WELCOME to your 30s, an age where you’re probably feeling at you most confident, reaching new heights in your career, free of the insecurity of your 20s and … looking at ways to keep yourself looking as fresh-faced as you did when your age was a double digit starting with the number two. Those pesky fine lines – it’s a good thing they start appearing during a time in your life when you’re, rather conveniently, feeling the most comfortable in your own skin.
Lack of sleep and stress are likely to blame for the changes you’ll be seeing on your face. The science behind it? Not enough zzzs and escalating life pressures lead to an overproduction of free radicals, which affect skin’s fibroblast, the key cells responsible for youthful skin. When a fibroblast becomes worn out, it no longer plays its part in maintaining the skin’s production of collagen, leading to fine lines and a dull complexion – the first visible signs of ageing.
Clarins Multi-Active Day cream
In an effort to counteract those effects, French skincare brand Clarins has launched its Multi-Active Day and Night Creams – both of which harness the power of plants. Whether it’s the Teasel extract in both, which helps to revitalise and protect tired skin; the day cream’s use of myrothamnus, a flowering shrub indigenous to South Africa and Madagascar that can tolerate – and flourish in – extremely dry conditions; or the night cream’s California Poppy, a flower that regenerates itself at night.
Clarins Multi-Active Night cream
In real life, this translates to day-to-night products effective in restoring skin’s brightness and plumping fine lines worsened by dehydration. As a Londoner, Clarins’ exclusive anti-pollution complex, designed to fight premature signs of ageing and loss of radiance linked to pollution, is also a big draw – they don’t call this city the Big Smoke for nothing and it often shows on my skin.
On the downside, both the day and night creams are fragranced (cherry and white lily alongside jasmine, freesia and heliotrope, which I’ve always thought are better suited to an English garden than a beauty product – I definitely prefer mine unscented) and, for me, initially stung on application (linked either to the fragrance – bad, my skin’s telling me it’s not happy – or to the anti-ageing ingredients – OK, these fine-line fighters take some time getting used to, so proceed slowly).
I stack my usage, first using the skincare duo every three days before moving to every second day and, now, every day. And while I could have taken it or left it upon introduction the positive effect it’s had on my 30-something complexion is undeniable.
by Natalie Egling
Clarins Multi-Active Day Cream, £42, and Multi-Active Night Cream, £44