Whenever anyone asks me advice regarding tackling tricky skin, the first thing I always suggest is to add in a supplement that helps target the problem. There is only so much skincare can do, and if you don’t target the root issue (particularly those of us with adult acne who likely have a more complicated cause) then you’ll only ever find short-term solutions. I always notice the biggest difference when I stick rigidly to a supplement routine, so I thought I’d share with you my favourites.
It’s no coincidence that four out of five of the supplements I take are by Advanced Nutrition Programme, because they really are the very best, annoyingly, since they are incredibly expensive, but I do keep trying to find cheaper alternatives and I always come back to them. Full disclosure, I work with them fairly regularly and often receive PR from them, but everything featured in this post has been purchase by me.
If you have acne and don’t know where to start, the Advanced Nutrition Programme Skin Accumax (starting at £48 for 60 capsules here – link) and Advanced Nutrition Programme Skin Omegas+ (starting at £34 for 60 capsules here – link) are the ultimate pair that will drastically change your skin, but you will need both time and money to make it happen. The Skin Accumax is easily the best supplement for tackling all the various issues that can cause acne, reducing inflammation and ensuring better overall skin health. You start on 4 a day for the first three months (yup, expensive!) then you can start reducing down to a maintenance dose of 2 a day. I personally rarely go below 3 a day because I have a lot of things that cause my breakouts and I find this really does help, especially with cystic acne, but I am very unlucky like that and most people should be able to move down to 2 a day. The Skin Omegas+ will tackle all the other issues that comes with difficult skin, providing a boost in suppleness, hydration and overall clarity. This works really well with Skin Accumax for troubled skin, however, I don’t think there is a skin type that wouldn’t benefit from these as they are such a boost.
Skin Moisture Lock (£77 for 60 capsules here – link) was a bit of an impulse purchase when I was picking up my aforementioned essentials (let’s try to overlook the fact that I can happily blow £77 on an impulse purchase…) and I am a total convert! These pills are *amazing* for dehydration, a compromised skin barrier or helping to reduce the negative effects of newly introduced skincare actives…plus they also help with the hydration levels within the skin all over, so my whole body is softer and I am definitely a fan of these!
Poor gut health will pretty much guarantee bad skin if it’s something you’re prone to, so the Skin Clear Biome (starting at £33 for 30 capsules here – link) are an essential part of a good routine for decent skin, providing a host of probiotics alongside zinc, to really target the problems associated with acne. There are definitely cheaper alternative probiotics on the market, so I would say that if you’re only planning to spend so much then the Skin Accumax and Omegas+ should be your priority, but I like the fact that these are designed to target acne-specific gut issues.
Finally, the only product that isn’t from ANP, the Cestfilo Liposomal Magnesium Complex (£19.79 for 60 capsules here – link) which I purchased after doing a lot of research into Magnesium, because I wanted one that was Liposomal (better absorbed by the body) and contained a blend of the various Magnesium versions, specifically Magnesium Glycinate (encourages better sleep and good for heart health) and Magnesium L-Threonate which helps with cognitive function and reducing anxiety.
I could waffle on for hours about the importance of a really good Magnesium supplement, but I won’t bore you beyond saying that I managed to come off very strong sleeping pills when I consistently took a good Magnesium supplement as it made such a huge difference to my sleep issues, and most of us are deficient (it doesn’t always show up accurately on blood tests due to the way our body uses Magnesium) so it has the potential to improve everyone’s life, one way or another!
Disclosure: all paid for by me
