I don’t know whether you saw me mention on my Instagram page (you can follow me here if you'd like to see pictures of my face, my cat, my dog and my house – it’s all going on!) but I’ve been appearing inside a brilliant Mother’s Day campaign for L’Oreal Revitalift, with my very own Mum! We had such a great time; we had an amazing portrait taken people – which I might well hang in my hallway in a huge gilt frame – after which filmed an advert together referring to what we love and admire about each other as well as our proudest moments.
Mum enjoyed being fussed over (and also, I think, loved her transformation into a suit-wearing, coiffed-haired power-lady) and I really enjoyed being able to take my Mum to utilize me. After seventeen many years of being on studio sets and sitting in makeup chairs and doing my part of front of the camera it was the first time a member of my close family had ever really seen what I do.
(Although my little sister did arrived at a shoot with me in the past, she arrived to find the twenty-two year-old me inside a grubby East-End studio just in the point where I was being sprayed with cold water with a fashion student to make my hair look slicked-back. I was freezing and grumpy also it wasn’t a good representation of what I did on a daily basis. Actually, scrap that, it had been quite an accurate representation, but things got more glamorous over the years and are most definitely different now. The L’Oreal film set was the kind of thing you’d want your parents to see, since it was impressive and there were tons of crew and clients milling about and there were loads of lighting rigs and people calling out numbers and folks shouting at more people to remind them to stay to schedule but still more people hauling rails of garments about and hanging up outfits and puffing steam from steamers to iron the shirts. It had been all going on.)
Anyway, as part of the campaign with my Mum, we'd to talk about beauty tips and secrets that we had passed on to each other in addition to recommend some specific Revitalift products, and thus as part of my preparation I'd a good delve into my face cream box and chose to try something new. Or new-ish, because I’m already a convert to so many of the products in the Revitalift range, including the incredible Laser Renew Night Cream-Mask*, which is one of the most effective, affordable overnight masks you’ll find (it leaves my face positively pillow-like through the morning) and the Laser Renew Advanced Day Cream, with a new, mega-plumping formula.
And there are so many other excellent choices from the Revitalift range, including serums and eye creams and moisturisers with retinol, however it was the Laser Renew Day Cream with SPF20 that sparked something off in my imagination. Imagine, I thought, if I could actually get my Mum to wear an SPF. Any sunscreen whatsoever. It would be nothing short of a miracle! She’s point-blank shunned it for many of her life and only was a victim of my nagging in recent years because I’ve physically placed these products in her hands. The problem is that she – like many people – doesn’t like the feel or finish of the lot of products containing sunscreen and thus quickly stops using them. It’s also very rare that she will apply a separate sunscreen, and so the SPF, if it’s going on, needs to be in something else that she’s already applying. Like her face cream or perhaps a tinted moisturiser. (No, you’re not going to get the same level of protection applying your sunscreen such as this as you would a dedicated sunscreen, but I’m of the opinion that something is infinitely better than nothing.)
So to cut to the chase, I’ve been testing out the Revitalift Laser Renew Advanced SPF20* just before forcing a pot from it into her lovely, elegant hands. Luckily it meets her non-negotiable requirements – it doesn’t have a greasy finish (“I don’t like looking like an iced bun!”), it is multi-tasking (aids in firmness and plumpness as well as providing UVA/UVB protection) and it’s moisturising without being overly heavy. The Pro-Xylane helps your skin to feel firmer and lower the appearance of wrinkles and there’s a little LHA (salicylic acid, a gentle exfoliant) to help skin to appear brighter and smoother.
And so I think that the Laser Renew Advanced SPF20 will pass her picky skincare test with flying colours. It leaves a perfectly prepped base over which to use makeup, with no greasiness, but skin still feels fully quenched. A brilliant springtime moisturiser actually – great for incidental sun exposure before it reaches the proper warm months. You can find it at Superdrug here* – it’s currently lb14.99 rather than lb22.49!
This post is a paid advertorial included in my role with the L’Oreal Beauty Squad – you'll find more info here.
