Take the test – how old is your skin?

Sponsored by My Beauty Potential

I’m writing this post on the back end of some birthday celebrations. Mine.

As a true Gemini, I don’t shy away from an extended birthday festival. I give scant thought to the number ticking over and plenty of thought to how I’m going to treat myself.

This year proved to be some sort of record and it wasn’t even one of those birthdays ending in a zero.

I’d had four days of indulgence on the Sunshine Coast with my agency, followed by a long weekend that kicked off with the actual birthday day being celebrated with more food, wine and spa treatments.

Did take time out to look in the mirror to examine how I was fairing, age wise?

OF COURSE I DID.

I’m only human and a fairly vain human at that.

Did what I saw reflecting back make me unhappy?

NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

I’m ok with how my skin is travelling. I’ve had some kind of skincare routine in place since my teens. I’ve worn sunscreen all my life. And through my job I’ve had access to plenty of products and treatments designed to defy the advancing years.

And yes, those treatments have over the years included the big guns – cosmeceutical facials, peels, fillers and botox.

What I’ve never had before is a test to determine just how effective those products and treatments – as well as my regular skincare routine – are.

Until now.

My Beauty Potential is an online tool developed by a dermatologist that helps you determine your skin’s age – from the comfort of your own home.

How old is your skin? Is it the same age as you are? Are you puckering up with lips found on someone younger than you? Have your kids not only given you grey hairs but sent your forehead into a permanent state of cranky-pants-ness … giving your skin a report card beyond your years?

The test

This online test will give you all the answers in about 10 minutes (guys aren’t excluded – they get their own set of questions in Make Me Handsome).

I’ll admit I was super curious. The Ms Vain in me wanted a result that put me at the top of the class for my age.

I’m an over-achiever from way back. Couldn’t get enough of those purple merit stamps or gold stars back in the day.

Once logged in you’re asked to have a mirror close by. I’d go one further and suggest that taking a photo of your face – close up and in good light – is a better way to read certain areas of your face. Particularly if you are like me and live a blissful state of soft focus without your specs on.

Taking a photo also enabled me to zoom in and really look at each area of the face as the test addressed it.

The test covers three main areas of skin ageing – the surface appearance, skin volume or plumpness and wrinkles – across the four zones on the face.

This is so important as most often as we age it’s the wrinkles we think that are contributing to how old we may or may not look.

For me, it think it’s the evenness or otherwise of my complexion – determined by the look of my skin’s surface – that I first notice sans-makeup in the mirror.

For someone else it may be a face more gaunt than when in their 20s. For someone else again, it’s the lines that come with their regular facial expressions.

Within each of the skin areas, the test asks and acknowledges how important each of the skin ageing markers may be to us.

I love this because it’s very ok to be fine with how you currently look and not give two hoots about ageing skin.

Conversely, it’s ok not to be ok with it and seek out ways to improve your skin – if this makes you feel more confident.

Me?

As I said above I’m generally ok with how my skin is travelling. What I was really interested about taking the test was to see where my skin sat in terms of my actual age.

To me that would give me some indication as to whether my current skincare routine and lifestyle habits were helping me age gracefully – or dis-gracefully as is very much the case on some days. Especially those post-birthday, over-indulgence days.

The results

I’m going to have to come clean about my actual age, aren’t I?

Regular readers and those who have tracked my birthdays for a few years will have worked it out. It’s no state secret. Just something I don’t dwell on – and I suggest you don’t either.

I’m 47.

So when My Beauty Potential results came in just over my actual age, I was ok with that.

Yes, underneath all that text is 47-year-old me, no makeup, warts (if I had any) and all.

What the results help me – and could help you – with is an understanding of which skincare areas are of most concern.

It could be that pigmentation is a major annoyance for you. It could be that skin redness and broken capillaries are driving you bonkers. It could be that you wish for the plump lips of your mis-spent youth.

It’s about you and how YOU feel about your skin. Not how your mum, your sister or best friend feels about it. How YOU do.

And if you do want good advice on any aspect of your skin – and how to possibly target your skincare and treatments to suit – then My Beauty Potential helps there as well.

At the end of the test there is an option to book an appointment for a consultation with a registered medical aesthetic clinic in your area. It’s by no means compulsory but I feel is a good starting point if you’ve been thinking of upping the ante on your skincare routine but have not known where to start.

Not everyone has access to the latest research and is in the know when it comes to reputable products and skin treatments. Referrals by friends and family can certainly help but their needs may differ from yours.

Having these results is quite empowering. I can chose to change my routine and treatments but in a more informed way. I can also ask more informed questions if booking in for a registered medical aesthetic clinic consultation.

Here’s what two women thought about taking the My Beauty Potential test (94% in a clinical trial paper felt it was worthwhile knowing their skin age):

Take the test and tell me how your skin is fairing compared with your age.

What’s your number one concern about your skin? Is this online test something that appeals?

Coordinated by The Remarkables Group

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