Ha….got you! Bet you couldn’t resist seeing if I had completely lost my marbles and decided to take my kit off for all to see, a sight that is most definitely not for the faint hearted.

No, don’t worry… I wouldn’t be that cruel. Not even to my worse enemy. Nobody these days sees me in the buff. I don’t even see me in the all together any more. I’ve even been known to turn off the bathroom light so as not to catch my reflection in the shower screen!

What I’m daring to bare is my face sans make up. I don’t actually get to study it properly because without my glasses on I can’t see very well and it doesn’t look too bad. It’s sort of in soft focus! Seeing it close up in a photo confirms my worst fear. The face looking back is a bit of a wreck!

Of course it’s now sixty years old so it’s getting on. It’s been exposed to all sorts of weather over the years and has gone through hormonal changes over the last decade. I have to admit though that I’ve been somewhat lazy in looking after it and really confused most of the time in knowing which skin products I should be using.

As a child my mother firmly believed that we should wash our faces with Lifebouy soap and rinse off with a sinkful of water with a good capful of Dettol added to it. To be honest I don’t understand her rational for adding antisceptic to the water when we were children, although I can understand why she was keen for us to bathe in it as teenagers. It would stop us getting spots. It probably stripped our skins of oils too and meant that we permenently smelt like a newly cleaned bathroom.

I don’t recall using any skincare products at all in my twenties. I’m sure that I just used soap and water and didn’t bother with cleansers and moisturisers. The only products I recall seeing on the shop shelves were by Ponds cold cream, Astral moisturiser or Oil of Ulay Beauty Fluid. I’m sure if I’d gone searching for skincare products in the beauty halls of Harrods and Selfridges I would have discovered many more, but I was a poor nurse who could only stretcg to whatever was on offer on supermarket shelves. When I got married at thirty I did treat myself to a beauty bar from a well known brand that is known for its hypoallergenic products. Unfortunately washing with it turned my skin red and sore. That was twenty pounds wasted. My ex husband would bring up the subject of my expensive mistake at dinner parties for years after the soap (for that’s what it was ) was consigned to the bin!

These days I try to look after my skin although it’s a bit like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. Any damage has already been done by being lazy and not cleansing my face at night, probably using the wrong products because I didn’t know what to use and that I’d never used sun protection in my younger years.

Open any women’s magazine or look at the skincare shelves in a shop and the choice is huge. All claiming to improve the quality and texture of your skin, brighten and plump it and lessen the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Packaging have lists of ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, peptides, retinol, glycolic acid,antioxidants,collagen, parabens and many more. It’s just so confusing and I end up being a bit like a kid in a sweet shop. They all sound good but I can’t have them all so I end up going by the nicest packaging! Then of course there’s all the different products. Oils, serums, day creams, night creams, foaming cleansers, cleansing balms, micellar water make up remover, cleansing oils, eye creams, lip creams, masks, exfolliators. Should I use this, should I use that, when to use this, when to use that. Aaargh…it’s all too totally mind boggling!

Currently I’m using Evolve Organic Beauty, a company whose hand made range of products are made with organic and natural ingredients. I discovered them when they were promoted in a John Lewis supplement and I was drawn initially to the packaging, then the affordability and finally that it was an artisan company. Not knowing what to buy, I used the help facility on their website and I was impressed with what they suggested I use to care for my mature, blotchy skin.

Of course looking after your skin isnt just about what you put on it in the way of creams and lotions. Making sure that you stay hydrated, eat healthily, don’t smoke and drink the booze excessively all play a part. I own up to not drinking enough water or eating enough vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts. Brownie points that I’ve never smoked a drink in moderation. I should sleep more. I get by with five or six hours. I should sleep more. Somethings are difficult to control. Pollution, hormones and genetics for example. Apart from her red hair and fiery temper, I’m the image of my grandmother. Short, chunky and I’ve got a mass of broken thread veins across my cheeks. I remember well her freckley,velvety skin and spiders web of red lines on her own plump cheeks.

I’m not fussed about lines and wrinkles. They are an unavoidable part of aging but I hate my blotchy red skin across my cheeks, chin, nose and between my eyebrows. Except I seem to have lost my eyebrows and look a bit unblanced without them. Wondering how to rectify this is another story. My eye area is puffy and discloured and my skin just looks dull and tired. I know that time can’t be turned back and even if I had the money, which I don’t, I’d never consider cosmetic surgery. I would like though to try and improve what I’ve got.If you have any advice or suggestions then please throw them my way. Maybe one day I’ll be brave and get some treatments at a spa or salon. Something that I’ve never been brave enough to do.

So, here is the naked faced me. I look old, puffy and tired. It’s a bit of a shock seeing the bare faced me to be honest. I must be mad posting it! As a rule only me and Mr R get to see me without a bit of slap. He tells me that he loves me as I am. Apparently he never fell for me because of my looks! Ouch, back handed compliment or what!!