Remember the days when while your anti-blemish moisturiser could keep those pesky spots at bay, it wasn’t exactly giving you a radiant and glowing mien? You had to practically weigh your beauty pros and cons and figure out if it was more urgent to deal with one skin problem and leave the less severe problems to be dealt with much later.

Moisturizers, like our skincare demands have grown more sophisticated  – both in textures and efficacies. It is now almost de rigueur for a moisturizer to lift, brighten, protect, repair, rejuvenate and even teacg your skin to produce its own moisture. For most women, applying a moisturizer is often the final step in her daily skincare routine. As the skincare finale, it is therefore only natural to expect the best and only the best. Although applying a moisturizer may be part of a daily routine, it is still a personal moment of pampering for a woman. She’s not just taking care of her skin. She is taking care of herself.

Along with our complex demands for the beauty products we use, the moisturizer has evolved into a beauty necessity where one small glop should help the skin achieve many great things.

Great beauty expectations

In a massive study conducted in France and Japan involving 1,000 women aged 20-50, Chanel Research has found that despite their various cultural and environmental differences, women in Europe and Asia have three common criteria for the ideal moisturizer:

• It should comfort the skin when it is applied
• It should improve the radiance and texture of the skin
• It should enhance skin’s tone, suppleness and plumpness

Sounds like an easy enough task to fulfil? That’s only if you ignore the myriad demands each woman has for her very own moisturizer.

If the moisturizer had a job-scope, hydrating and comforting the skin is akin to a common employee showing up for work daily – it’s the basic requirement. But as every woman would be able to tell you, there’s nothing basic about her skincare needs.

Each one of us may have many skincare needs, how we want them met is nonetheless extremely specific. Two women whose skins may be described as “dry” could have very different demands when it comes to finding the moisturizers that work for them. Woman A could describe her skin as dry, sensitive and rough while Woman B could say her skin is dry, sagging and filled with fine lines. What’s more, tackling dryness may be the last thing on their minds! The first might prioritize refining her skin texture above all else and the second could just want a moisturizer for ourselves? The answer is, there’s no one right moisturizer.

And the search continues….

Are we taking the easy way out? No. If you agree that a person’s life priorities are constantly shifting, then the same holds true when it comes to a woman’s beauty priorities. In your teenage years, acne and oiliness were your main concerns. As work and life get more demanding in your 20s, the lack of radiance and increase in skin sensitivity could be problems you want tackled. Likewise, your lifestyle plays and important role too. Girls who keep late nights and smoke will see the importance of an anti-ageing moisturizer much earlier than those who keep more sane hours.

Let’s not talk about your fussy skin finding its perfect moisturizer. Even the moisturizers you find in pharmacies these days are pretty complex themselves. One that’s touted as a whitening moisturizer may actually have lifting benefits too. You find yourself asking questions like “Is this too rich?” , “Is this potent enough?”

Is it a case of the right moisturizer for the skin or the right skin for the moisturizer? Should things be allowed to get this complicated?

My suggestions

These two moisturizers work well, absorb into skin splendidly and not oily. They sure to keep your skin moist and leave the ‘plump’ effect on your skin. Works best for me!

Lancome Blanc Expert

Clinique cream moisturizer