My quest for glowing (bare) skin continues. I’m being very single-minded about it because I don’t like wearing foundation at the best of times, and in the summer least of all. This year I’m seeing if I can swerve even tinted moisturiser/my beloved Erborian BB Cream.
Probably not, but I’m having fun trying. I sang the praises of snail mucus a couple of weeks ago for its rehydrating and glow-giving properties—you may be interested to know that I love it even more now than I did then. Also, out of curiosity, and because my beauty cupboard is bulging with this stuff, I tried a laborious Korean beauty routine for a few weeks (the snail slime is Korean), this involving an oil cleanser followed by a foaming cleanser followed by a special toner followed by slime followed by I can’t even remember what. An ampoule, I think. It goes on and on. I’m sure it works if you have the patience, and I’m also sure it’s very effective on younger skin—my daughter is a fan and it has made a visible difference—but for me in my dotage, the one thing that really works and is absolutely 100 percent effective is the ole slime, or rather the ole slime plus a really good moisturizer on top. So I thought I’d pass that on.
I am currently alternating slime with the new Murad Cellular Hydration Repair Oil Drops at night. (I still use slime in the mornings. I am slime-obsessed.) Murad has also now made its very good retinol into an oil blend, and I like that too—if you love retinol, you’ll like it a lot. But because I am quite basic, I really love a brilliant oil that does everything and doesn’t then require me to slather myself in sunscreen every two minutes. By the way, I am obviously in favor of sunscreens, but don’t try to dodge vitamin D completely. Vitamin D helps keep your bones, teeth and muscles healthy and the body creates it from direct sunlight on the skin. If in doubt, take a supplement, but do also occasionally sit in the sun for a little while, having a lovely time, without freaking out because you—or your children—are not fully anointed with factor 50. There is such a thing as an excess of caution in life.
Anyway: this oil is excellent. Its purpose is to strengthen the skin barrier and seal in hydration, hence to bring glow and make skin look nourished. As I say, I’ve been using it at night, just by its oil self on bare skin, but you could also mix it into your moisturizer, either at night or in the morning or both. It has bilberry seed oil in it, which is full of omegas 3 and 6, and a multivitamin blend providing antioxidants and reparative powers. There’s also jojoba seed oil, which apparently works on radiance. Well, not apparently—it does work on radiance because I can see it. I can also see added firm bounce. Do you know what I mean? Like your skin is bouncy, but also tauter. Lovely product.
India Knight is a U.K.-based journalist and the author of India Knight’s Beauty Edit: What Works When You’re Older
