My 30th birthday is creeping a little closer, and while I am quite happy with my age and my life and still having tons of fun, I do have to admit that recently I've noticed a few changes in my face starting to occur. Most notably would be some wrinkles, but also just changes in texture and whatnot. Yes, yes, I realize that it sounds silly for a 29 year old to be saying this, but hey, better to do something about it sooner than later, right? So at the risk of being vain, I am officially using wrinkle creams for the first time, agh! I looked through my bathroom and found a free sample of Clinique eye cream (I use their daily moisturizer). I've been using it nightly for two or three weeks and haven't really noticed a difference. I find that surprising given all the amazing reviews for it. Maybe it is intended for people with more of an eye problem than I have. So yesterday I decided to buy some night cream - I might as well correct while I sleep. I've been noticing that most skin-care articles say that anything with retinol is the best bet for wrinkles, so I picked out the cheapest thing with retinol, which is surprisingly hard to find actually. After a very long time feeling stupid reading labels in the store I landed on the Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift night creme. It works for Sarah Jessica Parker, right? (I ignored the horrible "nutritioniste" name - it's like those old "hydrology: hydro for water and ology for science!" commericals.) So anyway, the whole impetus for this posting is that that stuff works! I really did notice an overnight difference in wrinkles. Craziness. I should have started using it 5 years ago! So they now have a convert. And I have a new step to my nightly routine, sigh.
The other reason I wanted to post is to say that Target has the cheapest beauty products ever! Face stuff isn't cheap, so I compared Ulta, HEB (Texas grocery store), and Target. Walgreens is always way more on anything else I've looked for. Target was by far the winner, with HEB in the middle and Ulta the most expensive, but they do send lots of coupons which makes them the right price. drugstore.com is also on the high side. So totally do your beauty shopping at Target.
What about you guys out there? Am I the only one our age facing the end of youth, at least in body if not in spirit? (Don't get me started about the body...)
Well, as loathe as I am to admit it, my beauty routine is still focused on problem skin and break-outs and whatnot. AT THIRTY-ONE YEARS OLD. Sigh... Breastfeeding really helps this for me (even more than the Pill did back when I was on that) and I am holding out a glimmer of a hope that when Violet weans I will finally be old enough to not still suffer from the break-outs. As far as products, I have recently become a convert to Paula's Choice (priced closer to drugstore than department store brands); I really like her BHA products.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed the skin around my eyes looking not-so-young anymore but I haven't gotten anything to really address it yet.
Oh, I totally get the break-outs too. But at least I have a handle on what to do about that (and the pill is at the top of the list for sure). I agree that we are way too old for it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips on the Garnier product. I've also been thinking it may be time for the night creams.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on investigating the Olay line first, but might branch out from there. Olay works really well on my skin; I've been using their facial cleansers & soaps for years. I finally switched from one of their "regular" cleansers to the rejuvenating one (with acne control - I also still have that problem! grr!). I actually do feel like it's made my skin smoother, as it promises. So maybe some night cream would help as well...
It sucks to have to start thinking about this already!
Olay was my first choice as well, and the Regenerist night creme is supposed to be really good. But it is like $22+ compared to $13 for Garnier, and it didn't have retinol which is what I was curious to try. If you try it let me know how it goes!
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