Meeting Caroline Hirons

Today I met skincare goddess Caroline Hirons, and I am pretty excited about it!

I have spent many an-hour trawling through her blog (which i’ve mentioned here before), and love her wide-ranging skincare knowledge, frankness and good humour.

So when I heard she was making her way to Birmingham, I knew I had to go. Her visit was to mark the opening of the beauty bar in Selfridges (which is pretty fab), and she held some Q&A sessions. I wandered along, feeling a bit awkward as I am not great at social situations like that but she was very friendly and fun, and put everyone at ease - which was especially nice of her as I am sure it was not that fun for her standing on a stage with a microphone and about 15 eager faces all staring at you as if you were god!

Here are some of the things she recommended/said to the group:

• Acid is hero. Think salicylic, glycolic and lactic - all good acids for making your skin lovely. On her blog, she talks about acid a lot and has recently put a post and a video up about all the great ones, see here. If you are interested, I use First Aid’s Facial Radiance Pads (available here) which I tested on only one half of my face for a week and really noticed a difference.
• Buy your skincare from a skincare specialist - not a make up specialist, and vice versa.
• Brands that are led by doctors/dermatologists are good.
• Double or even triple cleanse especially in the evening - start with something to take the make up and grime off your face, then use the products with the ingredients that will ‘do something’.
• Sugar is BAD for the skin. Very, very bad. So is smoking and drinking too much (I type whilst sipping wine. bad, bad, bad).
• There is no need to use a Clarisonic or other scrubby/cleansing tool - just use your hands and a flannel.
• Don’t use anything on your face that is foaming. Ever.
• Serums are important - she recommended Ole Henrikson’s Truth Serum (available here).
• Ole Henrikson’s Pure Truth Youth Activating Oil is good for scarring (available here).
• Stay away from mineral oils particularly if you have acne prone skin.
• Shea butter is also not great for acne prone skin but don’t worry too much if it is in the ingredient list, as long as it is not too close to the top.
• You are never too old to change your skincare or to start using acid.
• Don’t be afraid of using oil on oily skin - as long as it is the right oils, it will help.
• There are two reasons people have dark under eye circles - genes or lifestyle. If it is late nights partying, you can help with sleep, a healthy diet and plenty of water; if it’s genes you’re need a good concealer. She recommended Charlotte Tilbury’s Retoucher (available here in a range of shades).
• Laura Mercier is the queen of conceal.

The most exciting news though is that one day (though not particularly soon) she will have her own product range! I will be first in the queue to get my hands on those when they appear.

For me she recommended:

• Upping the amount of fish oil I am taking. I currently take two Lamberts Pure Fish Oil capsules a day, and get the impression from her that I can at least double it. You can buy them here.
• When I told her I use Dermalogica she made a face - like a not very happy, don’t waste your money face.
• She thinks my skin is dehydrated, and recommended Ole Henrikson’s Truth Creme Advanced Hydration (available here).
• She also said I don’t need fillers or botox (I did say she is very kind as I think I need them all!).
• When I asked what I should buy in America, particularly from Kate Somerville she recommended these three moisturisers: Goat Milk, Nourish and Deep Tissue Repair (you can buy from here).

This isn’t word for word, obviously, but my interpretation of some of what she said.

If you have got passed all the links I have put in this post, and are still reading my blog, thanks I think I owe you a medal, but it probably is worth you checking out Caroline’s blog for her advice, from the horse’s mouth so to speak.

And if you are still here, then i’ll take this opportunity to apologise for not posting much this week. It’s been my Grandma’s funeral and I am flitting between pretending nothing has happened and not knowing how to cope with the grief. I’m doing the former the most, because if I even begin to acknowledge what has happened it is more painful than I know how to deal with. Luckily I have my friends and family to support me and a holiday or two to look forward to. And then maybe i’ll deal with it then. Or get help. Or keep pretending.

Either way, will try to blog more.

Claire x