Now you 'c' me...

I've got to start by shouting from the roof tops 'I love Vitamin C'...

Vitamin C Ester has been an absolute saviour in evening out my skin tone and improving my acne scars.  I have a few anti ageing weapons, of which vitamin c is one (I will write posts about the others in the not so distant future).

It took me a while to get there but I have now found 2 amazing products that have worked wonders for my skin (I think that these products deserve their own limelight so I will review them in a separate post).

This post is going to be a brief rundown about the benefits and types of vitamin c.

So, we all know that we need to eat the right foods to get the required intake of vitamin c for our bodies, but what does it do when applied topically to our skin? In a nutshell...

- Vitamin C is an antioxidant that slows the rate of free radical damage.

- Prevents premature ageing.

- Decreases fine lines and wrinkles.

- Restores elasticity.

- Helps reduce oiliness and sebum levels.

- Protects against UVA and UVB rays.

-Reduces inflammation.

- Promotes collagen production.

-Strengthens the skins barrier response.

- Lessens hyperpigmentation and improves the appearance of scarring and sun damage.

- Restores luminosity, smoothness and brightness.

Pretty good, hey?

Well, what's all of this vitamin c ester business, isn't it all the same thing?  Nah, afraid not.

There are 2 main types of vitamin c:

Vitamin C is also known as L ascorbic acid.(most commonly used, standard form)

L ascorbic acid is the water soluble form of vitamin c, this is what you will see in most skin care products, it is the most powerful one but is the less stable, meaning that it doesn't stay active for as long. Given this, it usually takes a higher dose for it to remain effective which can make it much more irritating to the skin. On the upside, it's much cheaper than the, below, ester.

Vitamin C Ester is also known as Ascorbyl Palimate or Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate.

A vitamin c ester is basically vitamin c fused with a fatty acid, making it fat soluble not water soluble, this means that it can penetrate the fatty part of the cell making it more effective.  The benefits of an ester are that it's far more stable in topical solutions than the non ester (meaning that it will remain active for longer), it performs at lower doses and has a greater antioxidant activity. It is far less acidic than ascorbic acid so it should actually ease redness and inflammation not cause it (great for sensitive skin). Vitamin c ester also possesses superior ability to stimulate growth of the cells that help produce collagen and elastin. On the downside, it's more expensive.  

There's a lot of conflicting information about whether to use vitamin c in standard form or ester form, it seems to be 'six of one and half a dozen of another'.  Some people think that ascorbic acid is more effective whereas others think that an ester is more efficient.

Personally, I think that you should use whatever works better for your skin, it just so happened that the ester worked wonders for my skin and the standard vitamin c irritated it.  If you are looking to try a vitamin c product it would probably be worth starting with ascorbic acid, purely to keep costs down, and if that doesn't work for you then start looking at an ester.

You should always check the label to find out which type of vitamin c is being used, as per scientific names above! Also remember that all antioxidants are vulnerable to deterioration and should come appropriately packaged in an air tight tube or airtight dark glass.  

The subject of vitamin c is so vast that I wanted to provide a brief summary, in layman's terms, of the need to knows.  Obviously there is much more information out there if you want to look into this further, I just wanted to provide the basics.

I will let you know what my vitamin c wonder products are in next weeks post!

Do you use any products containing vitamin c? Which type of vitamin c do you use?




  

Antipodean Beauties - Winter

For this weeks challenge I thought I would show a couple of my favourite 'winter' products.  My make up doesn't change too much seasonally, there's more of a change going from day to evening make up.   

Most nights during the winter I light my oil burner usually with a relaxing blend of oil or simply just lavender, this makes me feel all cosy and relaxed when I'm in my big dressing gown and Ugg boots!

My skin tends to feel drier and a little more taught during the winter so I will often change a couple of my products to assist with this.

I absolutely love the Darphin Kiwi Hydrating Mask, I usually use this mask a couple of times a week during the winter as it leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated.  It has the consistency of a thick cream that you apply over cleansed skin and leave for 10 mins or so before rinsing off.  You can purchase this in www.meccacosmetica.com.au it's a little pricey but this has lasted me for over a year and has a 2 year use by date (after opening).   

Apart from using copious amounts of Lucas Paw Paw and Baby Lips lip balm, my other favourite is the Trilogy Rosehip Antioxidant Oil.  I probably use this oil every other day, at night only, after applying my night serum.  It feels a bit greasy at first but absorbs quickly and I have never woken up feeling greasy (like I have with some oils).  My skin feels gloriously soft, hydrated and less wrinkly in the mornings, it is perfect for this time of year.   

My legs get really dry during the winter too so I will often use a dry oil such as Sukin Wellbeing Body Oil.

Does anyone else have any special products that come out for the winter? 

Liptember...

Would you wear lippy everyday to raise money for a good cause during the month of September?

Well, I'm ready and stocked!

You can purchase these lipsticks from Chemist Warehouse, $9.99 each.  I decided to buy two so that I can mix it up a bit.  There are also other colours to choose from apart from the above Pink and Red.

Do take a look, it's all in a good cause xx

To find out more, please visit: www.liptember.com.au

Tip of the day...

Welcome to my 'Tips and Tricks' section.  Every now and then I will be posting a handy hint or useful tip, some will be a little more 'educational' and others will be a bit more lighthearted (like this one below).

Enjoy, and please feel free to add any comments!

Are you ever bursting at the seams because you can't wait to start using your new face cream or moisturiser? But you feel too guilty about hiding another half used product at the back of your shelf (if you can't see it then it's not there)...well, fear not!

I use my old face creams on my hands, feet and legs!  I put cream on my lower legs when I'm wearing my Capri pants before Body Pump (my legs get a bit dry), I usually always put some on my hands during the daytime and more often than not put some on my feet before bed!  It uses up the product quickly so in no time at all it will be gone and you won't have to feel guilty about wasting it, you can now enjoy your 'new' cream guilt free!

(Note: This is good for moisturising cream or lotions, not really for oily skin products (unless you've got oily legs- joke!!)

What do you do with your half empties?  Do you always use up all of your product?  If not, what do you do?          

Antipodean Beauties - Glitter

So, I recently signed up with the above group to join in with their make up challenges, it looks like heaps of fun.

How it works is that a different theme is set each week for us to interpret, this week's theme was glitter.  I love a bit of sparkle so I thought that this would be a good first challenge.

Honestly, you wouldn't believe how much of the below glittery eye shadow I put on for this picture!   Unfortunately you can't really tell and I'm not one for close ups!  I had a nightmare trying to get a decent picture that would show the glitter, I mean, how hard can it be without zooming right in - obviously very hard!! Oh well...

Anyway, I had fun doing this, so lets wait and see what next weeks challenge will bring...  

My friend, Diane...

 Well, as mentioned previously, my skin has been on quite an extensive journey over the past 3 decades.

Image from www.luc.edu

Just thought I'd do a brief (I'll try and keep it brief!) post on my journey and where I'm at now.  I do believe that beauty is not just skin deep but also comes from within.  What we eat, drink and how we look after ourselves is all reflected in our skin. The right skin care for our personal skin type also makes a huge difference!  But then there are those little blasted things called hormones that come along to wreak havoc!

Image from www.lifepharmacy.com

So, enter the beginning of the 80's when I had just started high school.  Almost as if as soon as I had begun, my skin got greasy and blackheady.  This got progressively worse throughout my teens when at around age 16 I developed horrible facial acne.  I tried all sorts of skin care that was around then, Quinoderm Cream became my best friend but didn't really do an awful lot.  My mum took me to the doctors and I tried all sorts of tablets/antibiotics, none of which really worked.  I hated my skin and used to pile on the make up to cover it, not realising that I was making it look worse!  My best friend and I would have been 16/17 years when we made our first visit to the Clinique counter in our local department store, suffice to say that we got suckered into buying their 3 step skin care for oily skin, sorry Clinique, but it didn't work, not for us anyway. Me and my friend laughed about it afterwards saying that they must have been rubbing their hands when they saw us coming!

Then to the early 90's and I was in my early 20's, earning money and living in an apartment  in London with a girlfriend.  We ate crap food and drank too much wine, suffice to say my skin was at its worst!  This isn't looking too brief, is it?  Mid 90's, I met my (now) husband and started to take more care of myself, still plagued with terrible skin.  Nothing I tried seemed to work, and believe me I tried a lot. In 1997 I became pregnant with my son, I was 27 at this stage.  I remember my mum optimistically saying to me that the pregnancy might 'sort my skin out'.  No such bloody luck!  My acne was really bad during pregnancy and breast feeding, and continued afterwards.  In 2000 I gave birth to my daughter, same old story with my skin.
Must have been in or around 2002 and I decided that I should visit my doctor again regarding my skin to see what new developments there had been that might be available for me.  He told me about 'Diane', the acne treatment pill that you administer the same way as the OC pill and has the side effect of a contraceptive. 'In for a penny, in for a pound' I thought.  I've tried everything else, may as well give this a go. So I did and the most amazing results followed, my acne cleared up.

Image from www.veja.abril.com.br

I have been taking Diane (Estelle is the Australian equivalent) since 2002.  I don't get greasy skin anymore and I use skin care for normal skin - woo hoo!!!  I still get the odd hormonal breakout on my chin but that is manageable.  Now in my early 40's I still have acne scars that I'm working to refine, and I have started to get a few lines and wrinkles which I'm working on too.

There has been a lot of controversy about 'Diane' of late.  As I have taken Diane for such a long time I paid my doctor a visit to seek advice on whether I should remain on it.  To cut a long story short, we agreed that as I am healthy, don't drink, smoke or eat crap food and I exercise and sleep well, that I will be okay to stay on for a few more years until my mid 40's and then I should think about coming off.  I don't feel hugely comfortable, given the controversy, but I will give it a few more years.  I did have one small break off Diane about 5 years ago just to see whether my skin was 'better', it wasn't.  After 2 weeks of stopping, my skin suddenly resembled a frying pan, reckon I could have scraped the oil off my face!   Then the spots came back with a vengeance.  I was eating good food,  drinking lots of water, bought the appropriate skin care, you know, doing all the right things and I even tried acupuncture.  After months and months I could no longer bear it and went back on Diane, my skin cleared up again.

I simply cannot handle acne, acne scars and wrinkles all at the same time so I have stayed on Diane since that break. Acne is such a horrible thing, especially when you think it will disappear after your teens and it doesn't. On a plus note, I haven't aged as quickly as some of my 'acne free' friends (this is the only positive thing about greasy skin that I cling on to!) I have been doing pretty well on the wrinkle front, but my skin is really starting to loose elasticity now.  

I did think to myself, I can't be the only person out there who has/had acne and now faces ageing?  That was my inspiration to start this blog, as well as being addicted to make up and skin care!

I've discovered some gems recently that have helped even my skin tone/scars, and I will be sharing them with you in another post.

Love to hear from anyone who has been through similar skin issues, or anyone who has any products recommendations.

Take care, peace out xx

I spy with my little (red) eye...

So, guess what happened to me last week?

Whilst enjoying my nightly ritual of cleansing, I got a little bit carried away with my glycolic acid cleanser. I love my cleanser, it works wonders for my skin, but I enjoyed myself a little too much and forgot what I was using, which lead to me washing around my eye area (like I do with my normal  gentle cleanser). Arghh...yes it stung!

My eyes were OK, but the skin around them was slightly red and inflammed.  I looked like I had the worst hangover ever or had been crying for about 2 days!

Well, this little tale does have an extremely happy ending as I made an 'emergency trip' to Chemist Warehouse (one of my favourite places) and discovered this little life saver below.

Now, I haven't been using an eye cream as part of my skin care ritual as the wrinkles have been fairly kind to me around my eyes, plus, I also have very sensitive eyes which kind of puts me off searching for something. I'm generally okay with eye make up, apart from mascara, but I do not tolerate eye creams well at all.

It was very much a case of having to find something to ease my eye discomfort, knowing full well that  whatever I choose could make them worse.  I spent about half an hour looking at eye creams and, after reading the ingredients lists, narrowed it down to 2.  The other choice was claiming to be kind to the skin with no added colour or fragrances, but when I looked at the ingredients list it was rammed with parabens, oh yes, so natural and kind!

I have never used any products by Avene, but I can honestly say that this is the best eye cream I have ever used. The eye cream moisturises and soothes with no irritation whatsoever and is a dream under concealer. My eyes settled down in about a day but I have carried on using this cream just to hydrate my eye area.

This 'Soothing Eye Contour' cream has the benefits of:

- Minimising fine lines
- Reducing irritation
- Helps to reduce puffiness
- Suitable for contact lens wearers and those with allergies

Avene is a dermatology based cosmetic skin care brand dedicated to all levels of skin sensitivity.  Apart from my eyes, I do not have sensitive skin but I already have it planned in my mind that I will be checking out the rest of their range!

I just love it when you find an awesome product at a reasonable price $23.00, Chemist Warehouse.

http://www.avene.com.au/
http://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/

Do you have any 'lucky finds' that you would like to share?

avene