Just having my daily read of the diaries
Thought I would comment on the skin care side of things been using "expensive" brands for years. Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Clinique, Clarins, Elizabeth Arden
I would personally steer clear of Clinique, I found it to harsh and drying, tried it when I was younger and again last year with disastrous results. Son't know why I just don't stick to what I know works! lol
I love Lancôme skin care but it is very very pricey!
Recently tried Liz Earle and fell in love with the Cleanse and Polish to cleanse the skin and the toner that she does, wasn't overly impressed with the eye care range or the moisturisers, tried the normal one and super skin versions, but they left my skin a bit tight and wrinkly,if I screwed my face up, by late afternoon.
I love Clarins!! Been using their products for about 20 years on and off but always end up going back to them, don't think you can really go wrong, never had any problems with any of their products and I think my face looks pretty good for nearly 40!
Whenever I go out on a date nearly all say I look about 28 years old, so it must have done some good lol They last quite a while too as you don't need much, the key is using every day AM and PM rather than occasionally.
If you can find a good person behind a Clarins counter you can usually get lots of samples, I would go round 3-4 shops that sell it, get the samples which will give you a good supply for a week or two and then based on who looked after you the best, buy your products from them. My Clarins lady here is lovely! We are now Facebook friends and she really looks after me when I buy products.
So now I use daily AM/PM
Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish
Liz Earle Toner
Clarins Eye Cream/Clarins Eye Gel
Clarins Day Moisturiser
Clarins Serum
Clarins Night Moisturiser
Hope this helps xx