Combine these hard-working ingredients together for a fast track to great-looking skin
WORDS: RHIANNON DERBYSHIRE. MAIN PHOTO: GETTY
TO BRIGHTEN… AHAs and vitamin C
✣ Q+A Vitamin C Brightening Serum, £9, Holland & Barret
✣ Byoma Brightening Toner, £11.99, cultbeauty.co.uk Alpha hydroxy acids (or AHAs) are the best way to exfoliate your face.
They’re more efficient than gritty scrubs, melting away dead cells and leaving your complexion luminous. Pairing AHAs with vitamin C will supercharge their efficiency, noticeably brightening skin and banishing pigmentation. Because both ingredients are potent, it’s best to space them out – acids in the evening and vitamin C in the morning.
TO BANISH WRINKLES… Retinol and SPF
Retinoids are the gold standard for helping to improve the appearance of wrinkles by speeding up the cell renewal process. Use them at night, but the caveat is that it’s absolutely essential to follow up with sun protection the next day, as this potent anti-ager can make your skin more susceptible to sun damage. Using SPF daily will also prevent UV damage (which accounts for 80% of the signs of ageing), so it’s a win all round.
✣ Revolution Skincare Retinol Overnight Moisture Cream, £12, lookfantastic.com
✣ Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Super UV Fluid SPF 50+, £8, Sainsbury’s
DON’T PILE ON THE PRODUCTS
Avoid using too many active products in one go. AHAs, retinoids and vitamin C are brilliant ingredients, but if you use them all together they can clash, and leave your skin feeling sensitive and sore. Always space out the potent products – for example, you could you use retinoids on just a couple of nights a week.
TO PLUMP… Hyaluronic acid and ceramides
As we age, skin loses its natural plumpness, and one reason is that the level of ceramides starts to deplete. Ceramides usually sit between skin cells – think of them as the cement between bricks. Once they start to diminish, skin can lose its elasticity, but you can help boost levels by incorporating them into your skincare. Hydrate
