There are very few times – if any – in my life where I can say I was ahead of a trend, but it turns out, I’ve been wearing ‘cold girl’ makeup since I was at school. Except instead of trendy, flushed rosy cheeks, my face was taken over with a ruddy finish in the form of rosacea. Yeah… it wasn’t great.
Going OTT with the blush may be all well and cool now, but growing up I looked permanently embarrassed about something and anything. I swear I just breathed and my face turned as red as a tomato. Before concealers and colour-correctors came into my life, there was no disguising it either – even the cakeist of foundations couldn’t cover it up (I’m looking at you, Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse).
What’s even worse? It’s not comfortable. It feels like you’ve just caught your skin on a piping hot dish from the oven. Anyone that knows rosacea, knows it feels like your cheeks are burning up and in a worst-case scenario, feels sore to the touch.
Whenever I flagged, you know, my face being on fire when I was growing up, all I got were comments about me “just being an English rose” or told to calm down – literally. You can’t calm rosacea down, it really has a mind of its own and can be triggered by anything from a sudden change in climate (hello, hot tube carriages), to a type of food or a sip of red wine – yes, it really hits you where it hurts.
I wasn’t ever officially ‘diagnosed’ until my early 20s, but that didn’t stop me from trying to find a product that would fix my constant redness. I never knew what rosacea was, but what I did know was that I wanted the redness gone.
I tried every ‘redness relief’ product I could get my hands on (and that my bank balance would allow). Fast forward to my second year of uni, where I just happened to stumble upon a Ren counter. I’d never heard of the brand before and I can’t fathom what possessed me to spend £30 of my well-earned student loan on a random product (these were the days before TikTok reviews, you see), but I did and I’m thankful for it every day.
I have been an avid devotee of Ren’s Evercalm Redness Relief Serum ever since, which isn’t far off a decade. I rave about this stuff. If I’m not talking about how much I love dogs, I’m probably ranting about this serum.
It’s designed to ease dryness, tightness and sensitivity, thanks to its blend of mushroom extract, hydrating squalane, beta-carotene and biosaccharide – I can’t pronounce this either, but essentially it helps to combat free radicals that otherwise might sensitise your skin. It also claims to do so in under 30 mins, which is bold.
Not only did it not set off any further irritation (a miracle in those days), but it also seemed to soothe my inflamed cheeks, like a hot water bottle settles period pain.
I didn’t know what a skin barrier was at the time, but in hindsight, I could see that this product helped strengthen my skin. It wasn’t as reactive when trying out a new product and my skin didn’t appear as blotchy as it once was after cleansing off my makeup. Overall, my skin looked more even in tone and felt as soft as a retriever pup, with most of my texture issues being smoothed in the process.
To this day, I still reach for it whenever I have a bad reaction to a product or overdo it on the skin acids – it’s my skincare version of a knight in shining armour, except, it never disappoints.
Of course, nowadays, rosacea is more talked about and derms have come up with an array of prescriptions to help deal with flare-ups. Azelaic acid, for example, is a great one I’ve been prescribed many times after visiting a doctor.
It goes without saying that you should always flag with your doctor if your rosacea condition is beginning to get too much. I’ve personally gone through phases where only a prescribed product can curb the redness, but as day-to-day skin health goes, I’ve found this serum has helped in the short and long term to get my skin on the right track.
It’s great there’s a multi-pronged approach to dealing with the problem nowadays and more of them than ever can be bought without a prescription, but I will never forget this one particular serum for starting me on my journey to soothing my sore skin. It delivered results it never claimed to do and led me to my fascination with skincare.
It has evolved over my years of using it. For starters, the packaging looks a little different, thanks to the brand's eco revamp, but there’s also the price that’s gone up. Way back when, I could pick up a bottle for £32 for 30ml, which has since gone up to £45.
The optimistic in me hopes this is down to them spending more money on sustainability, but we’ll never really know. You can, however, now get 15ml for £25, which is a great option if you want to test it out.
Of course, it hasn’t totally fixed my rosacea problem. I still get flare-ups and go bright red if I step foot in a sauna, but I’m being realistic here, it never claimed to eradicate the condition. Instead of going beetroot-red, my cheeks are now more of a subtle maroon shade and it’s nowhere near as painful as it once was.
I just know now that when I do get a flare-up and my skin is screaming at me in its own unique way, I know what to do to help – and that’s the biggest relief of all.
Charlotte Bitmead (she/her) is the Senior Beauty Writer at Cosmopolitan UK. She has over six years experience writing about beauty and has previously written for ELLE and The Sunday Times Style, covering everything from politics to sustainability to inclusivity within the beauty industry. When she’s not writing in-depth features, testing out the newest skincare fad or trying to decide what nail art to get, you can find her overspending in bookshops or shouting at Arsenal matches. Find her on LinkedIn
