Category Archives: SKIN TALK

Polynucleotide Eyes with Faded Skin Part 1

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hey hey everyone! How you doing? We are officially more than half way through March already and I cant believe it! Still next month is my birthday month so the countdown is real!

Today’s post will an update on my under eye treatment journey! If you havent checked out my previous post detailing my plans and concerns, you can check it out here

So I decided to start my journey with polynucleotide eyes. I had 3 consultations in feb with different clinics and all 3 recommended this treatment. I decided to get them had at Faded Skin as this place is based in south London and I had seen all good reviews. Tashana the owner is qualified too.

I also decided to start with 2 sessions, take a break to see any benefits at all before I did any more. I know they recommend 3 or 4 to start with but there are also suggestions that you can see results after 1 treatment. I didn’t want to go through 3-4 sessions without proof of benefits from at least 2 sessions! The issue with polynucleotides though is that it takes a few weeks before you see any results so I had already prepared myself mentally for this.

At the time of writing this post, Im actually 2 weeks post 1st session but by the time this is published I would have done my 2nd session.

TW- bloody pictures!

Prep for 1st session

The prep for the 1st session is very simple, no eye cream/ makeup 48 hours prior, but I gave myself an extra day just incase. My 1st session was on 22nd Feb. After arrival, numbing cream was applied and waited about 10 mins for it to work. I’m sorry but that numbing cream did absolutely NOTHING! NADA LOL. I would say my pain tolerance level is medium maybe a 5.5/10 but I found this painful! I would rate this a 7.9/10 personally but the treatment is done in about 10-15 mins so at least it was quick!

Post treatment

The tiny bumps and swelling started to reduce and after 2 hours by at least 85% . I didn’t feel any stinging and I didn’t have any reaction afterwards. Aftercare is pretty simple, I didn’t touch/let water around my eye area for 24 hours because of the open wounds. Didn’t sleep on my face or wear any makeup/ eye cream. By day 3 though I was able to go back to my usual routine. I did have some bruising on one eye, this was still present by day 10 but since then it fully healed.

Ive been taking progress pictures and looking at my eye area now I really dont see much of a difference! Im writing this post after 2 weeks of my 1st treatment but I’m aware that polynucleotides do take a while before you see results, some people see results right away but others have to wait weeks. By the time this post goes up, I would have had my 2nd treatment. I’m looking forward to that and I will come up with an update after that too.

I have worn makeup since my treatment and whilst my under eye area looked much better, I don’t know if its all down to the treatment because I also used the Bobbi Brown under eye primer for the 1st time (I LOVE the face base). I’m looking forward to my next treatment and hopefully I start to see some results

You can read up on polynucleotides for more info on the exact treatment if you’re interest. This treatment isn’t new on the scene, its been around for some time.

take care of yourself

catch you laterrr

2024 Skincare Favorites

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hello hello everyone, you good? I hope all is well.

A new year is usually the time people take a look at their skincare routines and plan for a change! If you are taking stock or have a new year’s resolution to take better care of your skin, then this post is for you!

Today, I will be taking about some of my favorite skincare products from last year. Some are new products I tried and fell in love with and others are my holy grail loyal products I have been using for a while.

Let’s goooooooooooooooo (in no particular order)

Day Mallow Aquaron Watery Emulsion- this is a new product I tried last year from Stylevana & I loved it so much! its super lightweight and watery and deeply hydrates the skin. It was cheap too and the large 300ml lasted about 5-6 months! Its on Yesstyle here as its sold out on Stylevana

Naturie HATOMUGI Skin Conditioning Milk – This is my current emulsion/lotion after I finished my day mallow one. It’s so lovely, a nice lotion that also deeply hydrates my skin. full review coming soon. Another large size that will last ages. if you have dehydrated or oily skin and you prefer a lighter textured moisturizing product try this one. It’s available on Stylevana.

Haruharu Black Rice Toner- have you noticed a trend? I got back into k beauty big time last year! This product is so hyped in the skincare community and its worth it! I got the fragance free option and I love it. Its gentle and hydrating and just pleasant and easy to use. Highly recommended.

I have 2 items from Tatcha! The Tatcha Camellia oil cleanser and the rice cleanser. My full thoughts are here. Ive purchased the Tatcha Mini favorites gift set as it’s so worth the money and the sizes last a while as well! plus you get a free makeup/skincare bag

Estee lauder advanced night repair- ahhh my loyal serum! Ive been using this serum for years and Im never going to stop. It’s hydrating, brightening, leaves the skin looking so rested and healthy. I hope Estee Lauder brings back the buy 1 get 1 offer because its my way of stocking up lool and they havent done that for ages!

Ramsou bfida- another k beauty product? Yes! Last year I spent 6 months looking for a k beauty dupe for my beloved night repair serum (can’t blame a girl for trying to save some coins!) and this was the 1st one I used. whilst its not a 100% dupe, I did like it. Review here

No7 Future Renew SPF50- This is such a beautiful and lightweight SPF that leaves 0 cast on the skin! My full review is here

The Ordinary Buffet- for the last 2 years, I’ve been using peptide serums in my AM routine! This one from the ordinary has been a staple and the only one I have repurchased several times. Its hydrating and leaves the skin plumped

Farmacy Honey Potion- if you are looking for a hydrating mask that leaves the skin looking smoother and healthier then this is what you want. It just leaves my skin radiant and well rested. A staple in my routine.

What are some of your standout products of 2024? Wishing everyone a happy skin year!

This year I’m focusing on clinic treatments to deal with some long standing issues and I’m hoping to document most of these on here! Last year I tried looking for some dupes for my well loved products and whilst I found some nice ones, most of them were so disappointing. I decided then to stop looking for cheaper alternatives for these products. I was wasting more money trying to find cheaper alternatives that didn’t do anything than if I just saved and purchased the expensive product I loved and worked well for my skin! I don’t need to find a dupe for every product!

Anyways I hope you found this post helpful, if you have any questions, drop me a mail!

catch you laterrrr

Under Eye Treatments

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hey hey everyone, I hope all is well!

Today’s post will mark my ‘clinic journey’ of trying to improve my concerns with my under eye area. Before we jump into it, a bit of background

I have hollowness under my eyes coupled with fine lines and mild creepy skin that I have had forever, even from my teenage years! I also get dark circles and eye bags quite easily because I never sleep early & I don’t get enough sleep lol. I was fine with these issues before as they didn’t really affect my makeup, i.e., I could get away with using as much concealer & powder I wanted without dealing with creasing & separation so whilst it bothered me, it didn’t bother me as much. Fast forward to 2022, I started noticing my concealer creasing very quickly when I did my makeup. I was using the same products so I didn’t understand what was happening but I switched products and got some new concealers & powders anyway, hoping to fix the issues I was now facing but I didn’t get any better results.

I then also noticed my eye area was a little bit worse as I’m getting older: my eye area was drier, a bit more sunken but the fine lines remained the same so I knew this was probably the culprit . I had to stop using concealer all together(thicker concealers especially) and switch to a lighter shade of foundation to highlight & brighten my face. I also switched to using powder foundation to set my undereye. This worked for a while but the creasing and separation came back no matter what technique I used ( and I tried so many hacks/tips). I also felt like I looked tired and much older because of the dark circles and hollowness – this was when I started to be very bothered by it.

In 2023 I had a consultation to discuss undereye filler and any other treatments that would be beneficial but I was told I might not be a candidate for filler right away because of my skin quality but that I should complete a few sessions of microneedling with nctf booster then come back for filler discussion. I ended up just doing 1 session of the microneedling and put everything else on hold. Last year I decided again to actually try and treat my eye concerns because its now gotten to the point where I’m extremely unhappy with it. I’ve looked at a lot of clinic options and I think I have narrowed it down to a few I want to begin with.

I’ve also refined my under eye routine. It’s so crazy that as much as it bothered me I actually never got dedicated products for it lol (Its almost like I spent so much time been bothered and worried about the issue but not enough time actually trying to fix it). I would use the serums and creams I was using for my face in my eye area but didn’t take time to properly get better formulated eye creams. That has changed. As I have dedicated this year to trying out different clinic treatments I want to make sure my skin quality and eye skincare routine is up to par. I’m now using the same actives I use for my face for my eye area: I use the c tango eye cream which has vit c & peptides in the AM and in the pm I’m using retinol based eye cream ( currently switched to the Haruharu eye cream for now as part of my challenge).

Treatments & Expectations

Based on the 3 consultations I have had so far and lots and lots of reading, I’m thinking of polynucleotides, prf/prp or sunekos eyes and fotona smooth eye laser. The laser is the most expensive option so I will save up and probably get that later in the year or next year. I want to start the polynucleotide treatment asap (at least 2 or 3 sessions), give it a few months to notice results then try prp/prf or sunekos.

I know that I have to go through a lot of trial & error before I get the results I’m seeking. I’m been cautious and very realistic on what I can achieve, I know my issues are mostly genetic with some lifestyle influences which means I wont get 100% improvement with the issues but I think 30-70% improvement is achievable and realistic.

I am also making sure to go to qualified and well reputable clinics/injectors for any of these treatments. I’m following my shortlist of places on socials and I have actively been engaging with them.

My first treatment is actually coming up shortly and I will be sharing this with you soon. I’ve been taking lots of pictures so that I can also keep track of progress. Baseline pictures below, I can definitely say looking at these pictures that the C tango eye cream has helped a lot with my dark circles!

PS- I will be doing full reviews for all the eye creams in the pic!

If you have similar issues to mine or just interested in under eye treatments then I hope you find this series helpful! When I’ve been searching for these treatments I always look for what the treatment looks like on dark skin because I want to see how the bruising/downtime etc looks like on my skintone. Especially with the laser treatments as I know we need specific lasers for our skintone.

I’m excited and nervous!

catch you soon!

HaruHaru Evening Routine

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How’s everyone doing? Good I hope!

Next up in my HaruHaru wonder challenge is my evening routine. Does anyone else feel like the evening routine is more exciting and serious than the morning one? lol

I’ve been speaking about my collab with HaruHaru for the last few weeks. You can find more on the challenge here and my AM routine here.

For my evening routines, I like to focus on repair and treating my skin concerns so I reach for the ‘heavy duty’ actives. Of course we have to keep that skin barrier in tip top condition so I also make sure to properly cleanse & hydrate the skin. My current PM routine with HaruHaru is

Double cleansing with the deep cleansing oil & the moisture 5.5 cleansing gel. I double cleanse when needed e.g. makeup days or running errands. If Ive been home all day a single cleanse is usually enough

Tone with the black rice toner

eye cream is the black rice and bakuchiol cream- this is a new product to me so looking forward to how it works on my skin. my under eye is problematic – im hoping for good results

Treatment serums- Im using the dark spot away serum & the new retinol night serum. I’m an experienced retinol user so I can get away with using this on most nights but I’m planning to use this 3-4x a week and stop on days where i use an acid. This is a great one for new retinol users as the conc is low so it feels very gentle on the skin with no irritation.

I’m looking forward to what the dark spot serum would do. I was using the niod multi brightening serum just before this and was getting really good results. hopefully this dark spot away serum can make a different.

for my pm moisturiser I am using the centella phyto & 5 peptide cream. Again i really liked the moisturiser i was using before so I’m hoping this works just as well.

2-3x a week i like to exfoliate so i will be using the triple aha cleanser OR an acid based serum.

its been a week since i started this new routine and so far its going well. With any new treatment serums, I always start slow, so that’s 1-2x in the 1st week spaced out then gradually increase usage. I’m not really expecting any massive differences from these serums now. The products layer well and its been easy to add them to my routine. This is my initial routine and if i feel like changing anything or something is working right i will do another update!

Catch you laterrr

stay safe

HaruHaru Morning Routine

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hey everyone, I’m back with another post! I hope everyone is doing well.

In my previous post, I spoke about my new 30 day skincare challenge with HaruHaru Wonder! They sent over a bunch of stuff for me to test out so for the next 30 days, my routines will consist mostly of their products.

Before we get into my new morning routine, a bit about my skin. I have normal to combo skin that feels a bit drier in the winter months. My main concern is hyperpigmentation and I am always on the hunt for something to treat this and to brighten my overall complexion. I also like to maintain good skin health by keeping my skin barrier intact and my skin well hydrated.

My new challenge started on the 1st of Feb and here’s my current AM routine with HaruHaru Wonder!

Cleanse with the black rice moisture 5.5 soft cleansing gel. This promises to balance the skin & leave it clean and moisturized

Tone with my fav black rice hyaluronic toner. I use the alcohol & fragrance free version.

My eye cream, vit c serum and & peptide serums are the same. I’ve been using the the DE C tango eye cream, the Sunday Riley Riley ceo glow oil and the ordinary multi peptide & HA serum

AM moisturiser is the 5% niacinamide radiance gel cream

SPF is the Moisture Airyfit Daily sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++. I’m really excited for this because you know I love a good sunscreen and I’ve tried some really nice ones from k beauty. I’m looking to see how this will compare. Of course I will be doing a sunscreen try on & demo- will it be cast free on dark skin?

So far, the products feel nice on my skin and layers very well with 0 pilling. I’m looking forward to using them more! I’m following my standard method of trying new products, start using them slowly and build to everyday use as my skin gets used to it. This helps to mitigate any purging or irritation. Ive had no issues so far!

The condition of my skin now is really good. I’m enjoying smoother skin and it has an overall healthy glow due to my previous routine. HaruHaru has some big shoes to fill!

I will talk about my new evening routine in my next post- stay tuned for that!

Happy new month!