I've de cluttered my beauty routine!

I just wanted to share a revelation I've just experienced this week. For the past nine years, I've been a Liz Earle girl, with the ocassional lapse into Gatineau and decleor moisturisers, neck & eye creams, as you do. Always had well behaved skin and it did want I wanted it to do, most of the time. Something happend to me when I hit 40 and I started listening to Alison more than usual...Before I knew it, I have found myself with serums, oils, different eye creams, exfoliators and masks, bust creams and eye wands. I can honestly say my stash of beauty products was overflowing. It dawned on me last week that I had to stop. My pores were becoming enlarged and my skin wasn't behaving and I was getting spots when I never had spots I had purchased Philosophy's "save me" to cope with the pores. It's expensive...and I thought "What am I doing?" My routine was over complicated enough already! So, I took a step back and just cleansed, toned and moisturised (and a bit of eye cream). The results have been miraculous in just three days. My pores have tightened and my spots have nearly cleared. I just wonder how many of us get caught up in all the hype (have I been brain washed?!!) and perhaps some times it helps to go back to basics. It has made me think, I must say.

I know exactly what you're talking about Tweez, one day I'm going to take a picture of my cupboard where I keep my stash, it's like walking into a Boots

Tweez - I've been wondering the same for similar reasons of trying all different moisturisers, wondering whether I should start using Decleor oils again because i'm not happy. I seem to use a different moisturiser each day because I can't decide which is best - and put in serums etc. Then I wonder why I'm reacting with spots, and reddening - then needing a calm skin treatment.

Have you chosen just 1 brand for it all - and if so which one?

astitcher said:

Tweez - I've been wondering the same for similar reasons of trying all different moisturisers, wondering whether I should start using Decleor oils again because i'm not happy. I seem to use a different moisturiser each day because I can't decide which is best - and put in serums etc. Then I wonder why I'm reacting with spots, and reddening - then needing a calm skin treatment.

Have you chosen just 1 brand for it all - and if so which one?

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Totally agree with you and other posters I was feeling overwhelmed buying things, buying something else to solve a problem something I purchased had caused and the money

I decided I need to go cheaper and simpler - I tried neal's yard - fab if you don't have super reactive skin like me (althouugh i adore the wild rose balm) and then i thought where do i go from here as i couldn't use the face cream and cream cleanser.

I bought a decleor rose d'oriet night balm - always served me well in the past, got a free 2.5ml arromessence rose d'orient sample (will last a few weeks) and a moisturiser i know I'm fine with and that's it plus an eye cream sample from decleor too - oh and "yes to carrotts" cleanser for £6.99 from Boots and my skin is calming slowly and i feel very proud of meself i don't look so much like this now

Soap and water here, leaves loads of room for make up lol :32::59:

I did the same when I hit 50. my dad had died and I had spent the last couple of years visiting him in hospital wards and homes (he had Altzheimers and was very difficult to place) where you could be in danger, and where I saw things I never want to see or experience again. I suppose I never really felt clean - and I felt the need to spoil myself, so I went berserk! I bought lots and lots of beauty products from QVC and I am ashamed to say most were a waste of money.

I now use mostly Liz Earle - although I like the Decleor oils and balms. I discovered - at huge expense - that I am allergic to mineral oil and that is in so many of the face products - and body lotions - that are flogged.

It now seems like madness to have bombarded my face with lotion after potion and I hope I am never so daft again!

Yes, I agree too, you end up with so many products, buying tsv's you get a bit of this and and some of that, and before you know it you could open a shop :1: You listen to the presentation, have to buy it, skin gets confused as to what it's getting on it next, I've now gone back to using Liz Earle, simple, straightforward and reasonably priced.

Love your avatar my_old_mans_a_dustman :1:

I've just returned to Liz Earle again (always love Cleanse & Polish) her toner and her superskin moisturiser plus a bit of decleor eye cream (from Superdrug!) ....I have her other products too and I feel guilty that I was led astray! My skin was fine with those and it will be again.
I overloaded it and confused my skin, I can see that now. I really can't believe the difference it makes, just being basic again - and it's quicker.
I don't know what happened and it crept up on me before I realised what I was doing. Like Snuffles, I think something must trigger off this feeling of needing to do more, but we don't necessarily all need it. The oils and the balms, the routines and the dabbing this and that in the morning and rubbing other stuff in, in the evening. Alison (though I don't like to blame her totally) made me think I needed to do this and that, otherwise I'd get wrinkles, jowels, baggy eyes, blocked pores (and I got them, when I never had them before!). I'm not convinced anymore....and I feel quite liberated!
So - Like many of us, I have this overflowing stock pile of items including TSVs, which I might try and nip the occasional item back in with the basic routine over time (just to use them up!), but I've told myself that I'm not going to be taken in anymore by their constant (and repetitive) selling techniques... It'll be tricky...but I'm certainly going to try!

i have to!

have super skin.always have. and wanted it to stay that way so i have always 'looked' after my skin. tried philosophy for ever really good. no problems even with a complicated routine. but then i got greedy and started on the antiageing stuff- elemis. why not its good value on the kits and some of it is good. but that pro collagen marine day cream played such havock with my skin. so many spots. i never really get them and nownot only did i have to deal with the spots but the resulting scarring. now i just cleanse either with liz earle or philosophy. currently on eve lom. then i dont wear any moisturiser. nothing at all. did this for months and my skin is now so refined again. will star using my moisturiser now the weather is cooler but no more anti ageing if your skin don need it dont use it. keep it simple and save your bucks.

:33: Should i send my two Decleor TSV's back....??

I decided the other day to use up some of my stock pile of goods bad move. I used Liquid gold once and a product called Liquid gold daily activator once, I now have a dry patch on my neck. needless to say the offending products have gone i the bin.

Another Liz Earle Fan here and I have just placed a recent order as well for some items.
It works well for me, affordable and quick.

Must admit to doing the same with my routine of late - I've gone back to using *shock horror* soap and water to wash my face - something like Dove or Pears soap, then I just use my Liz Earle Toner and Akin Moisturiser and a little bit of eye cream from Liz Earle if I need it. My skin is looking good again, I do still do my Liz Earle exfoliation and use a mask once a week - but my mask comes from the Sainsburys So Organic Range which is cheap as chips and works in 5 minutes.

Thanks Tweez for a really great post - I have recently done the same (a bit older than you!). I have gone back to C&P because it is much cheaper than my beloved Eve Lom (no need for exfoliator) and I am hoping that with the removal of the almond milk extract and the propylene glycol (please excuse spelling) I will not suffer from the spots which I always get after a couple of weeks of use. I use LE superskin moisturiser at night and am just using up a really good SPF30 for the face only from Ultrasun (I don't think QVC stock it yet) which is only £16.95 for 50mls - no irritation, no smell, no chalkiness, great base for makeup, easy to use around eyes - during the day. I use philosophy microdelivery wash as an exfoliator when I remember, Lulu around the eyes when I remember and that is it, the credit crunch has done my skin so much good:1:
It's really great to hear what other people are using and what is working for them

I am 38 now and use L'Occitane face items after trying every other brand in the world from QVC. I get my stuff from France (a quick trip across the Channel to St Malo) as QVC have never been big in supplying L'Occitane face and body range

I can't use any products from Elemis except their sensitive skin wash which I admit I can't live without.

I agree with you all. I have 2 bathroom cabinets full of various "miracle" products many of which I am sure are well past their sell by date!! I don't think you can beat cleanse, tone and moisturise. All these serums and balms are all very well but a lot of them are so potent they end up making your skin worse. I now use C&P, Hyrda Floral fron Declaeor(Can't spell to save my life!!) and clientele eye therapy and my skin looks fab even though I do say so myself:1:

I've pared down my routine to just using 3 of Philosophy products and shock horror:11: tend to sleep with their mineral foundation on most nights as I can't be bothered taking it off before bed:31: You know what, my open pores have almost all gone!

Glad I came across this thread as I am really needing some moisturiser at the minute and have used Elemis Pro collagen marine cream which I really do like but the price is just to much for me to keep on buying it. Is there a mousturiser out there that you can recommend for my 30 something dry flaky skin??

Many thanks

i think if you are happy with a range and it suits your skin you should stay with that. i think most of the problems i have had is when i keep changing brands. there are so many products and ranges it can get confusing. i tried some new ranges and ended up with a red patch around my eye that was very dry and itchy and it kept stinging. it took a lot of care to get rid of it. i could not even use aqueous cream. the one product i could use even on the red patch was SBC Cotton gel. this cleared it up and did not irritate it at all . i was suprised as it has a smell like clean cotton yankee candles. i think you do just need to cleanse ,tone and moisturise.