Tag Archives: moisturiser

The Ordinary Hand Chemistry Review

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Does This Product Have The Right Chemistry?

I reviewed the Ordinary as a brand back in early 2017 when they were not that well known.  I quite liked the idea, but wasn’t sure it would fly.  Well that shows how much I know, because since then they have created quite a stir.  I think they have also been generating pretty good sales, in so far as you can tell these things. But they have certainly been generating a lot of attention.  One reason for this is the, how can I put it, highly personal social media profile of the founder.  But I think the much bigger reason is that they have developed a very distinctive offering which isn’t quite like anything else out there.  I thought it would be fun to have a look in detail at one of their products. Continue reading →

Elderberry Extract for Dark Circles Around The Eyes?

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Elderberry Extract for Dark Circles Around The Eyes

Do elderberries hold the secret to curing dark circles around the eyes?

We’ve all seen and may well have actually experienced the dark marks that you sometimes get around the eyes.  They are known as dark marks, dark circles and spider veins.  They vary in colour – they can be black, blue or purple.  The cause of them is that the skin is particularly thin on this part of the face.  This makes the blood capillaries there particularly prone to damage, both as a result of rubbing them and to things that affect the size and  permeability of the blood vessels.  The result is that blood cells can get out of the blood stream and accumulate into this dark coloured structures.  The spidery appearance is due to them following the lines of the capillaries.  Having got there they can trigger an inflammatory response making the skin puffy as well. Continue reading →

Is Lanolin Beneficial For Eczema?

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lanolin beneficial for eczema

A question from George

Hello Colin,

I was hoping to hear your opinion on a moisturiser by D.R. Harris & Co, the world’s oldest pharmacy. The majority of ingredients in this cream seems very standard, but it is also formulated with isopropyl myristate and lanolin – two ingredients which I know you are particularly fond of. This company also produce lots of shaving paraphernalia which you may also be interested in. I have facial eczema and don’t like to rely too heavily on steroid creams, which my dermatologist is all too keen to dish out. I’m also curious if lanolin can be beneficial in countering eczema as opinion on the internet seems to be on the no side. Regards, George

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Fomblin – Have You Fombled?

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fomblin

Almost no idea is so far fetched that somebody somewhere hasn’t proposed using it as the basis of a new cosmetic.  This came to mind the other day when the element fluorine was mentioned in a conversation I was having.  This triggered off word association in my brain and reminded me of a meeting some twenty years ago.  The proposal was to use highly fluorinated compounds in skin products.  The technical name was perfluorocarbons, but the trade name was Fomblin. Continue reading →

Eucerin Extra Dry Skin Intensive 10% w/ w Urea Treatment Lotion Product Review

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Okay, you’ve got really dry skin.  What is a good choice of skin cream?  One approach is to look for actives that have a good effect and then find a product that has a lot of that ingredient.  This sounds good in theory but it isn’t always easy to work out which of the many active ingredients the adverts are shouting about actually work.  And it is almost impossible to work out how much of those ingredients are in any given product.  But it’s not impossible.  Let’s have a look at Eucerin Extra Dry Skin Intensive 10% w/ w Urea Treatment Lotion. Continue reading →

Elemis Pro-Collagen Super System

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Elemis have some highly rated products but their Pro-Collagen Marine Cream seems to have a particular appeal to people who want a moisturiser that doesn’t bring them out in spots.  The fact that it doesn’t have this downside gets mentioned a lot by reviewers.  The other things that come up a lot are that it is very expensive and that a little goes a long way.  So what would you do with that information if you were working in the Elemis New Product Development department?  You’ve got a winner, but you probably aren’t making as many sales as you might. Continue reading →

Olay Regenerist Daily 3 Point Treatment Cream

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The second highest selling personal care product in the UK at the moment is Olay Regenerist Daily 3 Point Treatment Cream.  (The top seller is Bio-Oil, but I have already done that one.)   Users are giving it pretty good reviews, and if Olay are stuffing the reviews with fake positive ones they are doing it very cleverly because the reviews seem to be pretty genuine.  So lets have a look at the ingredients. Continue reading →

Dermatitis on the Face

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dermatitis-of-face

A question from Junie

Hi My doctor whi is also a dermatologist says I have dermatitis. On my face and eye lids, the cream he gave me made it worse, the next cream he suggested I refused as it contained steroid, which I am told it should not be put on eyelids. Please can you help, I am just covering it up at the moment but I really would like to clear it up Thanks Junie

I am afraid I am not qualified to give medical advice, and if I were I wouldn’t do so over the internet.  But hopefully  I can give a bit of background information that might help a little. Continue reading →

Lanolin

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lanolin
Sheep spend a lot of time in fields which is why they need lanolin

I wrote recently about hypoallergenic products and and pointed out that one of the few ingredients that we have any data on the incidence of allergic reactions is lanolin. This isn’t a coincidence. Lanolin was really the original cosmetic ingredient scare story. Let’s have a quick look at how it happened.

Continue reading →

Caffeine and the Skin

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caffeine-and-the-skin

A lot of the appeal of high end skin care is that it contains active ingredients that do good things for you.  It’s a nice thought, but it is as well to be aware that getting through the skin is no mean feat for a molecule.  The top layer of the skin is like a sponge, but one that holds onto stuff.  And it is also continually being shed – so stuff that gets onto your skin doesn’t stay there too long.  And on top of that there is a continual flux of water from inside your body escaping outwards – known as the trans epidermal water loss. Continue reading →