I have always believed that the way you feel about yourself reflects on how you are seen by other people. If you stay positive, smile a lot and keep a good attitude in life, you seem more attractive as a person to everyone around. Little did I know that soon enough I’d be challenging my own take on that topic. Are looks more important nowadays than who you are as a person? I resented this thought until I reached a certain point in my life, when my hair started showing gray, and my eyes got signs of crow’s feet.
So, what do I do now? “Stay positive, for crying out loud!” – I keep forcing myself while slapping a thick layer of Cream de La Mer all over my face. What is it with me and this “miracle broth” product that I can’t get enough of? I’ve been addicted to it for 7 years already, putting it on my face and neck day in and day out. I buy cream moisturizer for winter, when my skin is dryer, and lotion (or a light gel version) for summer. It feels that if I stop using it today, I will be covered in wrinkles from head to toe by tomorrow morning. If that’s not addiction, I don’t know what is.
The question here is: does it help? Is this product worth spending big bucks? “You don’t look your age “, my husband often tells me when he senses my “loony” mood. I want to believe him with all my heart, but this is one of the things he is supposed to say or lie about, whichever is applicable to the particular moment.
While laying off the money for my complicated and expensive skin care regimen, I’m fully aware of the fact that there’s still no cream at the cosmetics counter, capable of ridding wrinkly population of their fine and not-so-fine lines.
Knowing all that, what makes us buy expensive stuff anyway? Maybe it works like a placebo effect for some people. Maybe it’s rare and costly ingredients found in the high-end moisturizers, that we believe will spare us our worries of aging. It seems that the more expensive ingredients the cream contains, the more we can count on it to look better. The concoction of La Mer’s ingredients is quite impressive: sea kelp, vitamins C, E and B12, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, lecithin, plus oils of citrus, eucalyptus, wheat germ, alfalfa and sunflower. They sure shouldn’t let me down, right? Or is it all in my head?
At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter whether we use pricey or affordable versions of moisturizers, which I learned can be as effective. The fact of the matter is that no cream can prevent aging. That said, the right cream for your skin type can still help you look smoother and firmer, which automatically makes you feel better and helps to keep the spirits up.
So, unless you are a botox or a plastic surgery fan, I say slather up, do whatever makes you feel beautiful and confident. Because when you feel good, you’ll look even better.
