Becoming a beauty blogger

I was very excited when I was asked to write a beauty blog for Avon - after all, I'm hardly Twiggy, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren or any other glamorous star who is over 60. However I could understand the reasoning, as I'm sure many of you react like me when you see famous faces promoting beauty products: "she's obviously had work done"; "bet she's been photo-shopped" or "it's alright for her, she's always been beautiful!" tend to be my usual reactions. You too? Would you be more convinced by an ordinary woman praising a particular face cream?

I was sent four products from the Anew Platinum range, which is aimed at over 60s. I was asked to keep a skin diary and also to take some photos over the next 25 days.

I took this photo after I had opened the parcel with great excitement. The packaging was good, as you can see above, and didn't scream "cheap product", so there was no need to hide the jars from any visitors. I was given an Instant Definition Treatment, Eye and Lip Cream, Day Cream and Night Cream. I was pleased to see that the Day Cream had SPF25 as I live in Spain so need that as a minimum. Having said that, I tend to avoid direct sunlight as I have fair, freckled skin.

Day one photo

This is the photo of me on day 1 - no make-up and not smiling, so pretty scary, yes? It was soooo tempting to photo-shop this photo in an attempt to look ten years younger, but I managed to resist. This is what a real make-up-free woman over 60 looks like, folks!

I won't show you the photos that I took over the following three weeks, as they were no better than the one above. I usually smile in my photos, as I believe that a smile is better than a face-lift (as well as being cheaper!) and so in my view all the photos were highly unflattering. The reason I decided not to smile was that I thought it would be easier to spot any changes if the photos appeared similar.

To be honest, I couldn't see any miraculous changes to my skin. I think the wrinkles might have lessened a bit, my jaw might have tightened a fraction and my skin definitely had a healthy glow. After only 25 days I hadn't expected much,so this was very promising. I think it's definitely worth continuing to use this range of beauty creams. However I'll post the final photo and let you be the judges!

Final day photo

Would I recommend using these products? I certainly felt that they compared well to much more expensive brands. I was slightly concerned by tiny flakes on my skin when I first started using the products, but put that down to dead cells (I have to confess to not exfoliating my skin!). Also, I wasn't using an Avon cleanser, so I then made sure to wait a while after cleansing in case the products were reacting to each other, and this seemed to do the trick. I thought the day and night creams might be too rich, however they absorbed easily and my skin certainly felt lovely and soft after using them. I flew to London and back during the twenty five days and was pleased that my skin didn't dry out.  I was particularly pleased when a consultant at one of the beauty counters in John Lewis commented that I had very good skin!

So, what is your verdict? Can you see the difference? If you're over 60, would you be persuaded to use these beauty products too?

NB. I was gifted the four products, which is why I have decided to let you be the final judges. They do say that pictures speak louder than words anyway!