I’m turning 40 tomorrow and until recently I never really used lotions or creams. My mother, a devotee of oil of olay, kept giving me bottles and jars of different beauty concoctions. But until a couple of years ago, I had very good skin plus I didn’t really believe lotions could make any difference. That may have been a stupid opinion, given that people have been using oils and salves from time immemorial, but it wasn’t a subject to which I gave a lot of thought.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to start making lotions, just for fun, so I decided that I needed to start using what I had. I still have tons of bottles of lotion my mother has given me, some of which smell quite good, plus the lavender lotion I made, and a couple other things I’d bought. So for three weeks I’ve been using:
-A combination of the lavender lotion I made and Avon Skin So Soft Body Souffle on my arms and upper chest area (what is exposed when wearing t-shirts). I’ve grown to really like the lotion I made, despite the fact that lavender is not my favorite scent (it’s my mother’s, though, and I originally made it for her). It’s very refreshing when I put it on, and it dries up quite quickly. I absolutely love the body souffle. It’s so light and easy to spread and it has a wonderful scent. I didn’t find it in the current online Avon Catalog, but that’s just an incentive to try to make my own. Alas, I haven’t really found any recipes for body souffle online – though I’ll try to see if those for whipped butters are similar. As I keep the lavender lotion on my desk, I’ve been using it several times a day, when the mood strikes me 🙂
–L’Oreal Dermo-Expertise Age Perfect Day Cream for Mature Skin for my face. I’m not as crazy about this lotion, it’s rather thick and creamy and takes more effort to apply – but my mother gave it to me so I’m going to use it up 🙂
–Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock, SPF-55 when I go walking. This sunscreen is very thick and even more annoying to apply, but it doesn’t have that horrible intense coconut smell of most sunscreens.
And at night:
–Grateful Body Facial Cleanser (which also doesn’t seem to be in their catalog any more), to wash my face. It’s very light and made all of natural products. It doesn’t seem to have any preservatives, which worries me a little.
-A homemade toner made from home made rose-water and witch hazel. I’ve ran out of this now, so I’ll need to make another one.
-A homemade eye wrinkle “cream” made of lanolin, sweet almond oil and honey.
-Kirkland (Costco) night cream and eye cream.
Now for the results. My arms have really become very soft. Mike touched them today and he could really appreciate the difference.
My face skin is also improving. It had been great until a few years ago when I started walking a couple of miles each way to pick up my daughter at day care. I wasn’t very good at using sunscreen, and my face became not only tan, but blotchy, reddish (specially my nose!) and coarse. I’m spending less time in the sun now and I think all the lotions are also helping making my face improve. It’s becoming less blotchy and it’s also much softer. In the last few years I’ve also developed quite a few whiteheads, and I started using some Retin A on them. Several have disappeared already, but when I use it, it reddens my skin as well.
And finally, my eyes. As most 40-year olds I’ve developed wrinkles around my eyes. I imagine that eye cream helps stop the development of new wrinkles, rather than treating the old ones, and whether that works or not cannot be judged in the space of 3 weeks. That said, the area under my eyes seems very soft, too soft. Now, I don’t know if this is due to the oil or cream I’ve been using, or whether it’s always been like that. In any case, I’m wondering if I should discontinue using them.
Well, this is it for this very frivolous posting 🙂