Your ultimate guide to high-tech skincare
A year ago, I opened an email from my friend, Ellie.
She’d had what she called ‘a horror moment’ in the mirror that morning.
‘I really need to see someone good who can do something clever for my face,’ she wrote. ‘What I really need is a good recommendation of someone you trust.’
Ellie is approaching 50 and has spent the past 25 years concentrating on her family and career, rather than her face.
She’s heard a good deal about Botox, fillers, lasers and face peels, and knows certain celebrities owe their ageless looks to these subtle ‘tweakments’, so wondered: ‘Would these work for me?’
But she was baffled as to which procedures did what, and who to see to ensure she ended up looking like a better version of herself, rather than, well, slightly weird.
Beauty expert Alice Hart-Davis recommends the best non-surgical procedures and cosmetics for maintaining a youthful appearance (file image)
Why did she ask me?
Because I have been writing about anti-ageing treatments for nearly 20 years. I not only interview those who develop the procedures and the doctors and nurses who carry them out, but have, over the years, tried hundreds of anti-agers myself. I know which treatments are reliable, know first-hand which work best, which hurt the most — and which aren’t worth the bother.
This week in the Mail, I’ll guide you through everything you’ve ever wanted to know about non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
SKINCARE TO START
I reassured Ellie there was a lot she could do with advanced skincare and ‘facials with benefits’ before she needed to consider anything more serious.
Skincare can genuinely help improve the appearance of wrinkles.
Dry skin wrinkles more swiftly than well-hydrated skin, so if yours is dry, and you are not already using a moisturising serum with hyaluronic acid (HA), try one of the products on page 3 as a first step.
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HA, a naturally occurring substance, has a near-miraculous ability to hold on to water — each molecule can hold up to 1,000 times its own weight in water.
HA serum vanishes into the skin, but it will be sitting there in the upper layers, preventing that tight, dry feeling and drawing water into the skin from the air.
NOW ADD VITAMIN A
The next step is to start using a cream containing a form of vitamin A, such as retinol.
This kickstarts the production of collagen, the protein that gives skin its structure and elasticity, and reduces the rate of collagen breakdown in the skin.
Retinol also speeds up the renewal of skin cells, reduces oiliness, helps to clear blocked pores, and diminishes the production of excess pigment.
These effects make skin look clearer and smoother.
WHAT ARE RETINOIDS?
Retinol comes from the retinoid family — ingredients derived from vitamin A — and skin experts are in rare agreement that retinoids help make skin look fresher.
Alice recommends using retinoid products twice a week to test your skin’s reaction before increasing usage (file image)
The most potent is retinoic acid (tretinoin), which is available only on prescription. (Retinol acts like retinoic acid, but more gently.) Retinyl palmitate is weaker, and has the same rejuvenating effect only if combined with other ingredients, such as peptides.
USING RETINOL
The standard advice when starting to use a retinoid is to apply it twice in the first week: your skin needs to get used to it and you need to find what dose it will tolerate.
The twice-a-week start is vital also because it will take 72 hours to find out if it will irritate your skin. Increase to three times a week if you are fine with two.
If you find a retinoid drying, pop a moisturiser over the top.
As well as moisturising, it may ‘buffer’ the retinoid and soften its effects. Or just stop using the product for a few days.
Follow product instructions, which tend to advise applying the lotion to a clean, dry face at night and using sparingly.
I suggest using it on your neck and the backs of your hands, which often need more help than the face.
If you don’t already wear a sunscreen, you need to, since using a retinoid may make your skin more reactive to daylight.
5 OF THE BEST: RETIONAL SERUMS TO BOOST COLLAGEN
A time-release cream.
Use sparingly at night to renew skin cells, reduce age spots and strengthen skin.
skinceuticals.co.uk
Bargain serum which is gentle, but gives good results.
If skin feels too dry, add moisturiser.
theordinary.com
Night-time treatment with avocado oil and soothing chia seed oil plus retinol.
cultbeauty.co.uk
A pleasant and easy-to-tolerate product from Hollywood dermatologist Dr Howard Murad.
murad.co.uk
This is gentler on the skin than retinol, yet gives eight times the results.
You can use it twice a day
medik8.com
The facials of the future: From a Fire & Ice peel to the Venus Freeze, the cutting edge, surgery-free treatments that really can transform your face
Can you dip a toe in the water and try a lightweight version of some of the more extreme cosmetic procedures? Yes. All you need is the right sort of facial — one with added benefits, such as microneedling, lasers, a light skin peel or electrical skin tightening.
These are the bridges between old-style, pampering, beauty-salon facials, and medical, clinic-based procedures, and you can find them both in salons and clinics nationwide. Here are some of the best . . .
THE OXYGEN GLOW BOOSTER
The company behind this procedure — Intraceuticals — says a growing number of A-listers has bought the machines that deliver these treatments. Madonna has six — one for each of her houses around the world.
What is it? A gentle, hydrating and face-sculpting facial, which has become a pre-event staple for celebrities from Kim Kardashian to Justin Bieber.
A slim wand blasts pressurised oxygen mixed with skin-improving serums over the face. The main serum is a low-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid. (That means its molecules are really small, so can easily sink into the skin.)
Alice recommends the Venus Freeze for the appearance of smoother and tighter skin on the face, results can last for up to a week (file image)
There is also an acne-calming serum, a skin-brightening serum, or a second hyaluronic acid layered on top. The oxygen jet is meant to push the serums into the skin while also delivering a face-sculpting lymphatic drainage massage.
What it feels like: Unusual but fairly comfortable.
Pain level (out of 10): 0
Verdict: My cheeks look more defined and my skin has a fabulous dewy glow. The effect lasts the best part of a week.
Cost and location: From £85 at salons nationwide (intraceuticals.com).
THE VENUS FREEZE
Not so much a facial as a high-tech skin-tightening treatment, the Venus Freeze delivers a combination of radiofrequency (RF) energy and magnetic pulses for 20 minutes to tighten the skin and refine contours.
What is it? I’m told the treatment is called the Venus Freeze because it ‘freezes’ the ageing process. RF is an energy derived from radio waves. It heats up the lower levels of the skin, where the collagen lies, forcing it to contract. This has a small, but instant, shrink-wrapping effect on the face and also stimulates collagen production.
What it feels like: My face is covered with a gel to help the treatment device move over my skin. Ten minutes in, my face begins to feel hot. The therapist explains the treatment has to heat the skin to 39c or more to make the collagen shrink. She keeps whizzing the heat-blaster around; if she pauses for a moment, it’s scorching.
Pain level: 1 — as long as that treatment device is kept moving.
Verdict: My forehead is smoother and my eyebrows have risen a fraction. The skin on my browbone is tighter and I swear my cheeks and jawline have more definition, and a lovely glow. Very impressive. Effects last up to a week but are cumulative, so a course of treatment will last longer.
Cost and location: Venus Freeze, £90, nevillehairandbeauty.net and salons nationwide (venustreatments.com).
Alice suggests microneedling to improve the overall appearance of skin for a healthy and hydrated look that can last up to four months (file image)
THE ONE WITH NEEDLES
Microneedling involves using either a small roller covered in tiny spikes, or a pen-type device tipped with sharp, tiny needles, to punch thousands of very small holes in the skin.
Making holes through the outer cells of the epidermis means any skincare product that you slap on immediately afterwards can get direct access into the skin. Also, if done with long enough needles, it can stimulate a wound-healing response, prompting the skin to produce new, firming collagen.
When microneedling is on offer as part of a facial, it will be done with short needles which don’t cause bleeding. By contrast, collagen-stimulating needles are more like 3mm long — they will cause pinpoint bleeding and you will need anaesthetic cream beforehand.
What is it? Marie Reynolds is a top UK facialist. Her latest treatment — the Master Lift — involves microneedling with a Dermapen, a device with a grid of tiny needles that punch in and out of the skin 110 times a second. It is used to drive a rejuvenating serum into the skin, after which the skin is massaged before an LED light mask is applied.
What it feels like: After a quick cleanse, Marie covers my face with the serum and gets out the Dermapen, which has 0.5 mm needles, so it barely hurts. Most of the time, I hardly feel it. Then she puts on a soft biocellulose mask full of hydrating serum, and tops it with the shield-shaped light mask. This feels lovely, as doses of red (healing), blue (antibacterial), and purple (energy-boosting) light work their magic.
Pain level: 3 — mildly uncomfortable, unless you’re particularly sensitive.
Verdict: My skin is a little pink, but my face looks improved. Photos Marie takes show how the treatment has plumped out fine lines around my crow’s feet and lips.
She tells me to wear no make-up until the following day, as those tiny holes take a few hours to heal. The next day, my skin is glowing with health and feels a bit tighter, too. The effect goes on improving for six weeks and lasts up to four months. Great result.
Cost and location: From £222 at Fortnum & Mason’s beauty room (mariereynoldslondon.com). Many other salons and clinics offer facials with microneedling — see the tweakmentsguide.com for details.
FIRE & ICE PEEL
The Fire & Ice Treatment aims to make dull skin look smoother, brighter and more radiant.
What is It? Two professional-strength masks. The ‘fire’ mask is 18 per cent glycolic acid with retinol, to exfoliate; the ‘ice’ mask is soothing with aloe vera, antioxidants and hydrating hyaluronic acid. Both the masks and the products used alongside come from the well-accredited iS Clinical.
What it feels like: After cleansing, the ‘fire’ mask is brushed on to my face and I lie there waiting for the tingling to start, as the glycolic acid dissolves the bonds holding old skin cells on to the skin’s surface. It doesn’t take long. I last for about two minutes of the itchy stinging, and the relief is immense when the acid is neutralised with water.
Dr Preema Vig’s clinic includes a face massage before the second mask, removing gunk from congested pores softened by the peel. After the second, soothing mask, all the surplus hydrating serum from the mask is massaged into my skin.
PAIN LEVEL: 4 — the glycolic mask is moderately uncomfortable.
Verdict: Fabulous. My skin has shed its drab facade and looks brighter with a youthful glow. Celebrities such as Halle Berry and Gwyneth Paltrow love this facial for a quick boost. I can see why — my skin looked terrific for a week.
Cost and location: It costs from £120 (drpreema.com). To find a local practitioner, see isclinical.co.uk
THE FACE LASER
This super-quick treatment (you’re in and out in 15 minutes) uses two high-tech machines to brighten the face.
What is it? Skin Laundry is a laser salon in London department store Liberty, and this is a quick fix for the skin in the way that blow-dries are to hair.
The treatment uses an Nd:YAG laser and an intense pulsed light (IPL) machine on a low setting, so no skin numbing is needed and you are left looking fresh, rather than reddened.
The laser beam vaporises dirt, oil and bacteria to deep-clean the skin, while IPL adds extra brightening. I had been sceptical of these ‘vaporising’ claims — but this sort of low-power laser is what is used to remove grime on stone buildings (and by the British Museum to clean artefacts like papyrus scrolls).
What it feels like: A pen-like laser device is wafted over my face. It feels as if tiny drops of hot fat are being spattered across it, but it is a prickling sensation rather than actual pain. I’m more disconcerted by the fact there’s a frying smell, which I reckon is my blackheads being sautéed. Conductive gel is then applied before the IPL light device is fired across my face. I can’t even feel it. Afterwards, my skin is patted with a moisturising sunscreen.
Pain level: 2 — very slight discomfort.
Verdict: My skin looks much brighter and fresher after its laser deep-clean. Only 12 minutes have passed, but it looks airbrushed — fresh and smooth.
Cost and location: The Skin Laundry Laser and Light Facial is available only at Liberty. First treatment is free (and you don’t have to commit to more); subsequent sessions £60, skinlaundry.com
Alice suggests CACI electrical skin tightener treatment to give skin a noticeable smoothness and glow for up to a week
THE CAR WASH FOR YOUR FACE
deep-cleansing and exfoliating, the HydraFacial gives your skin a quick acid peel and plumps it with hydrating serums, all in the space of half an hour or so.
What is it? The HydraFacial involves a device which looks like an overgrown pen with a whirling vortex of water at its tip and a tube at the other end. By changing the tip, it can be used to do a spot of lymph-draining massage, then exfoliate to get rid of old skin cells, then apply glycolic acid to soften blockages in the pores. The softened gunk is vacuumed out, leaving skin receptive to the complexion-boosting vitamins, skin-building proteins called peptides and hyaluronic acid, that follow.
The final step is a few minutes of soothing red light, which calms the skin and stimulates collagen formation. Depending on what your skin needs, you can have either some or all of the various steps.
What it feels like: It might sound like putting your face through a high-speed car wash, but you are not hosed down — that vortex tip sucks liquid back up as fast as it delivers it.
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