The Daddy Of All Anti-ageing Ingredients - Vitamin A

 

Retinol or another name for vitamin A is a tough one to explain and I’ve been putting off writing about it for ages, but I knew I had to do it as it plays such a major part in our bodies.

The oxidised form of retinol is called retinoic acid (reinoids)– it’s made from vitamin A either in our bodies or in a laboratory. It’s especially present in formation of an embryo as it helps cells grow and develop.

When created in a lab it’s used to treat some forms of cancer and less importantly in the general scheme of things, is used to treat acne.

What’s acne treatment got to do with ageing, you may ask? Well, it was discovered that while treating acne, the wrinkles and sun spots on the skin also improved. It was thought that the way it worked was by making the skin peel and renew, but the way it works is a bit more complicated.

So how does it actually work?

It's a bit of a mystery but in a nutshell retinoic acid increases the thickness of epidermis and stimulates new collagen production. It also shrinks sebaceous glands and unclogs pores. It's like a skin cell builder. Imagine if retinoids can help build an embryo what they can do for our skin? It actually works for majority of people as countless scientific studies have proven.

You see, retinoic acid is actually classified as a prescription medicine and you can only get it from your doctor in form of gel (for treating acne – isotretinoin  Retin A) or emollient cream (for sun damage – Renova).

It can irritate the skin big time, the skin can peel, dry out and it can become very sensitive to UVA rays. If you’re prone to spots, using Renova cream can enlarge your pores and make you break out. It's not because of the retinoids, but the emollient base might be too rich for oilier skins.

You may actually ask why I’m writing about something that you can’t go out and buy freely in a shop? I’ll tell you why.

Almost every single cosmetic company has a cream with some sort of vitamin A that promises this or that. A lot of those creams did nothing for us.

Retinoic acid has to be present in certain concentration for it to work – prescription creams are sold either in 0.05% or 0.025% for more sensitive skins, so the bog standard vitamin A cream you buy in shops also has to contain a percentage of an active ingredient for it to make any difference. And most of the time it doesn’t. 

As a rule, retinols are about half as effective as retinoids (retinoic acid), so if you get a cream with low concentration of retinol you are wasting your money. 

Also, it's a tough job for skin to convert your normal vitamin A into its effective form - retinoic acid, it doesn't just happen like that. The effective cream with retinol has to also contain some other helpful ingredients - for example, peptides have been shown to be quite effective.

Things to bear in mind before you buy any vitamin A cream:

The most common ingredients to look out in the creams are retinaldehyde, retinlyl acetate and retinyl palmitate. Make sure that on the list of ingredients the retinol is not listed as one of the last ingredients – or just before the preservatives. Somewhere in the middle of a list would be the best place for it.

Both retinols and retinoids can irritate the skin and make it sensitive to sunlight so make sure you wear an adequate SPF of at least 30.

Your skin might not like it all. If you start getting redness and peeling too much use the cream every alternate day. If the symptoms don't go away with time you need to stop using it.

Retinol is sensitive to sunlight so use the cream at night only. Retinoic acid (prescription stuff) is never sold in jars, but in tubes as it's also sensitive to exposure to air.

Remember that even prescription stuff takes six months of continuous use to show any significant results, so if a cosmetic company claims that you'll see visible results in just three weeks, they are full of it. Yes your skin might "appear" smoother and firmer, but that won't be due to its effective retinols, but more due to moisturisers that temporarily plump out the skin.

Retinols are NOT expensive. If you buy a cream containing retinols and pay loads of money for it, you are either paying for the name or the packaging. The prescription retinoids are not expensive either! 

I like vitamin A. If used wisely with an adequate sun protection it can make a lot of difference to our skin. By all means go and see a dermatologist and get some advice, especially if your suffer from sun damage (pigmentation with premature wrinkles). 
If you're just trying to stop the clock, retinols are probably enough. 

Fashion Shows Archives - Backstage Part 2

Here are some more backstage photos from long time ago! Hope you enjoy!
 

The Power of Photoshop

 

There's not a day when I don't hear about photoshop abuse so I thought I’d add my two pence.

So here it is:

Photos are retouched. All published photos are retouched.  Oh and in case you thought paparazzi photos are not retouched – think again. Retouching has been going on for like, ever! Films (moving picture) are retouched too.

Now we established this, let me explain why.

Long time ago, must be over ten years ago (and it feels like a century technology-wise) we used to shoot film and not digital. There was something magical about film. You’d shoot polariods first to check the light, then once the photographer was happy with his light composition, we’d shoot film. There was no instant gratification of today, the film was processed in a lab, we’d get it the next day or so and then we’d sit at the light box and pick the best images.

When shooting beauty campaigns we’d of course, pick the models with perfect skin, I’d spend hours in make up using all tricks of the trade (that may or may not be including the product that was advertised), the model’s face would be lit well. When shot in film, some detail would be lost, so inevitably some imperfections would be lost, but there would still be things that needed to be “erased”. Some photographers used a fine set of brushes and paint and they would finely paint the imperfections away. This was done like this for decades.

With computers came Adobe Photoshop. Photos and film were scanned and then retouched. Photoshop allowed for more manipulation in post-production. Suddenly the lighting/make up/models on shoot didn’t have to be so perfect or precise as the tweaking could be done later. I'm not just talking about removing a spot or straightening model's teeth, there's flyaway hair, virtual ironing of the creases in the clothes to mixing up the parts of the model's body made up from different shots. 

I'm as guilty as anyone in the business, I admit. I sat there with retouchers asking them to change things as well. It's never about retouching make up (hell to the no), instead I'd ask them to straighten the model's nose, make it smaller or narrower, erase the spots, get rid of a hairy top lip (oh yeah it happens), to make the model's eyes the same size (even Christy Turlington had one eye bigger than the other), fix anything that would take the attention away from make up (in a beauty shoot, of course).

Then came digital photography. The instant pictures. Taking photos seemed easy that photographers were popping up like mushrooms after rain. It seems like as long as you could find your way round photoshop you could be a photographer.

I’m getting to the point, bear with me…  

Digital photos do not discriminate and they pick up ALL the detail.  Good and bad. The first time I did a beauty shoot on digital camera I freaked out as the detail not visible by the naked eye was captured and magnified 20 times and staring at me on the screen.

Being able to see instantly what you were getting was great in a way that it saved on time in the studio as studio time is expensive and it’s cheaper to pay someone to retouch photos than to book another day of shooting. These days retoucher can be on the other side of the world earning peanuts compared what you’d have to pay someone here in UK.

Of course, the less time and money is spent on the day of the shoot, more time is spent in post-production.

Photoshop gave us the freedom to experiment with light and special effects, but at the same time, people got carried away and realised they could make the models skinnier, taller, younger and Kate Moss could look 25 forever.

So what’s the alternative, to abandon photoshop completely? Nope, not going to happen. People are just too vain to let it happen. Plus all “imperfections” the would attract wrong kind of attention from what is meant to be advertised. For example, there is a reason fashion models are skinny with no boobs – boobs and curves make girls look sexy, sexy girls sell sex and not clothes.

What I’m saying is that you should take for granted that photos are retouched and that supposed perfection shown in the photos doesn’t exist. As long as people and especially impressionable young girls, are aware of that then there should be no confusion or idealisation of unattainable physical perfection.

Fashion Shows Archives - Backstage Part 1

While looking for some old photos I came across this folder with pictures from shows. As this was before digital I took some snaps on my iphone and I thought I'd share them here.... And that also reminded me of a couple of occasions where I thought I took loads of photos backstage and discovered that the film wasn't loaded properly..... no chance of that happening now, eh! These days our hard drives go, but I digress... Anyway, hope you enjoy some great fashion models such as Gisele Bundchen, Yasmin Le Bon, Bridget Hall, Amy Wasson, Liberty Ross, etc...

Avon are Crazy and I'm Annoyed

There isn’t a month where a new breakthrough anti ageing ingredient is discovered and it will miraculously change your life.

This month Avon are flogging their Amino fill 33 or A-F33 and according to The Daily Mail (who else really) it’s a miracle and stops women from having plastic surgery. Yes, their words. And 100% effective. For real. Every single woman noticed a difference within a week. You can imagine how much that article annoyed me so much that I had to write something!

You see, for a supposed wonder ingredient there is not a lot published clinical data anywhere online that would support their claim. You type it into Google search and apart from a few blogs wondering about it, most entries online are where to buy the cream and press releases. So I looked for ingredients of the “miracle” cream and here they are:

WATER/EAU

GLYCERIN

ETHYLHEXYL ISONONANOATE

OCTYLDODECANOL

DIMETHICONE

BUTYLENE GLYCOL

POLYMETHYL METHACRYLATE

TRISILOXANE

HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER

ISOHEXADECANE

ACETYL TYROSINAMIDE

DIMETHICONOL

PEG-100 STEARATE

LAURETH-4

POLYSORBATE 60

POLYSORBATE 20

ASCORBIC ACID

BHT

SODIUM HYDROXIDE

DISODIUM EDTA

RETINOL

PHENOXYETHANOL

METHYLPARABEN

I was struggling to find anything miracle in this list. Yes some glycerin, retinol and ascorbic acid are there that are good for you, but nothing earth shattering. So from all the ingredients I think Acetyl Tyrosinamide might be “it”. I did a bit of research and found that AT is not that great. In fact, more I looked into is the less I liked what I found. It is a major irritant. So much that it comes with a warning – avoid contact with skin, eyes, inhalation and ingestion – may be harmful if absorbed through the skin, swallowed etc.

Also I ask my chemist friend for more info and am told that it actually inhibits protein synthesis. Sort of what we don’t want it to do.

I don’t think Avon (I hope so at least) would put too much of it into the creams so it creates a major damage, but maybe they would put just enough in it to cause a tiny bit of irritation so the cream appears to be “working”. There are no long term studies showing results after prolonged use, there is nothing there to tell us anything.

Luckily for Avon, there are millions of gullible women out there who will be seduced by the flash advertising and (paid for) media hype and they will buy into the promise in a tube. It won’t work like many of the others, but by the time women actually wise up and notice, Avon would have moved on and created another “miracle” product. And there we go again. Until next time.

Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise

These days we don’t have enough time for anything so there is no surprise that we try to simplify our beauty routine. Cosmetics companies see that and we constantly have new products that will shave off minutes of our morning and evening maintenance drill. But does it really save us time and, more importantly, money?

Let’s look at the evidence. Long time ago all we had to do cleanse, tone and moisturise, plus an occasional visit to a beautician to pick our blackheads and squeeze our millia.  I’m not even going into the pre-holiday waxing and preening.

When did it all got so complicated. Sure, we use wash off cleansers, moisturisers with built in SPF, shellaq manicures that last longer…. But we use more stuff. I’m as guilty as any of us.

On one side I use a wash off gel cleanser, which in theory, should be enough, but it isn’t. To take make up off properly I still need a nice milky or oily cleanser, eye make up remover and a toner. By the way, toner doesn’t really tone anything, it’s just there to remove the last bit of dirt that cleanser missed.  So I counted four products so far. Plus your cotton wool, muslin cloths etc. You get the picture.

As we try to cut on the time we spend on the cleansing that we don’t do properly in the first place, our skin gets congested so we have to exfoliate, use things like clarisonic, purifying masks, moisturising masks, anti ageing peels etc.

Going to a beauty salon to try new “breakthrough” lifting, poking, prodding, dermarolling treatments all in the hope we would save time at home. Again, you get the picture.

Perhaps it’s time we went back full circle to the old fashioned routine. I know there’s nothing cutting edge about it, but I’m a true believer in proper cleansing. The cleansing will massage and stimulate your skin and you’ll end up with a clearer skin. It will also gently exfoliate the dead skin cells. If you don’t believe me try putting on make up five times in a day and taking it off. Your face will be painfully sore.  So morning and evening would be enough.

If your skin is on a dry side I also believe you will benefit from moisturising waters that most Japanese cosmetics companies do and also Melvita, but deep cleansing masks, lifting masks, scrubs etc will be the thing of the past.

I’ve done this routine before and I need to start doing this again, who is with me?

London 2012 Olympics Winners - New Role Models?

Hope you've been enjoying the games!
Team GB has been doing really well so far, I really hope that inspires the younger generations to try and achieve something in their lives. And hopefully hard working sports men and women will feature more in our media instead of airheads who get their tits done or sleep with a footballer.
Just saying...

The ingredient of the week – Alpha Tocopherol (Vitamin E)

I’m not going to go into great depth about what alpha tocopherol is (I’ll be calling it vitamin E), I just want to mention the skincare benefits, especially now when we are having a mini heat-wave and are prone to overdoing it in the sun.

Alpha tocopherol is the most biologically active form of vitamin E, a natural fat soluble antioxidant that stimulates the immune system. It’s present in many foods, mostly vegetables and oils. So it’s really good for you and you should eat more of it, ok? Now we can move on to the all important skin stuff.

So what can the alpha tocopherol do for our skin? Quite a lot actually. It’s one of the anti-ageing free radical fighters (antioxidant), but it’s very commonly used for treating sunburn, general skin dryness, skin irritation and scars. Instead of buying shedloads of creams that contain questionable amounts of vitamin E in it, go and buy the supplement from the health food store or pharmacy and use it neat. And it’s cheap.

Vitamin E supplements normally come in little oil capsules, you pierce the capsule and apply it on the affected area. It’s very greasy, so it’s not for showing off, but it will soothe the skin quickly. You can also add it to a cream if you wish. It’s also great on cuticles so no need to splash out on a specialist cuticle potion.

The added advantage of buying a supplement is that it won’t go to waste. The capsules are easily portable, won’t spill and you can eat them. Can’t eat the cream, can you?

A quick note though: some people can develop an allergic reaction to a synthetic form of vitamin E, so please check the source.

TOWIE, Kardashians, Tranny, Reality TV Make Up Trend

"I don’t think it’s enough, think you need another layer"

"Of foundation?"

"Yes. I can still see your freckles"

"Yes you’re right. Oh my god, how much make up are you using?"

"Loads."

"These girls must spend so much money on make up!"

This was the conversation between my friend Mimi and I when I was doing her make up. Mimi kindly agreed to be my guinea pig in this experiment. We wanted to recreate the very much widespread make up trend of slapping it on with layers of foundation, fake tan, drawn on eyebrows and fake eyelashes. The less you see of your features, the better the look.

Even a make-under show has sprung up as a reaction to this trend, the hilarious Snog, Marry, Avoid.

Transvestites and drag queens have always used to do make up like this for the stage. Exaggerated eyebrows, exaggerated shading and highlighter, etc. But that was men trying to look like women, not women trying to look like trannies trying to look like women.

So we are putting so much make up on that our features are almost all lost so we can paint some new ones. Do we really hate ourselves that much?

Who actually decided that a very thick foundation is a good look?

I remember having a celebrity client a few years ago who was naturally very pretty, but a few years down the line she demanded more and more foundation than I deemed was necessary. The excuse was that this kind of make up looked better in photos when "papped". We sadly stopped working together which is a shame as I really liked her as a person, but that look really wasn’t my style. I was probably too much of a fashion make up artist. And I still am.

I find this look very old fashioned, "old school" make up artists trend, reserved for "old school" celebrities. So guess that’s it, these days with reality television celebrities are made every second so this "celeb look" got adopted and now you see it around you wherever you go, be it Essex, Liverpool or Chelsea. It has nothing to do with class or money, but everything to do with how famous do you think you deserve to be. And what’s your interpretation on how the famous people should look. 

The difference in how cheap you end up looking is only in how good are you in putting three pairs of false eyelashes (are they crooked or not) on or do you have to pay someone to do it for you. Paying someone to do it does not guarantee you won't end up looking like Katie Price. She has a make up artist by the way.

The problem is, when that look was “invented” it was mainly done for TV, stage and photos. TV has since gone high definition, digital photography is picking up so much detail that photoshop is a must just to look normal. We were not supposed to see those old school celebs in real life. But we sadly do see the "desperate scousewifes" and the likes in real life. And the look is not pretty. I can see men freaking out and not recognizing the girls without their make up on. Bring on the jokes we left in the 50s please..... Oh no, men are joining in with the fakery. Trannylicious.

So let me go back to my friend Mimi. In real life she looked so much older, but in photos she actually looked ok, but very different to what she normally looks like. This was not a high definition camera though and no photoshop. We took some photos on my iphone and posted them on Facebook. The comments were interesting. Gay men were first to congratulate her on her newly found tranny look, straight men were appalled and could not recognize her, while women were strangely drawn and most liked it.

What does it say about us? Are we women so conditioned to think that looking like someone else is the only acceptable way of looking? I’ll let you draw your own conclusion. Hopefully you'll join the debate and give us your opinion. 

This is Mimi before the makeover. She had some make up on when she came to visit.

 

This is Mimi post makeover. 

The Big Eye Cream Swindle

 

Ok maybe I’m being a bit harsh with the above statement, but in the nutshell, that’s kind of it.

Let me start from the beginning.

We are bombarded with statements how skin around eyes is delicate, thin and needs special treatment and they are selling us a myriad of creams to cure wrinkles, de-puff the area, fix dark circles and the rest.

Has anyone actually bought a cream that fixed any of those problems? I certainly haven’t. And I've also done the research on what actives would be suitable to treat the area. Apart from maybe (banned in UK) vitamin K, nothing else.

The skin around eyes IS special, it’s thinner than on the rest of our face and it IS delicate. But do you need a special cream for around eyes? NO.

So, why so many creams on the market to target around eye area? Well, why not? We are insecure enough to buy anything, so might as well have a problem eyes that can be fixed with that £100 cream.

The way I see it, women fall into one of two categories – puffy eyes with a potential to develop under eye bags as they age and dark circles women who will develop a hollow bit under eyes.

Both are prone for wrinkles of course, puffy eyes group probably a tiny bit more, but it all depends on lifestyle.

And please, I’m not after offending anyone, this kind of things will happen with ageing and that’s a fact. You can delay the effect but it will happen.

So let’s say you’re a puffy eyes woman (these eyes are also called “come to bed” eyes, sexy eyes, hooded eyes etc - when the woman is young), the last thing you want to do is smear a greasy cream under your eyes. Puffy eyes women are prone to water retention which will develop into fatty pockets, so you need to learn how to combat water retention. This group makes a good candidate for surgical eye lift when older.

Dark circles women will with ageing develop deep hollows under eyes as the amount of fat available on their faces diminishes in time. Dark circles can be the result of melanin or they can be due to skin being too thin and the underlying blood vessels are visible through skin. How big are the hollows, it all depends of woman’s bone structure. Dark circles women can also develop fatty bags under eyes, all it takes is mistreatment.

So how to look after the skin around the eyes?

The chances are, the moisturiser that you use on your face is pretty much enough to be applied thinly around eyes. Make sure the cream is not too greasy. Actually, I’m against greasy creams in general, I can’t think who can benefit from them, apart from people with skin disorders or with second degree burns.

Wear sunglasses. Don’t squint. Fix your eyesight. Take make up off GENTLY from your eyes, don’t stretch and rub your eyes. But take make up off before you go to bed.

Work out what makes you retain water, salty food is sometimes the biggest culprit. As are tears. And lots of liquid before bed. Sleep with your head slightly elevated. Keep two teaspoons in the fridge so you can use them on your eyes as soon as you wake up. Don’t smile, be a robot...

I’m kidding about not smiling. But be sensible. If you can bear to use vitamin C tonic around your eyes, try it, otherwise protect your eyes and don't buy into the illusion that the eye cream you're buying will actually fix your problems. It won't, but make sure you don't create a new one with it. As long as you know that you're buying a normal moisturiser in a smaller packaging as that's exactly what you're getting.