Restoring the Old Girl

Spots & stripes
I was fortunate enough to be a pimply teenager. I say fortunate because my skin required a lot of work, and I formed good daily habits which I still have today.
This is how particular I am with my skin. When I was house sharing with my bestie when we were 19, she was under instructions that if ever I came home late and went to bed fully clothed, she was to pop in with a bowl of water and wash my make up off, which she actually did once - god bless her.
I had my first facial at 13 with a giant of a German woman called Barbara. She used Dr Eckstein which I think you can still buy. My mother took me to the chemist and I got my first lot of skincare that same year. It was Juvena. It made the world of difference and there began my love affair with all things cosmetika.
You name it, I've tried it, but it has been many moons since I handed money over fist at a department store counter. Skincare now involves a lot more precision, research, secret sourcing and less giant pots with shiny gold lids.
I thought I might share some of my favourite finds with you, in case you're interested. 
My favourite foundation is this one.

It's Givenchy Subli'Mine Sculpt Light with an SPF 20. Don't thank me, thank Nigella, that's who recommended it. It looks a bit pastey when it first goes on, then it seems to change to match your skin. Weird but good stuff.
I also use this under it.

It's Laura Mercier's foundation primer, which is like gap filler for your face, and it helps the make up to stay on longer. Clarin's good old Beauty Flash is good too.
In the past year I have discovered tinted moisturizers, although I've always known about them, now I wear one every day. I like this one.

It's the md formulations one, and Laura Mercier makes an excellent one too.
Hold onto your hats, this is the big one. Zorac is by prescription only and I think it is actually meant to treat sun spots, but it's also used cosmetically to even out skin tone and get rid of sun damage. V good. But you have to wear loads and loads of sun block during the day, and a hat....and carry a beach umbrella over you if you've got a spare hand. There are a few of these products and they go by different names. I can't help saying Zorac with a Darth Vader voice.

I also mix my own night treatment by breaking open a vitaman E oil capsule, plus an evening primrose oil capsule and a vitamin A oil capsule, then mixing it with a another powder capsule called Ascorbyl Palmitate (which is hard to find in stores, but available on-line). You mix it to a fine paste and massage it into your face. You can leave it on for a few hours or over night. You'll wake up looking like a five year old. It can really only be used for a week or two at a time and only two or three times a year.
See how devoted I am to the cause....mixing my own potions.
At the moment I am in that magical time of life where I am now fighting spots and wrinkles (spots & stripes) at the same time. I'm glad I didn't know that was coming!
In my late teens I also took up sun bathing as a hobby, and would dowse myself with oil. Then I'd lie in the midday sun, turning occasionally, like a rotisserie chicken. Apparently, sun damage doesn't really rear its head until after the age of fifty. I'm expecting tears, even though by then I would have spent the past thirty years making amends.
Now I've shown you my great discoveries, I'd be super interested to hear any of yours. Do tell....