Tuesday 29 November 2011

Dermaquest Advanced B5 Serum

If you suffer from dry or dehydrated skin then this product is DEFINITELY for you!

I have been using this product for a week and I can feel the difference on my skin; my cheeks and nose are no longer dry and flaky and they feel moisturised constantly!

Like most people, I was a bit wary about buying a serum because I didn't really understand the difference between that and a moisturiser. While moisturisers stay on the surface of the skin and can feel heavy/oily, serum's sink in to the dermal layer of the skin where the moisture is then absorbed. The B5 serum "holds 1000 times its molecular weight in hydration" which means that despite only using a small amount the serum is able to hydrate skin completely. Also, because it penetrates skin at a cellular level, it doesn't leave the skin feel tacky!

I paid £57 for mine at House of Fraser, a bit steep but a definite investment!

- Natalie

Saturday 19 November 2011

Glycolic V Salicylic

After last weeks microdermabrasion I decided that I wanted to have a peel done; I have a lot of congestion and blocked pores and I figured this would be the best way to help clear them out. Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I have had peels done before but the age old question still remains:

Glycolic or Salicylic?

Glycolic is used to help resurface the skin by reducing "build up" at lower levels of the skin.

Salicylic helps reduce sebaceous follicle blockage (oil build up in the sebaceous glands) and supposedly stops current and future break outs.

I am definately leaning more towards to the salicylic peel! The Salicylic is also the stronger peel and because it can be quite harsh it is usually recommended you start off with a Glycolic peel so your skin can adjust.

Certain skin spas won't let you have either peel done until you have used a cleanser with a high acidic percent for atleast two weeks before hand to prepare your skin. At the moment I am using Dermaquest's Glyco Creamy Cleanser which is formulated with 15% Glycolic acid; I started using it the day after having microdermabrasion... what a mistake. The micro had taken the top layer of skin away so there was less of a barrier and when I put the cleanser on I immediately felt a burning sensation!!! Atleast I could feel it making a difference!

I purchased the Dermaquest cleanser from the Skin Health Spa where I am having my peel, you generally can't buy the range online as some of it is quite strong and it is recommended you speak to a specalist before buying. The cleanser was £35 and the peel was supposed to be £85 but I was given a 35% discount on just the one peel (the discount is usually only when you buy a series of 3 peels at once) as I was unsure of which one to go for!!!

I'm having it done on the 5th December so I'll let you know how it goes!

- Natalie

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Worst day ever?

Argh! As the title suggests, I have had the worst day ever. A stressful* day at work followed by total embarassment infront of a restaurant full of people.

At 7:15pm today I had a Microdermabrasion appointment at the Skin Spa, a late appointment but as I am in work everyday during the week I have to fit them around my schedule. The Skin Spa is located in a shopping arcade called The Triangle and I didn't realise it but the shopping arcade shuts at 5:00pm; how did I get to the Skin Spa? I had to walk through the middle of a busy restaurant and use their back door exit to get into the Triangle to get to the spa.
Going in wasn't so bad but walking out the same way after having microdermabrasion was MORTIFYING. I had NO make-up on, my skin is FULL of spots, and my face was OILY and RED!!!! I thought "I'll walk through really quickly with my head down and no one will notice" only everybody did notice because A) I couldn't open the glass door B) everybody was wondering where I came from C) I walked into a waitress.

Moral of the story is: don't book late skin appointments but if you do make sure you don't have to walk through a busy restaurant to get to it.

- Natalie

*if I could have underlined that word more times I would have.