Wrinkles and Wisdom

I have a big birthday coming up in a few weeks. Not really looking forward to it. Okay, truth be told, I've been dreading it for the past month six months for a variety of reasons.

Well, I decided to take action and do something about the things I have some control over...like wrinkles. I made the adult decision to actually start using SPF when I turned thirty. Most of the time. But thirty was a little late, and the smile lines around my mouth and crow's feet around my eyes have become more and more visible each day.

 

So, I hit up my go-to shopping mecca for all things fashion and beauty -- online of course, because Sm-Albany doesn't have a Nordstrom (in all honesty, it's a blessing for the bank account). Then I grew impatient waiting for my fountain-of-youth in a box to be delivered and headed over to CVS for some impulse shopping in the beauty section.

After searching high and low for the solution to my weathered skin, I selected Olay Pro X Anti-Aging Starter Kit, a steal at around $55.00 for wrinkle smoothing cream, age repair lotion with SPF 30 and eye restoration complex.

All of the products are nearly fragrance free and smooth (although the wrinkle smoothing cream can become
a bit sticky overnight).

Despite the stickiness factor, the wrinkle cream is the best of the three products by far. It's really moisturizing and soothing. As for getting rid of the wrinkles, I can't determine whether it's this cream or something else that's improved my skin though.

Let me preface the rest of the Olay reviews by saying that I definitely don't have sensitive skin. But boy, did the eye cream and SPF burn and cause dryness! The directions for the eye restoration complex suggest putting it around the outside of the eye and eye lid twice daily. Within just a couple of days, my eye lids started drying out and the skin became flaky (gross, I know). And the SPF 30- I only used that once or twice too since it burned almost immediately when I rubbed it in. I know that my mom has been a fan of Olay for years, but these products were just not for me! They made a bad skin situation even worse...

Fortunately, I had a completely different experience with Philosophy's  Hope in a Jar, which I first fell in love with on a trip to Sephora in DC. I'm admittedly a sucker for great marketing, so I knew I found my solution with When Hope is Not Enough.

The description says it's to fight the signs of aging in mid-life (Is that me?! Is that what's happening-- a mid-life crisis???) Well, regardless, it sure does tone, firm and hydrate as promised...or so I think as I slather on  4-5 drops of it twice a day. I've been using it under the regular Hope in a Jar lotion during the day and under the Olay wrinkle cream at night, and I truly do feel like my skin is healthier. 

I'm hoping that maybe with age-- this impending birthday and the coming year-- some wisdom will start to accompany any new wrinkles.