My Skincare Routine (At 45) Including Retinoids, Sunscreens and the Current Body LED Mask

This is my skin at 45. Every year I share my skincare routine and update the online world with any changes I’ve made and results that I’ve seen. This is a slow, relaxed process - I take a lot of time to make these skincare changes and assess whether they’ve had any effect. My face is like some sort of weird, private experiment that I continually observe and critique, which is possibly a terrible idea in terms of my mental health but really excellent for anybody wanting to know what really works!

I’ve been writing and making content about skincare for over sixteen years now and before that I was an international fashion model; I suppose that I have been in mild pursuit of “the best possible skin” for most of my adult life. I say mild because although I have a profound interest in beauty, I’m not preoccupied by it. I have clear limits to what I will do to my face, because although I do care about my looks and I want to feel attractive, I care about my life and my brain and my happiness more and I refuse to entertain this idea that there are things about my physical appearance, especially as I age, that should be “fixed” with procedures involving needles and knives that will poke and pinch and prod me and generally make me feel very upset.

What I’m saying, without opening up a right can of worms, is that I am relatively low-key: if you’re after the latest advice on facelifts or trending miracle products then this isn’t the place. I haven’t had any injectables or interventions and don’t intend to - unless my eyelids continue to fold over at their current rate and end up hanging directly over my eyeballs, like curtains, thus impeding my vision. Or my neck wattle gets so loose that it becomes a health and safety hazard, for eg if I’m operating heavy machinery or, I don’t know, skydiving, and I can’t have any dangling items.

Then I shall consider it. Or perhaps I won’t. Eye curtains could have their own set of special benefits.

So, at 45, here are the things I do to my skin that work for me. Things I have tested over years - not weeks or days! - using products that I have selected as my favourites from the thousands and thousands of products that have crossed my desk. The basic routine is this and has barely changed for years:

Morning

Quick cleanse - Antioxidant serum - Moisturiser/SPF

Night

Big cleanse - Retinoid - Moisturiser

or

Big cleanse - Peptide serum - Moisturiser

but there are some little additions and bonus steps scattered here and there, like exfoliating masks and - big one - my Current Body LED mask, so I’m going to break it all down for you and go through it step by step.

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AD info: this post contains a paid partnership with CurrentBody, who I am proud to have worked with for years - you will see why if you carry on reading! Outbound links are affiliate links and beauty samples are included that have been sent to me with no obligation to feature.

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CLEANSING

I cleanse twice a day. My morning cleanse is nearly always a cheat’s one: a quick swipe over with Bioderma Micellar on a cotton wool pad, or some exfoliating acid if I want to kill two birds with one stone, ssshhh. But in the evening I do my mega-cleanse, with a cleansing balm massaged in to break down all of the dirt and SPF and makeup, then warm water to loosen it all and a warm flannel to get it all off.

If you have never cleansed in this way before, by massaging in an oil or a balm (or a robust cream cleanser) and then wash-cloth-ing it off, you are in for a treat. It’s a proper deep clean, with an added bit of light exfoliation from the physical action of the cloth or flannel, and you can break down eye makeup and mascara (non-waterproof) along with everything else and then press the flannel over the eye area to remove.

It’s joyful. I find it very relaxing, especially the massaging-in bit. If you currently do a quick facial wash that lathers up and leaves your skin feeling tight, or you just use cleansing wipes, I can almost guarantee you that you’re not getting all of your face off, especially if you are using products that are designed to stay glued on, like sunscreen and longwear foundation and setting sprays.

Cheap and amazing place to start with a cleansing balm?

Weleda Skin Food Cleansing Balm (here)

Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm (here)

ANTIOXIDANT

After the dirty-stop-out cleanse in the morning, it’s on with an antioxidant or vitamin c serum. I use this, religiously, because it’s a layer of protection against all of the things that your skin comes into contact with during the day that have the evil intent of shrivelling your face up prematurely into something that looks like one of those grapes that has rolled out of the plastic tub of grapes and gets stuck at the back of the fridge and looks like a deflated balloon.

Vitamin C is also great for brightening and, used consistently, can give your skin a more even tone. I have nothing bad to say about this step - I would not bother to put anything onto my face that wasn’t going to do anything - but what I will say is that if any step is going to make my skin rear up in disgust and then start to itch, it’s the Vitamin C step. I have to be careful. Here are my most-used antioxidant/vit c serums:

Medik8 C Tetra Advanced (here)

Skin Rocks The Antioxidant (here)

Cerave Vitamin C - very purse-friendly option by comparison (here)

MOISTURISER/SUNSCREEN

Or moisturiser and sunscreen, or just sunscreen. The sunscreen is the vital part, here. And most SPFs are now formulated so well that they are hugely hydrating, whether it’s a light gel texture or a richer, more nourishing cream. I’m not going to lengthily bang the drum about sunscreen, you know the drill: if you’re using all the other stuff and layering on mists and lying there under sauna blankets with golden collagen eye patches on BUT YOU’RE NOT WEARING AN SPF IN THE DAYTIME?

You may as well not bother with any of it, if you ask me. It’s like running up the down escalator. Sun exposure is the singular biggest thing that will prematurely age the skin, no amount of correction will ever be as good as the prevention, in this case, and there are sunscreens for all budgets and all skin types and all preferences. I use these loads:

Naked Sundays Cabana Clear Gel - absolutely weightless on the skin, no issues with eye stinging (here)

Alpha-H Daily Essential Moisturiser SPF50 (here)

Tatcha The Milky SPF is new and expensive but my God, gorgeous. Instant love for this. It’s here.

I have upped my sunscreen use recently, even from last year, and now I use the leftover excess on the backs of my hands, too. I am full-on sunscreen a-go-go. As I said, I think it’s probably the most important thing you can apply and it’s never too late to start!

OK, we’re onto the evening routine. You’ve done your day, loaded up with sunscreen and 36hr wear foundation with setting powder and setting spray over the top and now you need to get a chisel out to get it all off. OR you can use a cleansing balm and flannel, as suggested above! And then it’s:

CURRENTBODY SKIN LED MASK TIME

Apart from L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara (have repurchased dozens of times), I do not think I have used another product so consistently and for such a long period of time, as the CurrentBody Skin Red Light Therapy LED Mask. I started trialling this mask when it was still in its original form, the Series 1, but have now been using the CurrentBody Series 2 for two years, religiously, at least three times a week, and I can’t see myself stopping.

The results? They weren’t instant, by any stretch of the imagination - I actually think the first time I trialled this mask was for a 30 day challenge, and I had to feed back that I hadn’t seen much change! - but after a few months of very consistent use, I saw a very noticeable difference to just how even and smooth my skin looked. I didn’t have any obvious pigmentation issues, or areas of concern in terms of crepey skin and so on, which was possibly why it was so hard to observe any change over 30 days, but a couple of months in I caught my reflection and thought I had some sort of blurring makeup on, when in fact I was makeup free. My skin looked more even, more smooth and where my fine lines had been increasing everything seemed just a bit ironed-out and fresher.

Whoo! I mean I haven’t looked back. If I was a dedicated guinea pig I’d do half of my face with and half without for a couple of years but I have my limits! The thing is with LED masks, you have to have the right conditions for the red light to be effective. You have to have consistent coverage (lots of the trendy masks are rigid and don’t shape to the face, so the LEDs can’t possibly all be at the right distance from the skin), you have to have precise wavelengths (even the smallest deviations in wavelength can affect results) and you have to have the right dose. More is not necessarily better!

In the years I’ve been working with CurrentBody I’ve been really impressed with their transparency when it comes to results and their dedication to making sure that each and every mask is delivering on results. They use a process called Veritace® to test every single LED in every mask and make sure that it matches clinical standards; nobody else does this. They guarantee the level of results they claim to give, which is HUGE.

Consistency and patience are key with the CurrentBody LED mask: there’s one set programme of 10 minutes, so you don’t need to worry about session lengths, just make sure you put the mask on 3-5 times a week. I do it last thing so that I can mindlessly scroll cushion covers on OKA and Graham & Green just before I go to sleep, but you can use it on clean skin any time of the day. Listen to a podcast. Snooze. I honestly find it one of the most relaxing habits I’ve ever adopted!

And for skin that looks blurred when it’s not being blurred? Fresher, brighter, smoother? Erm, it is not a hardship to lie there pretending I’m on a hot alien planet. (Niche, don’t judge.) Here’s my makeup-free skin, taken next to a window in an attempt to hopefully show you the evenness of tone and the general brightness I’m talking about, and next to it a photo that was taken just before I started using the LED mask:

The one on the right is almost three years old (I’ve chosen it because I was makeup-free - I was having my colours done!) but I think that the skin around my eyes and the general texture and tone of my skin is much better now than it was then!

If you’ve been dithering about trying the CurrentBody Series 2 Mask (I personally think the Series 2 is a very, very worthy upgrade - it has a snugger fit, has better coverage, has been tweaked since the first version) then I have a Current Body discount code running:

CBRUTHC

that gives you 10% off. You can find the Current Body LED Mask Series 2 online here, £399.99 down to £360.

Yes, it’s a serious investment, but I have started to break it down to cost per month and two years in I’m at around fifteen quid. A pound per LED session. The price-per-wear can only keep on reducing, unless my dog gets hold of the mask again and this time successfully chews through the wire.

RETINOIDS

So. CurrentBody mask onto cleansed skin and then it beeps to say it’s finished, and then what? Well, if it’s a retinoids night then I’ll use a retinoid, if it’s a night off (I alternate, just because I like to pack in a load of peptides and hydration in between) then I’ll use a peptide serum.

There’s a LOT of chat about retinoids. I’ve tried some of the strongest out there (I often use a bespoke Renew & Me cream, which has prescription-only tretinoin in it) and I do think that there’s nothing quite like them for skin-smoothing and spot-stopping and wrinkle-decreasing and just about anything else you can think of.

Some dry my skin out terribly, long-term, and so I now follow any retinoid with a massive dollop of moisturiser, because it does seem counterintuitive to use a retinoid to help plump the skin from within but then look like a dried husk come morning.

I wouldn’t use a retinoid until mid-to-late-thirties, personally, but that’s because I think GOD LIVE YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU CAN AND ENJOY YOURSELF GET A DOLPHIN TATTOO AND DO SOMETHING INADVISABLE WITH A SPANISH WAITER, hardcore skincare actives can surely wait until you’re too old to go on an 18-30 holiday? Each to their own. But also, these things are POTENT and I think that people are using really strong stuff at younger and younger ages and there’s no need. They have smooth skin.

If you are mid/late thirties and above, highly recommend retinoids. They are the dons of the skin serums and creams world - pretty much nothing they won’t try and tackle. If you’re worried about where to start, I like the Medik8 Crystal Retinal range, it has loads of strengths starting with “1”, which is formulated for even the most sensitive skin. You can find them here.

Skin Rocks Retinoids are also staged and excellent with three levels (here) and I do really like the various retinoids from Beauty Pie. Youthbomb Extreme (here) is their most potent (I still find it easily tolerated) but the far cheaper Super Retinol range (here) is properly excellent.

Ooh! I’ve just remembered one of the things that I’m not sure I was doing, when I wrote last year’s skincare routine: rollering retinol onto my neck wattle! Was I doing that? It’s this brilliant stick from RoC - the Derm Correxion Retinol Firming Stick, here - and it’s not actually a roller at all, but it’s shaped like one and so it does feel as though I’m rollering not swiping.

Anyway: I was making a conscious effort to include my neck and chest into my skincare routine (v important, I can tell you, now that I have a face that looks a bit like it has been kept in an airtight container whereas my chest that looks as though it’s made from beef jerky) and I realised that I was always missing out the bit under my chin and at the top of my neck. The RoC roller is the PERFECT shape to fit into this area - it’s very satisfying to apply.

PEPTIDES

On the other, alternate night, I use a peptide serum. Peptide serums also claim to do nearly everything that retinoids do, which is confusing, but they are different and are great for skin strengthening and boosting collagen production. I like to think of them as medics, for some reason. On my retinoid night I have a load of heavyweights come in and batter the crap out of my skin, for its own good, and then the next night the medics tiptoe in and give it a sports massage.

This is singularly the worst analogy I have ever come up with so I’ll move swiftly on.

I like:

No7 Future Renew Damage Reversal Serum (here)

Medik8 Liquid Peptides Advanced (here)

MOISTURISER

I let the serums do the box-ticking and tend to keep my moisturisers quite simple and light. Though actually, a lot of the ones I use on rotation are also packed with extra goodies. I suppose what I mean is that I don’t think too hard about them - their main purpose is hydration and a lovely squelchy waterbed feeling of plumptiousness when I awake.

Some regularly used:

Beauty Pie Power Elixir Moisturiser (here) (very similar in feel to the Tatcha Dewy Cream)

Weleda Skin Food Light (here)

Aveeno Calm & Restore Night Cream (here)

It’s too expensive to be any kind of sensible, but I love the face mask and this feels like a leave-on version: Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Cream. If you ever see it on a good offer, it is lovely.

EXFOLIANT

Totally forgot about exfoliants, and now if I add them in at the right place it’ll mess up my streamlined routine overview! I use two types of exfoliant, quick swipe over after the morning “cleanse”: a general, gentle one for most days of the month with a mixture of acids to brighten and smooth, and a BHA one for PMT week to keep my pores cleaned-out and spots at bay. Here are some I have on rotation:

Yepoda Porefect Pad (actually good for PMT week too!) here

Skin Rocks Gentle Acid (here)

Paula’s Choice BHA Exfoliating Liquid for PMT week (here)

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This is by no means an exhaustive list of my most-used or favourite skincare products. It’s just a taster, with some options in different price brackets. I hope that you find it useful - you can see that it’s really very few steps, and each step serves a definite purpose. I’ve missed out eye cream because I’m going to talk about those separately, soon - I swing between thinking they’re a great concept and also thinking I may as well just use my face products all over - and I’ve also missed out face masks that I do in the bath because although I get great pleasure from this part of the routine I’m not actually sure it’s strictly necessary. I’ll ruminate and then do a post on that too!

If you’d like to read last year’s skincare post then that is here and the one from the year before, My Skincare Routine at 43, is here.