Treatments, tweakments + favourite brands and honest reviews - with beauty editor Inge van Lotringen

0:01Hi, I'm Sophie and this is Age Well with Dr Sophie Shotter, a space devoted to all things health, wellness and longevity. Because for me, ageing well is about looking and feeling like the best possible version of ourselves, inside as well as out. So together with my producer Fee, I'll be deep diving into the latest research, sifting fact from fiction. I'll also be talking to all kinds of trusted experts, tapping into their knowledge, along with bringing new conversations from a range of interesting women, and men finding out how they age well. So this is my show. Welcome along. And as always, thank you so much for listening.

0:45Inge, you're one of the UK's most accomplished and award-winning beauty journalists. You were Cosmopolitan's beauty director for 14 years, and you were somewhat ahead of your time in your truly rigorous, honest and transparent approach. You now write for a range of newspapers and magazines from Elle to Get the Gloss to the Mail and the Telegraph. You're also an extremely well regarded brand consultant, corporate host and you've also appeared as a beauty expert on This Morning, Sky News, BBC Radio among others. I should also add you're an author and your fabulous book Great Skin Secrets the Beauty Industry Doesn't Tell You is still available to buy.

1:21So all in all, I know we're in a great pair of hands talking to you. You've been really open and transparent about the various treatments and tweakments you've had over the years. I believe you're now in your mid-50s. And I read an interview with you where you said that Harmonica is the bee's knees. And I know you've also enjoyed Profilo, among many other treatments. But what's exciting you the most at the moment in the regenerative skin space? What treatments and tweakments are you having and what would you never be without? Well, that's all very generous, Sophie. Thank you very much. And you are right, almost 56.

1:57Kill me now. I can't complain about that. But hey, it's very confronting, I always think. And I've been very lucky in that I can trial these things, right? I'm a beauty writer, so I get to trial a lot of things. And we have had a lot of discussion about this, but I tend towards the injectables and the more anti-inflammatory treatments, if at all possible, over heat-based treatments because I have very delicate, very easily inflamed skin. I think it's really important for people to always choose a doctor who understands that. I think people like you understand that every skin is different and certain things suit certain skins better than other skins.

2:40And for me, I'll tell you what I find really exciting right now. You are right. I thought harmonica was amazing in that it densified my skin. I tend to word gauntness. So it sort of made my skin look fuller and juicier without changing my face. And I thought that was quite remarkable. In the space of injectables, I think we're going towards more and more possibilities along those lines. There is, you know about Jelaine, there's also something called Jouveluc. And these are injectables that sort of sit between the, you know, harleuronic acid fillers and the original biostimulating fillers that could quite dramatically plump up areas, inflate areas of the face.

3:28And the biostimulating injectables like polynucleotides and then also the skin boosters, which are fantastic for skin, for maintenance and for revving up skin function. But the results are very, very subtle to the point of sometimes not being all that visible and you have to keep doing them. Now, I feel we're getting something in between. I feel something like Jelaine sits in between those things where you get really visible collagen stimulation without irritation, but also without extreme results. It works on the skin level. It just makes your skin look juicier and stronger and fuller. And it lasts for like a year and a half or two years.

4:16And I love that this is becoming available now. So I'm very excited about that. And I also feel, but I don't know if you agree, that we are moving towards things that we didn't think were possible in the past where you can get collagen regeneration through machines without damage. So we've always had this controlled damage model where you first have to carefully damage the skin to set off that collagen response and that age-defying response. And now it seems like more and more there are options that really set off collagen without first causing inflammation or damage. And sort of your MCT is an example of that.

5:02I've been talking a lot about this machine called Rexonage, which is a sort of an energy, it's quantum molecular resonance. And the only way I can explain it, I explain it really badly, is that it seems to shake cells on a molecular level. And that sort of sets off a regenerative and healing response. And I've had it to deal with my rosacea and my perioral dermatitis and the results have been absolutely remarkable. And all that it is, is a lovely warm massage of your face. There is no pain, there is no inflammation, there is nothing. I find that really exciting. I think we're getting more and more towards gentle, quite gentle treatments that have relatively dramatic effect on our collagen response.

5:53And I think that's really exciting. And yes, you're right. I also like Profilo. I like all those things, but you have to keep doing them. So you really have to commit to those skin boosters and bio-simulators. That's where my head is at at this point. Those are my very favourite kind of developments. So many people are going to be taking notes based on what you've just been saying, including me and writing things down as you speak. You've also spoken so highly and written a lot about your upper eyelid lift. For the sake of listeners, can you recap your story here, including, I guess, what was concerning you to begin with and why you've been so thrilled and what the procedure was like and what the recovery was like?

6:32Because you have spoken and written a lot about this. That was a real eye-opener, pardon the pun. The breakthrough sort of came when my surgeons explained it to me as, this is an upper eyelid bleph. Sorry, there's a helicopter coming over uh upper eyelid lift um which they said look it's on the level of a tweakment in terms of of course not in terms of how you do it but in terms of um uh downtime and i said really that's just impossible they said no you'll see that after about a week you'll be healed and i could not believe that but i was looking for something my eyelids were really sagging my upper eyelids were really sagging and what happens there is it just makes you look incredibly tired all the time and I think that is my problem with with visible aging in general it makes you look tired that's how I explain it and when it goes too far it just it's quite depressing you know of course you have to accept it and embrace it's all very nice and well but that particular thing I was tired constantly.

7:38It was like my eyes were slowly closing. And it's a genetic thing in my family as well. So I looked into tweakments and I think the eyes are such a delicate area and you have to be so careful. And tweakments for eyes tend to be heat-based. I did not want to do that kind of potential damage to my eyes. And then when it was explained to me that actually just cutting out a tiny bit of eyelid and stitching it back together was really not going to be very dramatic and it wasn't going to upset the eye area very much. But I was going to get a really precise result from it. That sort of sold it to me.

8:20And they were right. Of course, I went to really good eye surgeons and that is the key. Of course, it's not a small thing, surgery. It's not at all a tweakment in terms of downtime it felt like a tweakment and it's the only thing that literally set the clock back 10 years it literally did I just have my eyes back from 10 years ago and it's it's just uplifting when I look at myself and I see myself um and and you know of course at my age I am my age but I don't feel my age and you do get to points where you're like oh I just want to look the way I feel. The eye lift really did that for me. So yeah, I think that is absolutely the best choice.

9:06I mean, there are things that you can do and that work incrementally, and for some people that's plenty. But as soon as your eyelids really start sagging, I think this is the solution. Of course, it's very expensive, but if you really want something that's going to transform things. This was it. We talk a lot about facial aesthetics on the show, but you've also spoken really openly about, for example, trying to get rid of cellulite. For anyone listening who's looking to reduce the appearance of cellulite, and I say that because it's totally fine if people don't want to, what's really worked for you, if anything?

9:42I'd also love to hear your thoughts on lymphatic drainage massage, because again, that's something else you talk about so brilliantly? Yes. First off, you'll never get rid of your cellulite. And absolutely, I wish I could embrace it. And lots of people do these days. And I admire their confidence. I've just hated it since the age of 16. Again, 17, I'd say. Again, you can't say that these days, but I just don't like it. I don't like the look of it. I absolutely have always lived with it. It's fine. It's not the end of the world. But because I've had access, I've been more than happy to try things to minimize it.

10:19By the way, I've exercised for 35 years, so it's a totally genetic thing. And frankly, you should really embrace it because you're not really going to get rid of it. But there are three things that have made, and I've tried pretty much everything again, because I have that luck of having access. There are three things that have made a difference. The first thing is, and this is not actually cellular, this is more like the localized fat deposits that come with cellulite. So this has got nothing to do with the texture. But if you want to get rid of what we kindly call saddlebags, for me, the only remarkable thing has been CoolSculpting, which I know is not fashionable anymore because of all the bad press it's got.

11:01It's still absolutely around. And it's the only thing that completely, you know, just really took away significant fat deposits that were there. I'm actually quite skinny, but I had those saddlebags and yes, it got rid of a lot of that. And that was the only treatment that ever worked on those things. I've tried the others. So yes, absolutely a fan of cool sculpting. Then for the texture, I'd say the only thing that I've really seen made a visible difference was Sunacos cell, which is a biostimulating, you know, we have it for the face. Psunocos cell is a biostimulating injectable that is designed for cellulite.

11:49And it helps blood circulation. It helps lymph drainage. And yes, it has, I mean, you get it jabbed all over your treatment area. And it does make the appearance of cellulite less evident for quite a while. I've had it twice and I liked what I saw. And again, I have not seen that from any other treatments. And then when it comes to lymph drainage, lymph drainage, a bad lymph is actually one of the biggest reasons for having cellulite, very much a genetic thing. It comes straight down the female line in my family. And if you can keep your lymph going consistently, I do believe in body brushing, but you have to literally do it every day.

12:34And even I don't commit to it. But I think people that absolutely do that every day of their lives from a young age will have far less cellulite than other people. I absolutely believe that. And there is a treatment called LPG endermology that works on the lymph. It works on the blood circulation. It works on muscle tissues. It's a massage machine. And it has very good evidence for actually working on cellulite. But the problem there is you need 12 treatments and you do see a difference, but you have to keep it going, you know, every three or six months or so. And again, that is all about commitment.

13:13And, you know, not many people have the time or the inclination to constantly work on things like that. So those are the things that I've seen the most difference from. But I would also like to say the difference that you get is it's never completely going to disappear. And the changes are maybe a bit more than incremental, but they're never huge. And so, you know, I don't want to talk people out of trying things, but, you know, these things are expensive. And to an extent, you do want to embrace what you've got. I like to do as much as I can, which is why I love exercise, because then at least I feel like I, on my side, do whatever I can.

13:53and then I just have to like it or lump it, basically. So done some fake tan maybe and hide it that way. Yeah. Oh, so useful. So useful. Okay. Skincare. And this is obviously such a huge question. Oh, my goodness. But we have to ask, what are your heroes? Can you name check the specific products and brands that work for you, especially the actives and the serums? I know that what works for you may not work for us. We get that. But from what I gather, you're not a fan of the really strong actives. I read somewhere that I think you prefer the PHAs to the AHAs, which chimes with what you were saying earlier about your skin type.

14:31But anyway, yes, skincare. What do you love? What do you use? Absolutely. Yeah. Again, I've got very reactive skin, rosacea. I contracted about two years ago. I got perioled dermatitis, which comes back if I don't watch out. So I just flare up at the merest provocation. So I have to be really, really careful. I wish I could use, you know, the retinoids every day because I believe there's only a few ingredients that are actually going to do much for our skin. And it's quite a nonsense to kind of flip around and try anything and everything. We sort of know what's supposed to be working, but I cannot use a lot of it.

15:07In terms of skincare, it's really hard for me to, I've actually got a few products here. It's really hard for me, though, to talk about brands and products because, again, I have so much access. I look in terms of ingredients and formulations and I can sort of see what's going to work for me and what isn't, you know. So I do want to say that good skin, that's a case of a lifetime commitment to care. It is never, oh, I've got a problem and now I need to turn that on its head. You know, I have very, I've had very, very few products that have made, that have transformed my skin or made it look younger or, you know, more alive in any kind of way.

15:44The reason my skin is good is because I've taken care of it all my life. And so I urge people to start that immediately. You know, so that's really important. But in terms of products that have worked for me, I've actually got a few here. I'm going to talk about sunscreen because it is essential. Sorry, if you don't want signs of aging, you have to use sunscreen every day. Otherwise, you know, it's just a nonsense. There are lots of good sunscreens, he says. my favorite brand is Ultrasun because I think it's the Swiss brand. They are so clever in putting anything and everything you need for good sunscreen.

16:22They're broad spectrum, they're full of antioxidants and also they work as good daytime moisturizers, which I think is really important to have a product that feels like a good moisturizer with active ingredients, but also with your you know broad spectrum spf 50 um ultrasound they're they're okay uv filters are suspended so they don't dive too deep into the skin which is important uh but they're they will absolutely they are just really good sunscreens i'm trying not to go too deep into technology they're my favorite daily sunscreens i think in terms of if i can name one kind of age-defying product because I've been trying to use retinoids for years and I can do it for like a week and then my skin flares up again.

17:11But one that I've had a lot of success with is a brand called ESK Evidence Skincare. They've got a retinol that is combined with niacinamide and PHAs, like you said, and some other ingredients that works on wrinkles, works on pigmentation. I've seen good results with a big pigment spot on my face. And for some reason, I've been using that retinol for several weeks in a row without a retinol, without my skin flaring up. So I think that is, and that product was actually created for extremely reactive skin. So that works for me. That's a really good retinol if you've got sensitive skin. I think my standby, if I have a spot, I don't have oily skin, but if If I have a spot, a 2 % salicylic acid serum is always the standby, you know, a spot on product.

18:02That doesn't have to cost anything. You know, there's the ordinary salicylic acid 2 % cost very little and I would not be without it. You know, any spot, any patches of oiliness, bang, you put that on it and it will go away. Of course, I don't suffer from acne, but for small, spotty situations, that is fantastic. I really stand by 10 % azelaic acid serums. They are sort of one of the very gentle acids, but they're also an anti-inflammatory. And they do a tiny bit for brightness of the skin. and if all else fails when I have perioral dermatitis which is a quite a nasty unexpected reaction to whatever nobody really knows where it comes from it's azelaic acid that calms it down overnight so it's a really good skin calmer but it also brightens skin and I think it's if nothing else if your skin's really reactive that is one of the very safe ingredients that you can use and we can now use it not over the counter up to 10 % and 10 % doesn't irritate my reactive skin so So I think that's really good.

19:13I also want to mention, I mean, La Roche-Broset is always a safe brand for reactive skin, actually, for hydrating and for barrier repair. They've got this Cicplast Boom B5. It's a thick balm moisturizer. And it's had some TikTok revival, I think. It's suddenly become very, very popular. But that is because it's one of the few really thick healing moisturizers that instantly stops irritation and retinas to an extent. But if anything irritates or itches on my skin, which happens quite a lot, that is a fun. And you can literally use it anywhere on the body. So it just dampens inflammation straight away, which I really love.

19:56And other brands, I mean, I love a brand called Galinae, which is a probiotic brand, really simple brand. but they do a face vinegar that is a slight acidic, is lactic acid with probiotics. And that's just gentle enough for my skin to keep it ticking over, you know, for my exfoliation. I don't go harder than that. I think Medicaid is a really good brand, really well-considered, clinically proven brand that's not extortionate. And I think people can find some really good products there. I could go on and on. Perfect. No, thank you. Thank you so much. All right. We do, of course, also want to talk about makeup.

20:42So can you talk to us about the products that consistently impress you? So sorry, Inge, we just want your list basically of stuff. Yeah, there's a few. Well, I can't live without a dark brown eye pencil because I'm very blonde and I look like a dead rat if I don't put anything on my lid. So I'm always looking for brown eye pencils that don't budge, which has been really difficult for many years. But lately we've had an influx of fantastic eye pencils that don't budge. So there's a brand called Et Al, which nobody knows. It's sort of a, it's a very ecologically friendly brand, but it's called Et Al.

21:19And they do a fantastic set of pencils. They're really good. I've just discovered Wonderskin longwear eyeliners. They're fantastic. Beauty Pie does fantastic eyeliner. So if you don't like a smudging eyeliner, but a liner that really stays put and doesn't melt in the course of the day, those are three brands to look for. I only ever use one mascara. I've used it for 15 years. There is no better one and nobody's ever heard of it. It's called Code Beautiful, Code VLM. It's a tiny English brand and it does everything you want a mascara to do. It builds really well as well, but it never smudges. So there you go.

21:58then I need an undry concealer that's really important and my favorite is really cheap one by NYX I haven't heard much from NYX lately but you know that's a that's a very cheap and cheerful brand and it's called bear with me concealer serum and it's absolutely fantastic you don't have to pay any more for concealer so those are the things I swear by I also always need a cherry cherry colored or pink lip balm and all my favorites have been discontinued so don't start me favorite yeah it's horrible i still have one so that i've just opened after 10 years i still had them on standby there's one by belif or belief which is a i think it's k beauty brand and it's it's really cute it's it's a pink lip balm that i really love anyway those are all small things but yeah those are those are the products that i always have and that i'm loyal to so i love asking guests about fragrance and i really smiled when i read an interview with you where you were giving advice to your younger self and you said to stock up on a Karl Lagerfeld fragrance because it would be discontinued.

23:01What a shame. So talk to us about fragrance and scent, the brands you love, whether it's old favorites or newer discoveries. Yeah, I think definitely not about brands. I think fragrance is really like nothing else. Fragrance is like finding love, right? You can't force it. You can't make it happen. You have to walk into it and then you know. So that's how I've always dealt with fragrance. I do know where my favorite area is, and that's in what we used to call Orientals. I can't say that anymore. We have to call it Amber Fragrances. But these are the incense-y, spicy fragrances with vanilla and white flowers, the really heavy.

23:39I mean, I'm from the 80s or where I grew up in the 80s, so that's where my heart lies. And in the 80s, we had all these fragrances that came through the door before we did, right, these enormous things. And I love them. uh kl by lagerfeld is by far my favorite fragrance because i bought it in 1987 and and it became the scent of my teens and my early 20s which were the best years of my life so i still have one one half bottle and that's it it doesn't exist anymore so yes i really should have stocked up um but further everything i love is in that what we used to call oriental um um kind of corner There is a fragrance that people will know called A Portrait of a Lady by Frédéric Maal, which is actually really popular, but incredibly heavy.

24:29It's sort of churchy. It's all frankincense and rose. I don't smell the rose in it, thank God, because I don't actually like rose fragrances. But it smells very churchy, which I adore, very heavy. There's another fragrance that's actually a so-called Chypre, which is quite a dry fragrance. 1950s very classic dry elegant scents the chypres and that's another category that i really love and the fragrance there that i love is actually argent provocateur which i don't again don't know if it existed in war but the brand made one fragrances by the name argent provocateur and it's a sort of a dry sharp fragrance that i adore um and there's a fragrance that i always wear by a famous perfumer called Beto Moria.

25:18His brand is mise en cire and the fragrance is called Celebis or Celebis Wood. And again, it's vanilla, but just overlaid by all this spice. It's inspired by, I think, an Indonesian island somewhere. So that's what I love. Unfortunately, these are all fragrances people don't really know. but these are things I think people need to wander into old perfumeries and just sniff around and then walk away and take things on scent cards and try to live with fragrance you have to fragrance has to really come to you more than you can come to fragrance and it takes a long time but once you find something that that hits you in the in the gut then and you'll know you'll know So, yeah, those are just...

26:09Love that. And I love that you've called the Frederick Mull fragrance churchy. I've never heard it described that way and it's so true. It is. Other people just say, oh, you smell the rose in it, but I don't. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Thank you for that. In terms of wellness, are there any practices that you've built into your daily life? I guess we're swerving now into the more holistic stuff. So the habits and non-negotiables that you stick to. And are you a biohacker? We read about your telomere test and we were quite intrigued by that one. So do tell us more about that if you want to.

26:44I mean, do you do much health testing, for example? Well, controversial. And I also talked to Sophie about this. She knows I am, let's say, a worrier. And I'm on the quite anxious side. And I think lots of health testing is not a good thing for me because I just see the negatives. and so when I did the telomere test I was fine my telomeres were still okay but they were close to being short and now telomeres are markers of longevity are markers of good health that freaked me out I just and it honestly sent me into a tailspin it really scared me and um even though there's things you can do you know it's advice take these supplements and whatever but I thought The thing is, when you say, what do I do for health?

27:33Like I said, I've exercised five hours a week for 35 years and I would not be without it. It's been a mind savior for me. It keeps me strong and I think it's incredibly important to stay strong, especially as you get older. So exercise is everything for me. I basically don't do anything else in terms of, what do you say, wellness. Well, I do other things, but it's just about exercise. That's just common sense to me. Nonetheless, I have real trouble sleeping. I didn't for 40 years and then I basically stopped sleeping. So I know that is not good for me. But to know the details of that is not, for me, that doesn't help because it just makes me worry more.

28:19so in as much as I would like to do all these things I will never have one of those phones I will never have one of those rings that would drive me absolutely up the wall I do I had some vitamin testing done and that was really helpful because I don't really want to take supplements that I don't need and you know when you know your vitamin levels you know what you need to what you need to supplement and just do it wisely so that's important I will say I just tried this is very new but it's sort of a helmet that measures your brain waves and actually can see how your brain, how functional your brain waves are, where they're lacking where they're too much and where they're too little, it's quite eye opening and that gave me a reading that once again freaked me out even though there were lots of good things there's also lots of things that confirmed what I usually worry about.

29:19So yeah, for me, the testing, I mean, I know lots of people who swear by it and it just spurs them on to do certain things. And by all means, if that works for you, but for me, I need to be very careful with what I test. And I like, generally, I like common sense. I like doing lots of exercise. I like eating well. I like simple tips like breathing. Sophie recently helped me on a feature with so many really clever little tips that you could throw in during the day that don't cost much effort, that don't cost any money and that are just good for you. And that kind of stuff I think is important. But getting really deep into the biohacking and trying not to age and, you know, you just need to live healthily.