A basic skincare regime

Ageing skin has different issues from younger skin - it tends to be dryer, more sensitive, less prone to acne but more prone to rosacea, and of course, it wrinkles, which is why so many women now use anti-ageing products.

Although I believe that the skin is aided most by diet, you can also benefit your skin with a good care regime. So here I'll describe here my daily skincare and skin makeup routine, which takes about 12 minutes all told. It may differ from what you want to do, but if you want to follow it, this routine results in a calm skin, and a finished face that will last all day.

We each have our particular issues with our appearance, and areas we'd like to correct. Mine are:

* I have rosacea, which means my skin flushes easily.

* I have broken veins on my nose, cheeks and chin. They are worst on the sides of my nostrils.

* My skin is also terribly sensitive and increasingly dry, especially in winter. I need to be very careful about what products I use on my face or I get bad reactions.

Cleansing

Since you presumably weren't wearing makeup overnight, in the morning you don't need 'cleanser' as such. I use aqueous cream BP to cream off my face, or wash with emulsifying ointment BP. Both of these products are dirt cheap and come in huge tubs from any UK pharmacist. They also have the advantage of being fragrance- and lanolin free - they're based on white paraffin wax. Emulsifying ointment is used in hospitals for people with skin conditions, and makes a good bath-oil substitute. It's also useful for shaving your legs. Aqueous cream makes a good body cream but takes a while to sink in - it's not as comfortable to wear as something like Dove Silk.

Scrub

Days when my skin feels a little scaly, I wash with home-made almond/honey scrub. This is made from

1 tablespoon liquid honey

1 tablespoon ground almonds

Few drops of lemon juice.

Blend this lot together and use as needed. If you pot it up, it will keep in a jar for ages, as honey is an effective biocide, and it also works well as a body scrub.

Rinsing

After cleansing, I rinse my skin 50-60 times. This seems excessive, it's true, but I've found it has hugely beneficial results, removing every scrap of product from your skin and hydrating it beautifully. Use nicely tepid water that doesn't shock your skin. This rinsing is part of the Sher skincare method, along with drinking large amounts of water, and replaces the 'toning' part of a skincare routine.

Moisturising

After washing, don't dry your face, only pat your skin lightly with a clean towel and then apply your cream to skin that is basically wet rather than damp. The idea is to lock in a layer of moisture under your skin cream - you'll also find you need less moisturiser with this technique.

For my first layer of skin cream. I use Biafine, prescribed by my doctor. Biafine is used to prevent radiation burns during radiotherapy treatment, but is a remarkable and useful cream for other purposes, such as nappy rash and sunburn. It also has the handy property of holding up to 500 per cent of its body weight in water, so a tiny drop goes a very long way. Again, it is fragrance-free, so it's great for people with rosacea or sensitive skin.

Whatever skin cream you use, while it sinks in, clean your teeth, including your lips. Brushing your lips removes any dead skin and gives your lipstick a better base to cling to. Daily brushing in this way results in a smoother lip over time. If you find it makes your lips too red in the morning, just do it at night. Afterwards, apply lip cream and lip salve.

Also apply eye cream if you use it. Currently, I use a thick eye cream by Evian, which doubles as a lip cream. It's the best one I've found so far and definitely helps with wrinkles.

If you have normal skin, at this point, you should go and get dressed, or walk the dog, or check your email. There's no point in applying makeup to freshly moisturised skin, as it won't adhere, so you now have to do something else for at least 10-15 minutes.

However, my skin needs more work than this because it is very dry and also because of the rosacea. So I now apply a second moisturiser. This is currently the anti-ageing cream by L'Oreal called Revitalift, which contains a sunscreen of SPF 15. It's a good cream and I've noticed an improvement in the texture of my skin since using it. Step three depends on the time of year. If it's a sunny day, I apply an SPF 60 sunscreen, but in winter, my skin is really incredibly dry, so I apply Nutric 5% cream by La Roche-Posay. This is a very hydrating but non-greasy moisturiser. And then, after all that, it's time for me to go check my email too....

Demaquillage

In the evening, the process is pretty much the same, except more complicated.

Firstly, remove your eye makeup, with either water- or oil-based remover. I don't wear waterproof eye makeup, so I don't really need oil-based remover, but in any case I find this irritates my eyes, so I use a water-based remover. Pour a reasonable amount of liquid onto a clean cotton pad and hold over the eye for 10-20 seconds to allow it to do its work. This way, you can avoid rubbing your eyes and stretching the skin. Don't forget the roots of your eyelashes - use a cottonbud if necessary.

Then apply an oil-based cleanser over your whole face and remove with dampened cotton wool pads. There are two reasons for using them damp - one, you'll drag at your skin less and two, you'll use less product. Once the pads come clean, which takes 2-3 applications, apply a water-based cleanser and repeat the process. When every single scrap of makeup has been removed, rinse your skin 60 times in warm water, then apply your night-time moisturiser. Generally these contain AHAs to brighten your skin overnight, but lack sunscreen because you don't need it. Once again here, I use Revitalift, but this time the night cream. Then clean your teeth (and lips), and apply lip cream, eye cream and lip salve.

If you have sensitive skin, it's very important to remove every single scrap of makeup, and if you have dry skin, it's crucial to keep it hydrated overnight. So I also apply cold cream (and yes, I confess to sometimes doing this in bed after lights out, so my DH can't see it). If you get up in the night to use the loo, don't miss the opportunity to apply another layer of moisturiser either. Your skin does its main repair work while you're asleep, so give it the tools to work with.