No 7 Restore and Renew by Boots of England, is hard to get your hands on. It is being touted as the “miracle anti-aging product of the century”. And it seems that it is living up to the claims, at least for some people.

Sold under the name Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect in England, No 7 Restore and Renew, as it is lableled in the United States, is part of a line of skin care products by Boots who has been creating cosmetics and skincare products for over 70 years.

One woman who had purchased and used it said “I bought this product about three weeks ago, and I see improvement in the fine lines and wrinkles, especially the wrinkles above my lip, around my eyes and on my neck. ” Another said “Boots No7 Restore and Renew is a lovely base for anything you put on top - moisturizer, make-up or sunscreen”. And Shannon at A Girl’s Gotta Spa says: it is a “light, nongreasy serum that quickly absorbs into your skin. I noticed that my skin felt softer and had a noticeable difference in its appearance.”

Women in England and the United States wait in line for hours and are often limited to purchasing one or two bottles at time. CVS and Target usually carry it in the US for about $20. However, you can’t get it on their online sites and most of their stores are sold out.

I’ve found it on eBay for about $45 but a less expensive place to buy No 7 Restore and Renew is at BeautyCheap.com.

Recently I wrote about how much I really like Mineral Makeup. I hadn’t used mineral make up before but now that I am, I’m loving it.

After I got the Jan Iredale Pure Pressed Base in Bisque sample, I got another sample. This time it was a GloMinerals GloPressed Base in Golden Light.

Now I’m torn. I really like the ability to mix the powders together to get the exact color I need but I’ve found I can make quite a mess on myself and my bathroom counter no matter how careful I am.

But the pressed powder form is good too because I get only what I need on the brush and I don’t make a mess. However, it is harder to mix the colors if I want to.

In either case, I get SPF protection which I like. And both forms feel and look great on my skin.

I recently found a blog, The Mineral Make Up Blog. The blog is entirely about mineral make up, the different brands, reviews of the different brands, and information on how to apply the mineral makeup. I especially like Applying Concealer entry and the How To Keep Mineral Makeup Stay Put On Your Skin entry. They are both great tips on using mineral make up properly.

I’ve got a lot to learn about mineral make up!

Have you seen how you can get a personalized skin care program using facing mapping at Dermalogica?

I just entered my skin problems at different places on my face including my forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose, and chin.

I’ve got the typical T-zone thing going on with my face (they call it “selective oiliness”). So I put that I was normal to slightly oily on my forehead, nose, and chin. My cheeks are pretty normal though.

After I put this information into the face map, a personalized skin care routine was generated that told me which skin care products I should use in my core regimen.

• Cleanse: Special Cleansing Gel
• Exfoliate: Skin Prep Scrub
• Moisturize: Acive Moist
• Target: Skin Refining Masque

This is in line with the 4 Step Skin Care Routine I wrote about earlier. And since I use a mineral makeup, I’ve got the protect step covered.

I’ve got some samples of this products and will be trying them out this weekend. I already like Dermalogica because they don’t use artificial colors or fragrance or alcohol. Plus they smell great. But most important, they don’t do animal testing with their products!

Renee L over at Blog For Beauty asked the question: “What are eye creams for?“.

Well, here is a brief eye cream review about my experience with eye creams:

I used to ask the same thing and until recently hadn’t used an eye cream. I just applied the same moisturizer I use on my face to my eye area.

However, a friend of mine gave me samples she had of Revision Skincare.

She said that it helped with dark circles and puffiness. I didn’t think I had those. I wanted to try an eye cream to get ahead of wrinkles before I started getting many more.

Well, not only has the Teamine helped minimize the wrinkles I already have (small crow’s feet), it has reduced the dark circles and puffiness I didn’t think I had. But now that my eye area is brighter and less puffy, I can tell I did have those problems and hadn’t noticed. Maybe it was selective vision!

Teamine really worked wonders for me!

So I would say in response to Renee’s question: Eye creams are for reducing dark circles and puffiness, as well as helping with wrinkles.

In this week’s beauty round up:

Bunnie talks about The Best Skincare and Thick, full hair

Rhonda talks about the benifits of Mexoryl Sunscreen and La Roche Posay Biomedic

Jessica talks about her new skin care routine using NIA 24

There are 4 basic steps for a skin care routine that you should use daily. These are Cleanse, Tone, Moisturize, and Protect.

Cleanse

The first part of a skin care routine is to cleanse. It is important to have clean skin before using a toner, moisturizer, and sun protection. Make sure to use a gentle cleanser that doesn’t include any detergents. Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel target is a soap-free, foaming gel designed to thoroughly remove impurities without disturbing the skin’s natural moisture balance.

Tone

Next in a skin care rountine is to tone. Toning prepares your skin for the next step to moisturize. It also removes any left over residue from the cleansing step. An alcohol-free toner is usually a good choice. Obagi Toner hydrates and tones the skin while restoring its normal pH balance.

Moisturize

Third in a skin care routine is to moisturize. Make sure to use a moisturizer that is appropriate for your skin type. And even if you have oily skin it is important to moisturize. SkinCeuticals Daily Moisture hydrates, nourishes, and helps reduce the appearance of pore size.

Protect

The final step in a skin care routine is to protect with a product that has an SPF of at least 15. An additional product may not be needed if you use a moisturizer or foundation that offers sun protection. Jane Iredale Amazing Base Loose Powder has an SPF of 20. Other mineral makeups offer this protection as well.

If you follow this 4 step skin care routine you will be on your way to better skin. However, sometimes you may need to supplement this daily skin care routine with specialized products based on your needs. Such products may include peptides or vitamin C.

I’ll post more about supplemental skin care products in future posts.