By Chrissy Iley
For the longest time I didn’t really understand about cleanser. I would frequently sleep in my make-up and reapply in the morning. Not just because I’m lazy, because I didn’t understand that making the skin feel alive starts with cleaning it. Recently my skin notices cleansers more than any other product: too rich and there’s a breakout, too drying and there’s dandruff of the face, too exfoliating and there’s redness. I’d been going towards the joy of cleansing oil and I am a fan of Elemis’s omega-rich cleansing oil. I love the way it feels on the face. And I’m also a fan of mixing it up so the skin gets jolted into reproductive action. Elemis’s Pro-collagen Cleansing Balm (£40) is now their bestseller, outselling their now famous marine cream. People like it because it’s a facial in a jar, you feel it tingling and lifting while it cleans.
Elemis have also come out with an amazing new range called Elemis Biotec Energising Skincare. There’s a high tech science behind it all that works with all the different ageing and lifestyle challenging and how ageing, stress, smoking, poor diet means you have poor self-function and you’re just not reproducing enough to have soft and shiny skin. The pro-energy complex works on invigorating your skin. This Biotec Cleanser (£39.50) is my favourite. You can feel it working – it clears away surface oils and impurities and I feel it exfoliates without even trying to.
The Biotec Day Cream (£75) comes in a very high tech fancy package. Two cylinders in the one bottle, one pale green serumy, the other a soft smooth moisturiser combine and makes your skin feel fabulous. There is of course a science why you get these two cylinders: if I understood it, I might feel the need to explain it but do I think it makes your skin feel plumped, smooth and bright? Yes, I do.
And this is how good it is, I was wearing just it, and things with me do have to have an instant effect or I don’t want them, when I went to buy Easter eggs at Fortnum’s. It was on a whim but a whole counter of chocolate bunnies with handcrafted flower baskets are pretty tempting. The lady at the counter said ‘you ooze celebrity’, which is quite possibly the nicest thing that anyone’s ever said to me and made me order another gold-dipped egg (only £4 and they looked so cute). I reached into my purse and handed over my credit card and she noticed that my normally frayed fingernails and blotchy hands were in fact soft and dewy. I’d been using their British Botanical Hand and Nail Butter (£18). This is a hand-lift in a tube. I’d been noticing recently it’s quite easy to freshen up your face, have injectables if you’re so inclined, but it’s not easy to keep your hands looking fresh and youthful. Handcream is no longer old ladyish. The right one prevents any old ladyish look at all. Elemis’s smells divine, it smells like a spa, really uplifting. But what’s even better about it is that it’s actually uplifting for the skin. It’s not greasy or thick, it just gives an aura of serenity and helps you ooze celebrity, of course.