Skincare diaries – Mandy’s journey to feeling fresh-faced

Mandy’s routine

Age: 56

Skin type: Normal to dry

Trinny London Marketing Consultant Mandy, 56, has normal to dry skin, and overall she’s pretty happy with the way it looks. Her only gripes are that she is prone to dry patches (which her moisturiser doesn’t seem to touch) and is experiencing age spots, fine lines and wrinkles as a result of summers spent sunbathing without SPF in her teens. Ideally, she wishes her skin could reflect the energy she feels on the inside (she’s a keen yogi) and her skin goal is to have a glowing, dewy complexion.

Step 1: Cleanse

The first step towards Mandy’s skin goals was convincing her to trade her trusty micellar water for more sophisticated cleansers. Micellar might make for a good one-off when travelling, but long term it was part of the reason why Mandy’s skin wasn’t radiating the lit-from-within glow she was hoping for.

With Trinny’s encouragement, Mandy committed to a double cleanse in the evening, using Be Your Best Enzyme Balm Cleanser first to remove her makeup and SPF, before following up with Trinny London Better Off AHA/PHA Gel Cleanser to give her pores a good clear out.

Now, Mandy is ready to build on these good foundations of proper cleansing by introducing a liquid exfoliant into her routine. She plumped for Reveal Yourself, our AHA exfoliant, which uses a carefully selected combination of alpha-hydroxy acids to slough away dead skin cells from the surface.

“I was saying to Trinny that my dry skin never seems to absorb moisturiser particularly well and she said it’s because I’m not using an acid exfoliant,” Mandy explains. “I hadn’t used acids before so I was a little intrigued.”

Mandy initially used Reveal Yourself, our AHA exfoliant, twice a week, building up the usage as her skin adapted. After just two weeks of use, the results spoke for themselves.

“I have been using the Reveal Yourself AHA Exfoliant for two weeks and it is, if you’ll excuse the pun, a revelation. There’s a vibrancy to my skin that I just didn’t see before. I haven’t got so much dry skin, so when I put a serum or a moisturiser on it really seems to soak in. It feels like a shortcut to great skin.”

Step 3: Serum

Cleansing and exfoliating can make a huge difference to how your skin looks and feels, but if, like Mandy, you want to take it to the next level and tackle things like sun spots and fine lines, then you need to invest in serums.

Boost Up, our vitamin C serum, is perfect for during the day, supporting your SPF to protect the skin in order to prevent new marks from forming. Over time skin tone becomes more even, for a more radiant complexion. Boost up is a highly active formula, and a patch test on the forearm is advised before first use.

At night, Overnight Sensation, our retinal+ serum, works while you snooze to smooth, plump and firm skin. Both serums work in perfect tandem with each other to create a fresher, healthier complexion. They are potent formulas, so need to be incorporated slowly into your routine to reduce irritation. Mandy used both just twice a week to begin with, building up as her skin adjusted.

To support the work of the vitamin C and retinal serums, Mandy also incorporated Plump Up, our advanced peptide and hyaluronic acid serum. Peptides plump the skin, while hyaluronic acid hydrates to create the best possible environment for your other actives to work.

“I have been using these serums for about three weeks now and my skin just feels so different,” says Mandy. “My fine lines have faded and my skin is much more even – I am absolutely addicted to them.”

Step 4: Moisturise

Sometimes, it’s the staples you're most excited about. And for most, the cleanser and moisturiser are the stalwarts of their skincare routine. “This is the one I’ve been waiting for,” said Mandy.

Mandy used Bounce Back, our intense peptide moisturiser which aims to put the spring back into skin that’s feeling unsupported. Our 4-peptide complex helps to restore elasticity and firmness, while hyaluronic acid plumps and hydrates.

“For slightly older, more mature skin, I think this is ideal,” continues Mandy. “I like that it goes on incredibly easily and feels really nourishing on the skin. It doesn’t just feel like I’ve worn it and it’s worn off – it feels so active and my skin feels more bouncy. It’s one of those moisturisers that I won’t be living without.”