Confessions of a Product Whore, or, these Boots are made for shopping

My love for the combination of my Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil cleanser continues. It's keeping my skin clean, clear, and soft.  My other skin products are making me happy, too.

But no matter how happy I am with my current regimen, I can't resist the lure of new beauty products. This is particularly true when I travel and see stuff I can't find in the States. Which explains the £200 I spent at Boots when I was in England last August.

That's the equivalent of $350. What can I say? Product junkies are like sharks. We must keep moving forward or we die.

So anyway, here's some of the additions I made to my batterie de toilette. Heh. To start off, I got a pot of German Nivea.


I have no idea why German Nivea is supposed to be so much better than the Nivea you get in America, which is made in Mexico. But it has become kind of cult-y. Bloggers and reviewers on Makeup Alley and Amazon are claiming it's as effective as Crème de la Mer, which costs $165/oz. All I know is that my grandmother used Nivea Skin Oil and had beautiful skin, so into the basket it went. And I love it. It's much fluffier than Eucerin, but just as wonderful for soothing super dry skin.

I also bought a bottle of Therapist's Secret Facial Oil, from the Sanctuary Spa line carried at Boots. It's a mixture of many different pure oils: sunflower seed, rosehip, wheat germ, and jojoba seed, with some essential oils of rose and frankincense, which leaves it smelling like midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

It's meant to be used a drop at a time, alone or as a first layer under your regular moisturizer. It's fantastic, especially considering how dry my skin is getting now that the weather is getting chilly.

I also bought a pot of The Secret is Out Lift Lift & Repair Night Cream by Dr. Nick Lowe:

I picked it out because I was pretty sure I couldn't get it in the States. Also, it has Sodium Hyaluronate, Hexapeptide-9, various anti-oxidant fruit ingredients--but no retinols or acids. Because I wanted a nice moisturizing cream that didn't make me peel. More on that later.

Oh, and in my States side wanderings, I picked up a bottle of DHC Mild Touch Cleansing Oil at a local branch of Mitsuwa, a big Japanese grocery store chain.

When I'm wearing RuPaul levels of spackle, I like to double cleanse--one step to dissolve the makeup and another go to get clean. This oil is great at dissolving and rinsing away makeup as a first step before I use the Clarisonic with Cetaphil.

Mindless extravagance or canny shopping? You be the judge in my next post, when I reveal my plans for these products.

Blackbird is unhappy with her neck, or, the tale of the anti-aging drugstore products

Blackbird tagged me the other day with a long, pitiful list of complexion flaws--flaws that I've never noticed, but am apparently wise enough to advise her about. She uploaded lots of ads with pictures of Sarah Jessica Parker rolling deodorant all over her face and said "help me, Poppy Wan Kenobe!"

Now, that's gratifying ... flattering, even. Also, I'm enjoying the mental image of Blackbird in a flowing white robe and a double honey bun hairdo.

But I don't pretend to be able to judge whether such recently-released products are effective. (I mean, sure they sound great, but that's what advertising copywriting is for.) So I'm going to stick to products that have been out for a while.

So anyway, bird mentioned two problems:

• saggy jawline and neck
• puffy eyes in the morning

She also mentioned that she was out of cleanser.

And she wanted her problems solved at the drugstore. No $500 a jar Clé de Peau La Creme for bird. And she reacts to something in Olay.

Here's where I mention that I've always been completely happy with drugstore skincare. Neutrogena, RoC, Olay, and Garnier have some of the best and brightest people on earth working for them. Also, with very few exceptions, (Clinique, for example) I find most department store skincare intolerably perfume-y, and my skin doesn't like perfume.

However, I deeply suspect that department store brand pack more of the expensive and effective ingredients into their formulations. Take serums, for example. Department store serums are always very thin, and two drops will literally spread all over your face. Drugstore serums are bulked up with lots of silicones. They feel less like a wonderfully slippery potion, and more like a regular moisturizer. They leave your skin feeling very smooth, but when it comes to anti-aging, silicones are filler.

The solution is to maximize the number and concentration of active ingredients in the anti-aging creams and serums we use. The active ingredients fight free-radical damage and increase collagen production. I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about science, but I can explain it thus: Free radicals bad! Collagen good!

Look for products that include:

• Alpha Hydroxy Acid (AHA) because it moisturizes and exfoliates
• Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) because it's an anti-irritant, superb exfoliant, improves skin thickness, and increases collagen production
• coenzyme Q10 for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and because sun exposure reduces the skin's supply of it, so why not add more?
• Copper gluconate for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, plus the fact that its small particles may be able to penetrate the skin at the cellular level
• Retinol because it increases cellular turnover and improves skin structure
• Vitamin C because it is an antioxidant that protects against photo-damage and neutralizes free radical damage

Unfortunately, copper peptides and Vitamin C cancel each other out, so don't use them on your face at the same time. Use copper peptides at night. During the day, use a good moisturizing high-SPF sunscreen with as many antioxidants as will fit in a pump bottle. (You want to use a pump bottle because antioxidants like Vitamin C aren't stable when they're exposed to air.)

Blackbird's new regimen

AM:

1. treat eye puffiness, if any
2. cleanse
3. (optional) apply antioxidant serum
4. (optional) apply eye cream
5. apply moisturizer with antioxidants and a high SPF

PM:

1. cleanse
2. (optional) apply serum--use one with retinol
   
3. apply copper peptide night cream
4. (optional) apply anti-puff eye cream

My Recommendations

For puffy eyes

First of all, make sure you're not using too heavy a moisturizer around your eyes in the evening. Watch your sodium/alcohol intake. Make sure the head of your bed is high enough. Then:

1. Try cold compresses made with green tea. You don't need to put a tea bag on each eye: just make a cup of super strong tea, decant it into a clean glass bottle, and leave it in the refrigerator. In the morning, saturate a couple of cotton pads with the solution and sit upright for 10 minutes with your head elevated and the compresses over your eyes. (By the way, cold green tea makes a wonderful toner when your skin is irritated from waxing, sun burn, or over-zealous exfoliation.)

2. Cold spoons, ice cubes wrapped in a washcloth, cold gel packs, or a bag of frozen peas all have their fans.

3. Preparation H. The American version no longer contains the ingredient that made it a makeup artist favorite, but it's still available in Canada. If you don't have a Canadian reader who'll send you a tube, you can buy it on eBay for about $12 a tube. Dab a little over the puffy areas and leave it there for 10 minutes, then wipe if off.

Product Recommendations

Drugstore cleanser


Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Ageless Daily Exfoliating Cleanser, available at drugstores for 9.99. This has mild exfoliating beads in it, but is gentle enough to use every day.

An antioxidant-rich daytime moisturizer with a high SPF



Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Anti-Sun Damage Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 28 has Vitamin C, Lycopene, and Magnesium. This is an extremely light, 99 percent oil-free moisturizer that contains effective UVA/UVB protection, but doesn't clog pores. I'm on my third bottle.

An optional serum to wear under the daytime moisturizer



Neutrogena Ageless Restoratives Antioxidant Booster (I liked Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Serum, but it was discontinued, although it's available at Overstock Drugstore.)

An (optional) evening serum (with a formula won't counteract your night cream)



Boots No. 7 Protect and Perfect Intense Beauty Serum with antioxidants and retinol.

For an (optional) evening eye cream



Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Eye Cream (Don't let the name fool you; it's just a nice, light moisturizing eye cream with a few antioxidants, but it moisturizes, feels cool and light, and doesn't give me milia. I'm on my third jar of this.)

For a night cream



Neutrogena Visibly Firm Night Cream, Active Copper although I've heard a rumor that it has been discontinued. If that's true, I'd go for Neutrogena's Energy Renewal Hydrating Night Cream. Both have copper gluconate to firm the skin.

Sorry this was so long! Please feel free to recommend products in the comments. (Badger, I'm talking to YOU.)