Paula Begoun’s skincare tips!

I’ll admit now that I’m a sucker for skincare products; I love the thought of a face wash making my skin perfect, or an eye cream that will slow down the ageing process.  That was, until a few weeks ago when I had the chance to meet and talk to Paula Begoun (aka the cosmetic cop!).

This woman has honestly changed my whole view and outlook on skincare, ingredients and certain skin care brands.  Paula has written a tonne of books about skincare, makeup and the ingredients that companies put into their products and has researched thoroughly into what ingredient does what in almost every skincare product out there on the market. 

Paula told us her five top tips in skincare, which now make SO much sense to me and I will be following her tips religiously from now on!

1) Expensive doesn’t mean better (SO TRUE!).  Just because a product is expensive doesn’t mean it will be any better for your skin.

2) NEVER buy products in a jar/pot packaging – the minute the product is opened and circulated with air the ingredients start to immediately break down and become useless – all the goodness from them disappears.  It is also unhygienic as your dipping you fingers in and out “no matter how clean you think your fingers are, there are always bacteria lurking on them”.  You should buy products in a pump packaging for a tube with a small opening.

3) You DON’T need an eye cream!!  There is no need for a separate product to use around the eyes, all you need is a really good moisturizer with the exact same brilliant ingredients in that your whole face needs.  There is no scientific proof that the skin around your eyes needs a lighter cream (in fact eye creams are usually thicker than day creams). 

3.5) Whilst we’re on this subject, there is also no point in a separate night cream, the only difference between the day and night cream should be that the day one contains an SPF.  Again, there is no point in a separate product, the same perfect one should be good to use at any time in the day/night.

4) SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN!  The most important thing you need in your regime.  Paula explained how you need to wear a sunscreen 365 days a year and that the minute your skin is exposed to sun it and your DNA begins to mutate and break down.  Not good.  A good example of what the sun does your skin is to look at the inner side of your arm, where the sun hardly falls on – notice its smooth, wrinkle free, sun spot free and springs right back when you pinch it – full of elasticity and collagen.  Now look on the outer side of your arm – sun spots (these get worse as you age), not as supple and soft looking as the inside.  Imagine if our whole bodies looked like the inside of our arms – we’d be perfect and baby butt smooth all over!

5) There isn’t a miracle ingredient.  Full stop.  Even if there was, every skin is different and needs something different – skin is complicated and not everyone can be cured by the same miracle stuff. 

Five easy steps to save you money in chemists and pharmacies for sure!  After meeting Paula I went through my entire skincare product box and binned a lot of products and I feel so much better now.  I have also just started using Paula’s own skincare line (name Paula’s Choice) and have seen results already (her range is fragrance and irritant free, so its not going to make my skin react, but should sort out problem areas).  I will update after a month of using the range!

Paula has also just released her new book ‘Don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me, 8th edition’, which is an actual makeup bible.  In the book Paula and her team have trialled, tested and analysed the ingredients in almost every skincare and makeup item out there, so you can read mini reviews of whether the product is any good, what the texture/formula/colour is like and whether its up to scratch basically!  Before I buy any more skincare products I am now going to look it up in the book (which has 1191 pages!) to see whether its worth my money.  You can also find her mini reviews online here on beautypedia.com.

What skincare tips do you live by?  Do you check ingredients before you buy skincare products?

xxx