My skincare routine at 52 and the ingredients that really work for mature skin

What does a reasonably simple but effective skincare routine look like for mature skin? 

Well I’m 52 and as a journalist dedicated to exploring skincare and healthy aging here and on The Honest Channel, the skincare routine that I follow is based on the expert advice I’ve picked up from my interviews along the way – and also what is showing visible results on my own skin.  

I’ve also factored in the considerable feedback I’ve had from my audience over the years about what has and hasn’t worked for them.  

And I follow what are considered to be the cornerstones of an ideal skincare routine for mature skin – and that is to include a moisture-protective cleanser, antioxidant serum, retinoid, peptides, ceramides, omega fatty acids, SPF and to improve blood flow to your skin, stimulate your muscles and boost collagen production with a few select devices.  

PM ROUTINE

Cleansing

So one of the less-considered elements of a skincare routine is how we cleanse our skin and I’ve come to realize it’s actually one of THE most important elements. 

That’s because our skin gets drier as we age because we produce less sebum or oil, that starts changing our skin microbiome which negatively impacts skin cell productivity and the amount of collagen produced. 

So we want to make sure our cleanser is not stripping our skin of moisture. 

At night I cleanse with a gentle oil-based balm.

The two I use most frequently are the Oat Cleansing Balm from Inkey List, priced at around $13 or £12 for 150ml and it’s widely available internationally. 

I absolutely love the Chamomile and Oat Lipid Cleansing Balm from BeautyBay but I don’t see it listed on their site in the US so I’m not sure how widely available it is outside of the UK where it’s around £10 per 90ml tub. 

Both include oat kernal oil known to support the skin’s moisture levels with its ceramides and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and it’s also a proven prebiotic so it is microbiome friendly. 

To use an oil-based cleansing balm, I firstly wet my hands, but not my face, that’s an important bit because you want the balm to be easy to apply but not overwhelmed by the water. 

So I put a 5p coin or dime sized amount in the palm of my hands and rub it over my face, working out my mascara and sweeping the balm down my neck and then removing everything with a hot wet face towel which I sweep over once, rinse and then do it again. 

Retinoids

A few nights a week after cleansing l use a retinal serum. Retinal is short for retinaldehyde which sits in between retinol and retinoic acid in terms of the speed of its effect on the skin. 

Retinol is a less potent form of vitamin A that is a couple of conversion steps away from the form of vitamin A that’s made in our skin which is retinoic acid.  

Most of you will have heard of Retin A or tretinoin and that is retinoic acid. It’s prescription only because it’s the most biologically active form of vitamin A in that it gets to work on the skin straight away – the skin doesn’t have to convert it because it’s already in its bioavailable form – which is why our skin reacts more strongly to it. 

Retinaldehyde sits between those two because it’s just one conversion step away from that most potent and active form yet I find it strangely to be much gentler on the skin than retinol while still doing a great job on smoothing out the surface of your skin over time. So to me it’s less irritating than a strong retinol and hugely less irritating than tretinoin or retinoic acid. 

The benefits for mature skin are retinoids’ undoubted potential to reduce fine lines and skin pigmentation because they’re speeding up our cell turnover helping to resurface our skin.  

And when we get the balance right on our skin so we’re not going too strong too often, then retinoids are a really helpful addition to any skincare routine. 

My favorite retinals

Like retinol and retinoic acid, retinal comes in different strengths.  

My mainstay is the highest strength retinal from Geek & Gorgeous at 0.1% but I was able to go straight to that strength because I switched from tretoin. If you’re new to retinoids, start with a lower strength retinal and build up.  

The Geek & Gorgeous retinal is an uncomplicated unfragranced formula and well priced too at £18 or $20. 

Along the way I’ve tried the Medik8 retinal in the same strength which does a very similar job but has a more sophisticated formula, it glides very nicely over the skin so it has a smoother finish, but it’s way more expensive at around £90 or $110 and really most retinals of the same strength from popular brands are going to perform pretty similarly in my experience.  

The Naturium retinal at £35 or $45 in the same strength is a good mid-point option which I’m using at the moment. 

Peptides & Growth Factors

I finish my evening routine by applying either Calecim ‘s Multiaction Cream or a peptide-based serum.  

Calecim is a growth-factor rich skin and hair line that I’ve used in cycles for a couple of years now, while my dad and husband also use the hair system.

I cycle the Calecim cream because it extremely expensive with a 50 gram pot costing £175 or $200 so I only use it in the evenings and one pot will last me about 12 weeks.  

The growth factors are derived from stem cells found in the umbilical cords of red deer. Being a biological product, although it’s cruelty free, it’s not for everyone. I cycle it down to price and safety because we don’t have long-term studies on the use of growth factors in skincare so I want to take a more cautious approach. 

The Calecim products are naturally very rich in growth factors and peptides and we have seen clear benefits using this range.  

Going through menopause my skin is more prone to redness on my cheeks and that is calmed almost overnight when I use Calecim. Over time I think it has been really good for balancing my skin, it feels nourished and looks less lined but its anti-aging effects do take time and I wish it was less expensive.

Difference between peptides and growth factors

Growth factors are proteins that stimulate cell growth and repair, while peptides are short chains of amino acids that can signal to cells to start repairing and increasing their collagen production. So they play a similar role and I think are very much worth including in your skincare routine.

But by cycling it means I get to try out lots of other great peptide-based products too.   

Right now I’m testing a brand new peptide serum from Medik8 which they recently launched. And they have focused on a few key peptides which have better evidence behind them and then worked on a delivery system which helps them better penetrate the skin barrier. 

Medik8 say the serum should visibly reduce even deeper lines within 8 weeks so we’ll see and I’ll share my thoughts in April.

It includes the Matrixyl 3000 peptide complex which has some good supporting evidence but it’s pricey at £79 for 30ml or $92. 

Lower-cost good peptide serums

At the less expensive end of the market though The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide & Copper Peptide Serum I think is a solid choice at around £30 or dollars and it also includes Matrixyl.  

No7’s Future Renew Serum is another lower-priced peptide-based product that has good evidence behind it – and I’ll link to an interview I did with the scientists who developed that range having created a synthetic peptide mimicking one found in human skin. So they are two affordable but strong options. 

And if I’m using a peptide serum instead of the Calecim cream in the evenings, I just use good old Aveeno moisturizer afterwards because it’s a great protector of both your skin barrier and microbiome thanks to the oat kernal extract and I mix that with a couple of drops of facial oil just to lock it all in. 

Ceramides and Omega Fatty Acids

Finally in the evening routine, let’s talk about ceramides and omega fatty acids.

I like to see both those ingredients included in either a moisturizer or in my case I use a facial oil to finish off my night time routine. 

Ceramides are naturally occurring lipids or fats in our skin that form a protective barrier, helping to lock in moisture and prevent water loss.  

Omega fatty acids, and particularly omega 3, provides nourishment and nutrients to our skin and have been found to have multiple benefits including helping to regulate our oil production, improve hydration and reduce inflammation as well. 

So I look for those elements in a facial oil and the one I use at night is Renew Pure Radiance Oil from True Botanicals. I only use a few drops because it’s pricey at $110 for a 30ml bottle but a little goes a long way so I make it last months.  

This one is packed with plant-based omega fatty acids and antioxidants and it just seems to agree with my skin. It is naturally fragranced with the plant oils but if you have very sensitive skin or you don’t like heavier oils, this might be a little much and I use a lower cost but good alternative in the mornings. 

AM ROUTINE

First thing I just rinse my skin in the shower. And here’s what I think a key test of skin health is.

The cleansing part in the mornings is easy as I mentioned because I just rinse my skin with water in the shower. It doesn’t need another cleanse. Really I’m trying to hold on to all the natural moisture I can.  

Antioxidant serum

Next I still use the Aeonia Age Defying Serum from Delavie Sciences which contains the star ingredient basillus lysate which is a kind of super-antioxidant discovered by Nasa scientists.

It protects the skin against UV damage and significantly boost its hydration too, and the makers, Delavie Sciencies, say it also stimulates a signalling protein in our skin called Sirt1 helping cells to become more productive and repair themselves as well. 

I like the additional UV protection for my skin but also I think it has helped plump out the fine lines around my eyes in particular and supports my skin’s hydration generally.  

It’s £100 or $125 dollars which is why I only use it once a day and, like the Calecim, I do alternate it to save money, particularly over winter with a lower cost but similar product. 

Lower-cost alternative

So while it’s not identical to bacillus lysate an ingredient called ectoin has very similar properties but is easier to come by so it’s cheaper. 

While the bacteria that bacillus lysate is derived from is classed as an extremophile because it can survive in the most extreme conditions including space, ectoin is an extremolyte, a molecule that helps microorganisms survive in extreme environments. 

There are a few studies supporting its benefits which, like bacillus lysate, includes boosting UV protection, and hydrating skin from within. It’s thought to have strong antioxidant properties and has been linked with a reduction in hyperpigmentation too. 

And it’s included in Biossance’s copper peptide serum so while I don’t love it as much as the Aeonia serum, it doesn’t absorb quite as readily and it’s a little heavier, ultimately at $68 the Biossance serum is still a good affordable alternative and a still a great daytime serum. 

Sun protection

For a sunscreen I mainly use Bluelene’s Sun Fix moisturizer.

It contains the physical sunscreen zinc oxide and the anti-aging ingredient methylene blue which has been found to slow cell aging and protect the skin from sun damage.

The official SPF is 21 but that’s because methylene blue is not recognized yet as a sunscreen by the FDA.

But I love this because it sits really nicely on my skin, provides a bit of added moisture, isn’t irritating and I think does a good job with sun protection.

Anti-aging devices and treatments

In terms of devices, I’m still using the ZIIP Halo microcurrent device to help with muscle toning and to boost bloodflow to the skin and therefore the skin cells.

I use it every other night, alternating with the Nira Pro laser which I use on my brow area, the edges of my upper eye lids, along the jaw and around the sides of my mouth.

I started using it on my face again after my recent interview with Nira founder David Bean in which I quizzed him with audience questions for an hour.

By the end of it I felt I fully understood how the device works. It’s simply targeting water and only water in the surface layers of our skin to stimulate collagen production, reaching less than a millimeter, so it’s not going deep at all.

But I use it every other day because David Bean told me that their own studies showed people who only used the Nira at 50% of the recommended daily frequency still got results – a little known fact!

I find it too drying to use daily so every other day works for me and I also intend to build in breaks. Results are supposed to continue for up to 3 months after 12 weeks of use.

Red light

Red light is still a big deal for me and I use it to energize my aging skin skin! I use a panel from Maysama so I can cover face, neck and decolletage in one go and it also has a pulsed light option which gives you all the benefits but makes sure you don’t overdo it with prolonged exposure.

I use it for around 6 minutes four mornings a week and sit doing my facial exercises while I’m at it.

Facial roller

I also use a little metal facial roller most days, just for a couple of minutes when I first get up to get the blood flowing to my skin, and help with lymphatic drainage too. 

And that brings me to the end of my skincare round-up. I wouldn’t describe it as minimalist, but it’s deliberately designed to be effective while avoiding overkill.

For those looking to cut back on skincare spending too, check out my article on the low cost steps to boosting your skin health.

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