It’s my belief that we all have something we hunt. For some people it’s the perfect body like the models in the swimsuit ads, others it’s for abs like David Beckham, legs like Gwyneth Paltrow, and so on and so forth. For me it’s always going to be perfect skin. Perhaps perfect is unattainable, but if I’m going to aim I’m going to make sure I aim high.  You might be asking exactly what I deem to be perfect skin, and well that’s simple. Cate Blanchett. Perfect, crystal clear, just… perfect. Yes, I’d like the male version of Cate Blanchett’s skin please.

Over the years I’ve tried pretty much everything and every product going in some way, shape, or form. And that’s really not an exaggeration. My bathroom cabinet is a sea of fancy skincare products that have either been bought on a whim, a recommendation, or quite simply because they looked pretty darn cool in their packaging. I’m almost always entirely swayed by recommendations. ‘97% of women who used it said they saw a noticeable difference in just three days!’ Of course what they neglect to tell you (or rather do tell you in the smallest teeniest font possible in the lower corner) is that generally they surveyed a very small and random number of women. One recent product I saw had been tested on 24 women. 24. And 89% of them loved it and would recommend it to a friend. Well, that’s hardly conclusive evidence now is it? It’s hard with skincare to extract the facts from the myths companies can perpetuate about their products.

After a year of plying my skin with Kiehl’s moisturizer I decided it was time to
re-explore the situation. There’s probably a reason why some products have been around for fifty years, and yes they may well come drenched in hype from their makers, but still, a product cannot last that long on shelves and sell quite so much if it isn’t pretty darn nifty? For example Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche ÉCLAT. There’s one of those little golden beauties sold every ten seconds. That equates to 8640 sold each day. So is that down to the fact it’s the best on the market, amidst a sea of copies, or down to the hype? Do facts like that make more people buy it?

I digress slightly, the point of this post was to discuss my latest trial in the quest for good skin. As a male we’re less bombarded with products, advertisements and facts when it comes to skincare and it’s been my experience that for the most part men’s skincare products are quite simply the exact same as the women’s, just without fragrance. If there is a fragrance it’s some form of wooden smell. I’m not quite sure what it is but it would seem brands believe all men wish to smell like a forest. Personally I don’t care to smell of pine fresh toilet cleaner. So, I decided to give one of the skincare world’s biggest selling, and longest lasting products a try. After all can men’s skin really be that different from women’s?

I knew I wanted to make a skincare change a few weeks back and so I began the research early and Estée Lauder came out on top. The facts (and not just the ones the adverts throw at us) would have the Advanced Night Repair serum be one of the world’s best products. If you were amazed by the Touche ÉCLAT facts then you’ll be even more surprised by the Advanced Night Repair‘s; It’s been Estée Lauder‘s best seller for thirty years now, with a bottle being sold every eight seconds. That’s 10,800 bottles each and every day of the year. Yikes. How had I not tried this miracle in a bottle before? It also came with recommendations from people around me – they’d been ‘using it for years’, ‘couldn’t live without it’ and one even put it down as the sole reason for her smooth somewhat poreless skin. I was sold. I had to try.

It’s been a week now and whilst I’m not exactly the male Cate Blanchett, I have to say I am seeing a difference. Teamed with one of Estée Lauder‘s moisturisers it would appear to be working a treat. If I’d discovered this before I could have spent the earlier part of my twenties with much better skin I’m sure. By the end of May I’m hoping to see some pretty serious results, partly so that I don’t feel like the fool who fell for the marketing, and partly so I can stop stressing about the state of my face. In short, I recommend. Wether you’ve got a beard or you’ve got boobs (or sadly, both) it would appear it will work for you. It took me a while to get there, but maybe I’ve found the secret. For now at least.