Best anti-ageing serums
Anti-ageing serums…you want the good news or the bad? Here’s the good.
A few weeks ago I farmed out anti-ageing serums to women who could use them, that is to say, friends, relatives and neighbours aged from 50 odd to over 90 (don’t you just hate anti ageing products advertised by women who aren’t actually old?) - and if there is a quicker route to instant popularity than handing out elixirs of youth, I have yet to find it. And the good news is, they all helped. From one friend who said that her skin was nice and soft to another who declared, “God, Melanie, it’s gorgeous”, they all noticed some improvement, more than you’d get using humdrum moisturiser.
The bad news is that none is actually the elixir of youth, not even the really good stuff. None will take deep lines away; none will make an older woman’s neck go from saggy to unlined and toned. I mean, we’re talking skincare here, not miracles. So, deep lines and crepey necks need other treatments, not just anti-ageing products, and even they won’t make a 70 year old look 30. Sorry. But as the leaflets say, the products do take away the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles – and look, it’s only the appearance we’re worried about; hidden ontological lines we can handle, thank you – just not the most pronounced ones. Plus these fine serums very much improve skin tone.
There are no doubt, a bewildering number of products out there and it's wise to look out for some of the following ingredients, which address the trickiest problems associated with ageing skin, including depleted collagen: Retinol or retinyl palminate, vitamin C and alpha lipoic acid (especially as a serum) and hyaluronic acid.
Oh and don’t forget: use some of your product on the backs of the hands, which never get enough TLC. Further, obviously most anti-ageing products don’t include sun protection (which you need all year round, btw) and considering sun damage is a prime cause of skin ageing, adding something like UltraSun to your everyday routine is a very good idea.
The products here are the best of the ones the testers put through their paces. I farmed out one product by Dr Sebagh costing over £200 to a not-rich friend in the west of Ireland and when said friends husband heard the price, he epostulated that if he thought I’d actually paid for it, he’d have put me out the door. Sometimes you need to hear the normal person’s take on very expensive skincare: “It cost HOW much?” So, here you'll find a range of prices for products that will indeed make your skin look and feel better and more youthful; but to actually look decades younger, you need a very special portrait in the attic.
Augustinus Bader: The Cream
There has been a terrific amount of hype about this cream which uses rejuvenating technology developed by this German professor who specialises in burns treatment over the course of 30 years research. It is said actually to reverse visible ageing (the only kind we care about, no?) and to hydrate the skin deeply. I tried this one on a tester in her sixties with deep lines who didn’t get any benefit from other creams I pushed her to try; well, with this one she got excited enough to say there’s been a definite difference; she’s looking way better than before. Expensive but very effective.
£205 | Harvey Nichols | Buy it now
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serumâ
Drunk Elephant: dunno what elephants, drunk or sober, do about skincare issues but this brand is very, very good. Its philosophy is to leave out anything that might irritate the skin – its Suspicious Six are silicones, essential oils, chemical screens, SLS, drying alcohols and fragrance/dyes. Instead it puts in ingredients that are as effective as possible, whether natural or synthetic. The skin absorbs them instantly, and the effect is to calm and brighten skin of all ages. And it really does work well. The C-firma day cream (£67 30ml) with Vitamin C is also excellent, more so in conjunction with the TLS Framboos Glycolic Night Serum (£76 30ml), with 12 per cent alpha and beta hydroxy acid (critical ingredients). Fabulous funky packaging, too.
£76 | Cult Beauty | Buy it now
Sarah Chapman, Skinesis Platinum Stem Cell Elixir
From Sarah Chapman’s brilliant Skinesis range, this one is specifically designed for delicate, thinning – read older – skin, this is meant to make skin look denser and firmer. I can vouch that it works: one tester of 90 found that it left her face looking luminous. You can’t say fairer than that.
£136 | Space NK | Buy it now
No 7 Protect and Perfect Advanced Serum
Proof, if proof were needed, that the brilliance of a product isn’t commensurate with price. This wonder anti-wrinkle product – the miracle ingredient, apparently, is Matrixyl 3000 - does diminish fine lines. The tester also found that it reduced age spots on her hands too.This, the latest in the excellent range of serums, is a one-step self-help programme for existential angst about ageing.
£34 | Boots | Buy it now
Orveda The Healing Sap
The Healing Sap is billed as a “glow shot” and “skin-resetter”, which improves hydration, diminishes pores (yep, still a problem with some mature skin) and bolsters skin tone. My tester, who normally only uses economy moisturiser, declared that it did reduce fine lines (to eliminate them she said she’d need to drink the stuff) and that she did think she looked more radiant. Lovely scent too. So, go with the glow.
£125 | Harvey Nichols | Buy it now
Dr Sebagh Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum
Part of the aptly-named High Maintenance range from the man who first gave us Botox. This was the product whose price scandalised my friends in Limerick, but on the bright side it worked. My tester saw fewer lines and a reduction in the depth of wrinkles and her friends noticed her skin looked good as well. Plus the little veins on her face became less visible. The range also includes a good Supreme Eye Serum (£95, 15ml) with a clever rollerball applicator. The neck cream was found to be less effective.
£215 | Space NK | Buy it now
SisleyA, Firming Concentrated Serum
“God, it’s lovely”, my tester told me. And so it should be, at that price, you may think. It’s intended to firm older skin, and it does. The tester, in her seventies, found that the wrinkles that you get after sleeping were easily plumped out, and lines were reduced. And skin is somehow clearer and fuller. Excellent product.
£350 | Liberty | Buy it now
