Sarah Vine was feeling the effect of menopause on her skin, until a colleague recommended Emepelle's Night Cream
When it comes to the menopause there’s no shortage of joyless symptoms to discover. Hot flushes , weight gain, sadness, mood swings, hair loss , adult acne … the list is long and ghoulish. But one major source of discomfort is dry skin. It’s as though, having decided that you’ve outlived your biological usefulness, Mother Nature has decided to withdraw all fluids in the hope that you simply shrivel up and die.
Ordinary serums and face creams simply don’t cut the mustard. The problem is oestrogen - or lack of it. Because as well as being useful in all sorts of serious medical ways, oestrogen is a key player in maintaining optimal moisture retention, collagen and elastin levels. A horrifying 30 per cent of the skin’s collagen is lost during the first five years of the menopause. Proof, were proof needed, that Mother Nature is a right old cow.
Instead of waking up with a face as parched and dry as the Kalahari desert my skin felt soft, hydrated and less crone-like.
Anyway, the good news is there’s a cream from Emepelle , which a colleague suggested I tried after I arrived in the office mid-December looking and feeling like an old prune. I’ve been using it ever since, and the results are very impressive. The list of active ingredients is as long as your arm (you can have a read here ), but in layman’s terms, it’s a bit of a bloody miracle.
It has a wonderful soothing texture and it just sort of melts into the skin. Instead of waking up with a face as parched and dry as the Kalahari desert my skin feels soft and hydrated and altogether less crone-like.
There is a serum too, which has a lighter texture and which they recommend for day-time use (the night cream contains retinol). Personally I like the heavier one - but then I’ve always had very dry skin and am a big fan of facial oils, so it’s probably down to preference.
The only downside is that it’s ruinously expensive (£ 175 ) - but I’ve had my pot for about three weeks now and I’m less than a quarter of the way through, so it really doesn’t take more than a pea-sized amount to do the job. Think of it as investment skincare.