Hi John
I love reading your advice on handbag. My beauty question is that whenever I use my facemask I am always left with spots the next day but prior to application, I have clear skin normally.
Should I stop using this or is it normal to get spots after use?
Thank you
Yasmine
Yasmine,
This is something that many women experience. Masks are usually used to bring all of the impurities trapped under the surface of the skin out. That can mean you breakout immediately afterward. This happens a lot with facials too. My question back to you is that if you have clear skin normally, why are you using the mask? Is it simply because you think you are supposed to use one? If that is the case, you may not. Masks are a great way to treat specifics like dehydration, congestion, or dullness as a weekly boost to your normal skin care routine. However, it sounds to me like you have your skin and skin care routine balanced already! If you like the idea of a mask, maybe try something like Bliss Triple Oxygen Mask, £38.17,
boots.com
which will immediately brighten the skin and has no adverse effects at all. It can be used in 30 seconds, or left for up to three minutes. You can even do it right before apply make-up to go out. You may be best to ‘let sleeping dogs lay’ and skip what most women consider a chore.
Hope that helps,
John
Dear John,
I wonder if you can clear up a myth and maybe a problem for me please. I have fine fair thin Celtic skin and there is a pinkness to my skin rather than a yellow undertone. I have a fear of the sun and slather myself in SPF 30 every day, even when I am indoors and on cloudy or rainy days. I am not happy with my skin which is sensitive, oily with a smattering of blackheads across my nose and open pores part way across my cheeks. I find that the addition of a sunscreen helps to knock out the redness in my skin and serves to cover up my blackheads and open pores. I am now 44 years-old and I have been using a separate sunscreen for the best part of 10 years. My question is that in the past year or so, I have noticed teabag staining around my eyes, where previously there was none, and my skin has darkened, not much, but I am certainly not as pale as I once was. I heard somewhere that excessive use of sunscreen can lead to increased pigmentation - is this true? And if so, what can I do about it?
Many thanks for your help,
Jan
Jan,
I have never heard this. But like you, I completely avoid the sun, have slightly oilier skin, have nearly another 10 years on you, and am dark around the eyes. I have been doing the sun block thing for about 23 years…daily. I did allow myself to tan 12 years ago – mainly to prove that you could still tan through a high protection SPF. But as I age, my skin is darker than it was. However, it is not caused by the sunscreen. It is damage that I did as a youth finally starting to show. I even have some terrible patches of pigmentation over my entire brow that, no matter what I have tried, simply will not shift. My dark shadows are worse now than in my twenties and both are caused by a thinning of the skin with age. Sorry. I also talked to a cosmetic dermatologist about your question since I thought it was an interesting theory. They agreed that it was nothing to do with the sun protection. It is still considered to be the best anti-aging product you can use. But it is why, when people get a bit of colour from the sun, they feel the circles are less prominent and that they look better. But they are being fooled. Each year when the colour fades, they will have a slightly worse problem than the one they were trying to conceal. Best to keep on with the current plan. Use a good moisturiser that will help keep volume in the skin (with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, collagen boosters, etc.) a very good eye cream that does the same, and protect your skin. You might also find that you benefit from a course of IPL laser to encourage collagen production and to even out anomalies in pigment. It is too late for me for that – I would need a full dermabrasion, which I will not do – but if it is general darkening, that should help. There is also a new skin care cream and supplement called Yllume that was clinically trialled to give a 64% improvement in only 28 days. I am just about to start a trial of my own so watch this space. I promised readers that if ever I found something that helped to TRULY soften pigmentation - I would be shouting it from the rooftop on Handbag.
Thanks Jan,
John
Hi John,
I've never written to anything like your column before (which I read religiously by the way!!) but I have got to the point where I need good, honest advice and I think you are the man.
Here's the problem...
I'm 28; I've got quite dry sensitive skin with an oily T-zone. Up until now I've had quite good skin, with the odd spot here and there but nothing really to worry about. I've always tried to be good with cleansing, toning etc and about three months ago I decided that as I was getting older I needed to upgrade my skin care routine a bit. So I went to Clinique and started their 3-step programme. John, I swear, almost immediately my skin broke out in a clusters of red pimples. All over my chin, my nose and forehead. I went back to the Clinique counter a few times and they said my skin needed time to 'detox' and this was natural. But John it's been over three months now and it's getting worse. Not only am I getting new pimples every week but the old ones have left dark red marks, so my face is a mess. The good thing about these products is they've dealt with my dry skin really well. But, I really don't know what to do - should I stop using these products? Should I persevere? Could you recommend something to try instead? Please help, I'm feeling so embarrassed about it. Thanks very much,
Love,
Gemma xx
Gemma,
This is a real predicament for me. The reason I am having a problem is that in order to answer your question, it is going to seem like I am giving Clinique a slagging off. And I don’t want to do that. When Clinique clinique.co.uk
works for someone – it really works for them. But when it doesn’t: you only have to look in the mirror to see the results. If it is getting worse after three months, do you really need to ask me whether or not to stop using the products? I would have given it two months so I could get over the one 28-day body cycle. But at three months, throw in the towel. You are going to end up with post-trauma pigmentation that will be near to impossible to clear up. But to really advise you on how to deal with choosing appropriate products to solve all of the above I think I need to actually properly see your skin and go through a consultation. There is something new that has just come onto the market recently, it was designed to deal with exactly the problems you have described. It would balance the skin, help with the on-going breakout, and deal with the pigmentation left from scarring. But in order for me to confidently tell you to go out and spend the money – which would be around £200 – I would want to see you and really explain the technology behind them and make certain you understood. I myself had a really hard time at the beginning comprehending the seemingly contradictory actions. I am already planning to write something about them on here, but until I have a chance to finish reading all of the clinical trials and have a couple of my testing people use them so I can personally see the results: I am loathe to even mention them by name. I hope you can understand that. So I will make you a deal. If you are in or near London, I am offering you to ‘jump the queue’ of my seven year waiting list and offer you a consultation. And waive the booking fee as well. That way should you decide to give this a try you have not already spent a huge proportion of your skin care budget. I don’t think I can be any more fair than that. If you are not in or near London, you can call me at the Studio and say who you are and that you and I conversed via handbag and I asked you to call. I will then get a hold of you and see if we can do a mini-consultation over the phone. This is not the ideal solution, but if you are not near it may be the best we can do. The number to ring is 020 7409 9823. I am really looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully, getting to the bottom of this problem. And please please please don’t think that I am for one moment saying Clinique is not a good product or that I think you have wasted your money! I just don’t think they are the right products for you. At least not at this time. (Sorry Clinique…)
Until we speak,
John
Do you have a beauty question? Then email John at johngustafson@ukhandbag.com
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