphil+Moisturising+Lotion+500mL+Pump+Pack

$13.99 Kanga roubles for 500mls! I have to confess, the MAIN reason I don't use it is cause it seems too cheap!

btw I read that skin counter book too and that lady seems to recommend her own brand a lot....

Angela said...

Hope you find something that works for you.

Antoinette said...

I've gone almost completely all-natural (and minimally unprocessed) skin and hair care this year, which saves a ton of money (used to use Dr. Hauschka products) and has given good results... I use an organic apricot oil to moisturize my face after the morning shower, organic avocado oil for the rest of my skin. Mine also tends to the dry side the older I get.

One of the best books I read was called, I think, Green Beauty -- Canadian author, recommended a ton of products but I don't know that they are available all over the world.

LauraLili said...

Does Simple do a heavier cream? Otherwise, what about Bio-Oil as an alternative, or in addition to, your moisturiser?

Karen said...

Vaseline Intensive Care. Choose the unperfumed one - you should never put perfumed products on your face.

LK said...

I love the Natio range, about $20 per bottle at the chemist and isn't full of perfume so very good for sensitive skins. Also the Aveeno range is another great one, it's the only thing my daughter can use on her face that doesn't sting as she gets bad eczema.

Violet said...

Thanks for the recommendations everyone.
Deborah: what's the "top quality" product you use?
Amanda: I think Aveeno and Olay are both test on animals - definitely Olay is anyway.
Angela: thanks!
Donnasoowho: I reckon Cetaphil will be my next try. As soon as I finish my current supply of Simple.
Antoinette: There're an awful lot of products we don't don't get here
Laura: yes they do, and I'm already using it!
Karen: oh, I know.
Tiki: I'll add Natio to my list...