Intensive care for skin's tough times
It's no longer just about the cleanse, tone and moisturise approach," says Daniella Rinaldi, beauty buyer atHarvey Nichols, on the subject of women's skincareregimes. "It's about a moreconsidered programme."
Progress in skincare technology, new ingredients and ever-advancing delivery systems mean that the speed and efficacy with which products can achieve results is always improving. "Now we're able to provide faster benefits in a safe way," says Estée Lauder's vice-president of research and development, Dr Daniel Maes. It's not done "by increasing the level of ingredients, but with new technologies like peptides that provide faster results".
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These products work differently from those used daily. The latter are there to for maintenance, to keep the skin healthy on an ongoing basis, whereas "the products used occasionally have a more profound effect on all functions of the skin and increase its ability to defend itself", says Roger Renou, scientific director at Sisley.
Boosters are recommended for use during or after times of stress. That doesn't mean only work or emotional stress but any changes that can unbalance the skin such as seasonal temperature shifts, illness or sun. Stress causes inflammation, which affects the skin's immune system and leads to a dry, unhealthy-looking complexion.
Enter products such as Sisley's Sislea Elixir, which is designed to retrain the skin to work at its optimum level after a month of use. Benefits are said to last for six months; however, "the frequent use of products is needed to maintain their efficiency," says Renou. But beware: "If use of the [follow-up] products is halted, the skin will deteriorate gradually," he warns.
All of this may seem a tad unjust if you have spent vast sums on the latest highly acclaimed moisturiser. But it's not that said moisturiser should be shunned or that you're being unfaithful; it's merely that it is sometimes important to alter your skincare regime because the skin doesn't function the same way through the year.
Estée Lauder's new Advanced Night Repair Concentrate (available next month) is a good example of a three-week treatment designed to "reset" your skin. According to Maes, it helps the skin's cells to repair DNA (thanks to a Bifidus yeast extract, which provides an environment within which repair mechanisms can flourish) not to mention control "all the inflammatory pathways that are usually activated by stress [including] UV irritation", with nine different anti-inflammatories. It's only intended for use over three weeks because our skin is on a three-week renewal cycle. This time-frame is the minimum required to see results from skincare with active ingredients because, says Maes, this is the point when results reach a plateau and your usual moisturiser comes back into play.
There are some exceptions to this. Prada's Reviving Bio-Firm Concentrate is recommended for use for only 10 consecutive days at the end of summer and winter, and targets firmness and lines with minerals, yeast extract and pentapeptides. Guerlain's Intenserum Express Beauty Treatment comprises just 14 single-dose bottles that contain beech bud and ginkgo biloba extracts that boost the skin's microcirculation. Both will leave skin with a fresh, youthful glow.
If you were to use these products beyond their specified time-frame, they would no longer show any improvement. This is because they contain just the right balance of ingredients to bring the skin back to good health. Once this has been achieved, benefits level out, so there would be no point in continuing to use them. They have enabled the skin to function at its healthiest, which it can now do with the help of your regular moisturiser.
Apparently, a change really is as good as a rest.
皮肤需要“特殊疗养期”？
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这不再仅仅是清洁肌肤、改善肤色和保湿措施。”夏菲尼高(Harvey Nichols)的美容产品采购丹尼埃尔?里纳尔迪(Daniella Rinaldi)在谈到女性护肤体系时表示：“它是一种更为细致周到的服务项目。”
护肤技术的进步、新成分和越来越先进的传导体系，意味着护肤品的见效速度和功效一直不断提高。雅诗兰黛(Estée Lauder)全球研究室暨发展部门副总裁丹尼尔?梅兹(Daniel Maes)博士表示：“现在我们可以通过安全的方式，在更短时间内改善肌肤。”这不是通过“增加成分含量，而是通过采用缩氨酸等见效更快的新技术”。
这些产品的功效不同于日常护肤产品。后者只提供基本养护，以保持肌肤健康，而“这些偶尔使用的产品，可对肌肤所有功能产生更深远的效果，并增强肌肤的自我保护机能”，希思黎(Sisley)科技主管罗格?勒努(RogerRenou)如是说。
修护型产品，一般建议在压力期间或之后使用。这不仅是指工作或情感压力，还包括可导致肌肤失衡的任何改变，比如季节性气温变化、疾病或日晒。压力会导致炎症，从而影响到肌肤免疫系统，导致肤色干涩，看上去气色不够健康。
渗透型产品，比如希思黎的抗皱活肤精华液（Sisleya Elixir），使用一月后可令肌肤恢复最佳状态。据说其效果可维持6个月；不过勒努表示，“需要频繁使用产品，以维持其效果”。但同时要小心：他警告称：“若中断使用（后续）产品，肌肤状况会逐渐恶化。”
如果你已经在饱受赞誉的最新保湿产品上花了大把银子，那么这一切似乎有点不公平。但这不是说不应使用保湿产品，或你不够忠诚；仅仅是因为有的时候改变护肌方法很重要，因为随着岁月的流逝，肌肤不会一成不变。
雅诗兰黛新款特润修护精华露(Advanced Night Repair Concentrate)（将于下月推出）是旨在“重塑”肌肤的三周护理范例。梅兹表示，它有助于肌肤细胞修复DNA（多亏了一种比菲德氏(Bifidus)酵母提取菌，可提供有利于修复机能积极运转的环境），更不必说抑制“通常由压力（含紫外线刺激）引发的各种炎症”――它可产生9种不同的抗炎因子。该产品只需使用3周以上，因为我们的肌肤更新周期为3周。3周也是含活肤成分的肌肤护理见效所需的最低时限，因为据梅兹称，这是护理效果达到稳定状态、恢复常规保湿的时间点。
也有些例外。普拉达(Prada)的活肤紧肤精华(Reviving Bio-Firm Concentrate)就只建议在夏末和冬末连续使用10天，旨在利用矿物质、酵母提取素和多肽来紧致肌肤、消除皱纹。娇兰(Guerlain)旗下的伊诗美深层护理霜(Intenserum Express Beauty Treatment)仅包括14只单剂量小瓶，内含山毛榉花蕾和银杏叶提取物，可促进肌肤微循环。这两种成分可使肌肤保持年轻鲜润的光泽。
如果你打算在指定时间框架之外使用这些产品，将不再有任何改善。这是因为其所含成分刚好能够促使肌肤恢复良好健康。一旦实现这个目标，改善效果达到稳定，就没必要继续使用它们了。这些产品能使肌肤在最健康的状态下工作――现在依靠常规保湿的帮助就可以做到。
显然，一次改变的确像一次休息那么棒。
皮肤深层护理信息：
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www.sisley-cosmetics.co.uk■
www.prada.com■
www.guerlain.com■
www.prescriptives.com■
www.parfumsgivenchy.com■
www.esteelauder.com
