This has been the worst skin year of my entire life. Hbu?
From catching Covid back in March 2020 through to the harshest winter ever in lockdown, it’s taken a serious beating and the truth is a lot of it I’m to blame for.
Having had pretty good skin most of my life, I wasn’t prepared for the massive flood of stress and viral inflammation that Covid brought with it: it left my skin swollen, blotchy, deeply lined and so dry that in photos I looked like I had flour on my face.
So I did precisely the opposite to what experts recommend. In desperation I threw everything at it. High percent actives, over-cleansing and a mix of acids, all from new Insta-hyped brands with tons of followers but no actual research or expertise… because in Lockie 1.0 all anyone could talk about was upping the skincare ante and I wanted in on the conversation. Correction: I wanted to be ahead of all my mates because I work in this industry, I was turning 40 and my skin was suddenly old and haggard, ruddy and tired with dark circles under puffy eye bags.
Then in the autumn, my skin literally exploded. That was a real shocker. I was smothered in maskne spots plus a horrid flare-up of periorial dermatitis around my nostrils. (I’d had my first bout of it after one of my miscarriages a few years ago, and it reappears in times of intense stress. It came back so viciously this time – imagine hundreds of tiny red ants crawling over your skin and biting it, sucking all the moisture out so you’re left with fiery but crusty-dry painful skin). The only thing that calmed things down was using Kate Somerville’s DeliKate serum and cream.
Important sidebar here: Kate, if you’re not familiar with her, is a trusted skincare aesthetician based in LA, who’s been training for 30 years and has her own product range (Meghan Markle’s been quoted saying she swears by it). At her clinic she does lasers, injectables, peels and intensive high-tech facials, but you wouldn’t ever see her A-lister clients walk out blotchy with downtime. That’s because Kate and her in-house pharmacists have created formulations that are mind-blowingly effective and nurturing on compromised skin. She is a phenomenal female founder with ethics, inclusivity and sustainability ingrained in her brand ethos. Skin-savvy influencers and their followers go legit batsh*t crazy for her.
After Christmas, my skin looked so much calmer thanks to pulling everything back, but freaking exhausted, aged and uneven. At the same time I wrote a piece for GLAMOUR on caring for winter-ravaged skin and my research basically unravelled 20 years of my own skincare learning. I’d had it so wrong. I used to belittle religious routines and put them down to money-spinning marketing ploys and trend intimidation tactics. Yet here I was with knackered skin, having spent a full year shoving thousands of pounds worth of different products and brands onto it. I relearnt and reframed the entire narrative of my own routine, namely that I didn’t have one. I had about twelve. I was switching up every day and not sticking to one consistent pattern of products. In short, I had been a complete d*ckhead to my own skin so over the next few weeks, I committed a strict 5-step layering routine (cleanse-acid-serum-oil-cream) that I recommend in the piece, using the simplest and gentlest products possible. It really worked (see my before and after here), and it cemented my understanding and trust of a good skin strategy.
I had got myself back to a good complexion zone, but behind the selfie ring-lights and freshly-applied dewy creams, my skin was definitely more lined and looser, like a helium balloon left neglected in a corner to slowly shrivel into a sad saggy floating sack pulled down by its weight. I needed to start repairing and reversing all the damage I’d caused.
Then last month, an email arrived from Kate Somerville’s UK PR team. After years in the making, Kate was launching a new skincare system in her KateCeuticals range, inspired by her most effective in-clinic treatments for total skin renovation. I felt tingly and excited: the timing was destined, almost serendipitous. It was meant to be. Meant for me.
And so now we get to the review bit. Sorry I know that took ages, but I needed your trust and for you to know that I am not 24 with flawless glassy skin and two sad-fishing zits that I need fawning public sympathy over. The good skin chase is so emotionally laden, full of huge wins, huge disappointments, financial hits and frustrated FOMO – and sometimes you need 750 words to put that across. Thanks for sticking with me.
It’s been four weeks since I fully committed to her new serum, eye cream and moisturiser, which launch today. As well as using them every morning and night (prepped with an oil cleanse and a swipe of gentle acid toner), I’ve had a full run-down from Kate herself explaining how the products came about, so let’s dive in deep.
FIRMING SERUM, £84 is everything and the kitchen sink. There’s a medley of peptides to stimulate collagen and strengthen the skin. Hyaluronic acid and to improve hydration. Pea extract for controlling melanin and pigmentation. Nasturtium flower extract to help with brightening and to smooth out surface texture. It’s a silky gel-lotion formula that doesn’t feel sticky or wet; it absorbs really quickly so you can move straight onto the next step.
LIFTING EYE CREAM, £105 was inspired by the injectables that Kate’s clients adore. ‘I wanted something that relaxed the skin, filled it with hydration and brought back a supple bounce,’ she says. ‘Think about a piece of leather that’s dried out over time. If you bend it and move it around, it’s going to crack and leave creases. Keeping it hydrated as soon as you can, every single day, will maintain and improve that softness and bounce.’ (This is me basically. I have crepey, leather-cracked under-eyes and crow’s feet, and yet I’ve always lolled at eye creams for being a waste of money). This one is lightweight thanks to sunflower oil, which has molecules so tiny they don’t clog up pores and cause little white milia dots beneath the skin.
TOTAL REPAIR CREAM, £105 took 10 years to develop and positions itself as Kate’s most superior anti-ageing, healing and hydrating moisturiser. Kate spent about 20 minutes talking about Peptides and that’s the kind of evangelical preaching I am here for. ‘I used a medley of Peptides and ceramides in a complex called Hexa-12 to hit all levels of the skin, plus a blend of Hyaluronic Acid and Squalane for that deep, deep potent hydration,’ she says. It feels delicious and quenching without residue, and apparently suits all skin types. I was dubious about this claim, because surely despite the lightweight texture the ingredients might be too rich for combo or oily skin? ‘My son is 19 with terrible acne breakouts but this is his favourite moisturiser,’ says Kate. ‘It’s so hydrating and healing, so it treats the underlying dryness but doesn’t irritate the blemishes.’ One thing I love about this is the airless pump jar, which you press down to release a perfect dose. ‘It means I can use fewer preservatives because it’s not open to fingers and germs all the time,’ says Kate.
That said, what I really respect about this brand is their pro-chemical stance; meaning that any lab-synthesised ingredients are celebrated, not frowned upon. I’ve never heard Kate use the words ‘clean’ or ‘natural’, because quite frankly no expert skincare professional would either. I’m on this team too and it makes me love this range even more.
On my own skin, I’m really, really impressed. Four weeks in I can see two major changes. The first is around my eyes. The skin is much smoother and reflects light better, so I have that lovely orbital bone glow. There are fewer fine lines and the crepey skin on my eye bags has tightened up, which means the entire area is less shadowy or puffy. Clearly I’ve been going wrong with eye creams in the past – either using way too heavy formulas or missing it out completely. This is a dream and I’m now starting to apply it on my 11-lines between my brows to see if it works there too.
Secondly, the consistent use, day and night, has actually changed my skin type. It’s no longer sensitive, ruddy, vulnerable and parched by 4pm. It’s become resilient, stronger, more even in tone and stays comfortable for the entire day – despite artic temperatures. I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I can see and feel a tangible difference that no other skincare system has ever done before. Having intensely scrutinised my skin for the past year, I can see so much improvement in a short time and I am genuinely bowled over.
I want to go back to my first sentence in this piece. This has actually been the best skin year of my entire life. Without the tough bits, I’d have never understood first-hand the importance a consistent routine, or the colossal impact of true expert-led brands. So come @ me with your clean-timidation and click-bait marketing-born brands: I will win, I will call you out, I have Kate in my corner and the good skin to prove it.
