The first episode of our webinar series, The More You Know, is here. Jackie sat down (well, lay down, there was a facial involved) with Justine Masters, the alternative facialist, to talk about what really happens to skin in midlife and what to do about it.
Fifty minutes, no filter, and a lot of lightbulb moments. If you don't have time for the whole thing, here's what we took away.
Your face is a map
Justine looks at skin the way some people read tea leaves, except hers is backed by Chinese face mapping and years in clinic. Redness around the nose? That's the stomach zone. One "11 line" deeper than the other? Right side is liver, left is stomach. Puffiness under the eyes? Liver and kidneys asking for help.
The point isn't to panic every time you look in the mirror. It's that skin is a barometer of what's going on inside. Poor sleep, skipped meals and stress all show up on your face before you've admitted them to yourself. Jackie can confirm. Justine read her three bad nights and a week of hotel food within minutes.
What actually changes in midlife
When oestrogen declines, it takes collagen, elastin and your oil glands with it. The two things skin is made of, water and lipids, both reduce. The barrier gets weaker, so the good stuff gets out and the bad stuff gets in. That's why skin that behaved for forty years can suddenly go, in Jackie's words, absolutely bonkers.
The most common mistake Justine sees? Piling on actives when the barrier is already struggling. Retinols, vitamin C and AHAs are all exfoliating in some way. Layer them on a weakened barrier and you're breaking it down further.
Her advice when skin is red, blotchy or reactive: stop. Come off the actives completely. Strip back to a cleanser and a moisturiser, let the barrier repair, then reintroduce one thing at a time. Sometimes the culprit is as simple as a foaming cleanser or a fragranced product your skin tolerated for years and suddenly won't.
Sound familiar? It's what we say on every box: keep it simple, keep it consistent, avoid fragrance.
Stress is a skin ingredient
The conversation kept coming back to one thing: chronic stress. It raises inflammation, disrupts digestion, and can contribute to leaky gut, which is increasingly linked to the skin issues that arrive in midlife: sensitivity, eczema flare-ups, breakouts.
Justine's fix isn't another product. It's emptying what she calls your stress bucket: walking in nature, breath work, an actual break from your phone. And no, the gym doesn't count as relaxation. She checked.
Five things to try this week
- Water and electrolytes by the bed. You wake up dehydrated, and your lymphatic system can't drain toxins without hydration. A pinch of sea salt in your morning water does the job.
- Learn the two-minute lymph drain. Light strokes, not pressure, along the jaw, up to the portal behind the ear, then down to the collarbone. Open the collarbone "pump" first with three gentle presses.
- Cold spoons for puffy eyes. Two teaspoons in the fridge overnight, then gently sweep under the eyes in the morning.
- Release your jaw. Most of us clench at night. Massaging the jaw and hairline releases the fascia, and the whole face lifts. Tech neck is ageing us too, so look up.
- Walk after meals. It balances blood sugar, and blood sugar spikes show up as jawline breakouts.
The product bit (because you asked)
Justine calls SALVATION. Rescue Balm her hero product, and she's fussy. She uses it after advanced facials like microneedling to put lipids back into the skin, on clients with eczema and stressed, reactive skin, and as the last step at night to trap water in. That's the thinking behind it: all the benefit of the slugging trend without putting petroleum jelly on your face.
Jackie's new summer hack: a little BRILLIANCE. Brightening Day Shield mixed with foundation. It goes on like a primer, keeps makeup from disappearing by 11am, and locks moisture in all day.
And if your skin is looking dull, the lactic acid in RESILIENCE. Night Soufflé is one of Justine's favourite ingredients for brightening. It's the gentler exfoliator, working overnight while your skin repairs.
Keep the questions coming
This was the first in the series, and the whole point is that no question is too small or too silly. If something's going on with your skin that we didn't cover, get in touch through the website or DM us on Instagram, and we'll put it to the experts.
The More You Know is our webinar series where Jackie talks to the people worth listening to about midlife skin. Episode two, with Ali Gunn, is on our YouTube channel now.
