skin strikes gold





THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

“What women want today from skincare are results, affordability and honesty,” says Michelle Doherty, founder of the cosmeceutical brand Alpha-H. In her late 40’s, Michelle’s skin looks good. Very good. Considering she suffered terribly with acne from the ages of 14 to 28, she’s the best face for her brand. Who needs an airbrushed actress when you can look and be inspired by somebody that’s had troublesome skin in their formative years, and come through the other side?

Michelle hails glycolic acid as reinventing and saving her skin, and she believes it will do wonders for yours too. “When I was first introduced to this ingredient over 20 years ago – I had tried everything on the market to improve my skin, I thought, ‘am I ballsy enough to put acid on my skin?’ says Michelle. The answer was yes, and she saw a noticeable difference within four days. So impressed was she with the results, she built her business on it.

“For a visible difference, skin needs to be taken out of its comfort zone,” says Michelle, and her products make no excuses for doing that. Indeed, Michelle feels it's beauty twaddle that your skin needs to keep a consistent pH balance of 5.5 to keep it glowing and happy. “For skin to start producing its own collagen, it needs to drop down to a warm and tingling level,” explains Michelle. “If your skin just ticks along at 5.5 it will age today, tomorrow and in the future.” That’s what Michelle means by honestly. The active delivery vehicle that is glycolic acid is like taking your skin to bootcamp,” says Michelle. Yes, the skin may feel a little ‘fizzy’ when applied, but surprisingly even sensitive skins will tolerate it with no downtime.

Here’s the fast tracked science bit: glycolic acid is a water based fruit acid with a tiny molecular size. This allows for quick and superior absorption through the skin’s layers. Glycolic draws moisture to the surface to plump and hydrate the skin. Crucially, it has a get-go effect on cell activity which ultimately helps build new collagen for a high performing skin.

Like anyone I like my skincare to be fuss free but feisty. The new Alpha-H Liquid Gold Skin Perfecting System offers just that. There are three formulations: Prep & Prime, Liquid Gold Original and Liquid Gold Radiance. All are night time treatments and instructions are to be followed – don’t worry it’s nothing too complicated! The deal goes: you sleep, whilst your skin heads to the gym. Sounds like a painless workout to me. Sign me up!

Liquid Gold Skin Perfecting System costs £53 and is available at lookfantastic.com, cultbeauty.co.uk, salonskincare.co.uk and QVC.