Young Skin Blog

One day I woke up, and I looked old. Except I wasn’t. I’m sure I’m still 29. In fact, I’m so sure I’ve been resetting my Facebook age each year, just to make sure the Facebook me reflects the REAL me, not the set of statistics in my passport. The real me is young, energetic, and full of potential. She is stylish, sexy, has impeccable taste and a razor-sharp wit. The real me also has two small children, a demanding full-time job which normally requires a lot of travel, and a domestically-challenged husband. Unfortunately, over time, the real me’s have started to diverge. Regardless, I am not old enough for crow’s feet, smile lines, or – god forbid – age spots. My skin is supposed to be supple, elastic and dewy-soft. I am not supposed to look tired and drawn when I’ve been in bed at 8pm every night of the week. What happened to the woman who parties until 4am and still looks fresh? Well, fresh-ish? Which brings me to anti-ageing. I’m an engineer and an economist. When I see a problem, I research it, in excruciating detail, until I find a solution. I like numbers, I like science, I like proven facts and I know how to read an academic paper and critique its methodology. So when I realised that my skin needed more help than a sunscreen and a moisturiser, I started to research in detail. What I found was a maze of conflicting and often misleading advice. I began talking about skin science with my friends, and I realised that there was a lack of straightforward, scientifically based advice out there. Advice that is easy to understand, easy to apply, and which can suit every budget. So this blog comes from dozens of coffee shop conversations with women like me and you – women who work, don’t work, have kids, don’t have kids, have large budgets and small budgets, and who want to look the way they feel. Or perhaps better than they feel (nothing says exhausted like a three month old baby, except maybe three month old twins). I’ve always had an interest in beauty. I completed a beauty therapy course at the Stephanie Roberts International Beauty Training College back when my age still had a “2″ at the front, and a good friend and I got to the venture capital stage of a marine-based skincare business before marriage, a move overseas and a career change got in the way for both of us. I have a strong science and business background and come from a medical family. So skin science and anti-ageing are natural areas of interest for me, particularly now my skin needs more care and attention, and I love the beauty industry’s intersection between science and business. I like untangling the mythology and identifying the facts. I don’t just blog – I consult and I sell products I’m happy to recommend. Everything is road-tested, and I don’t sell promises or dreams. I only recommend products I would use, and I’m a hard sell. I also believe in working with what you have, and what you like, so I won’t try to convince you that you’ll only get results if you use every product in a range. But I can help guide you to the creation of a skincare regime that best achieves the outcomes you’re looking for. It won’t happen overnight, and I know I’ll never look 29 again no matter what Facebook says. But armed with a bit of knowledge and some good products, at least I know I’ll look my best.