TIARA SWAIN
Since recently joining the 30 club, my skin has decided to completely flip out on me. Hello, hormones, and enter dry, flaky, random pimple-y, dehydrated skin. I always had unfussy skin throughout my 20s, so this sudden change felt like a slap in the face. Pun intended. Like many, I naively assumed I could coast into this new decade without so much as a tweak to my skincare routine. Oh, how wrong I was! Now, here I am, faced with the harsh reality that my trusty cold cream and basic drugstore face wash just don’t cut it anymore. It’s time to level up my skincare game and rescue my Sahara desert-esque complexion.

I actually didn’t realise just how tired and deflated my skin was until I tried endota’s Organics skincare line. It felt like just a small dollop of the Ceramide Cleansing Balm helped my skin come back to life, like watching an inflatable mattress being pumped up. While working its silky little balm into a creamy emulsion, I thought, “Yes, this is the kind of life I deserve”. After a quick Google search to find out what ‘ceramides’ were, I discovered they improve the skin barrier. This explained why I felt like I had this dewy cocoon protecting my face all day.

Next up was the Vitamin Treatment Oil, which was gently patted into my skin. I could feel my little skin cells jumping for joy. Yay, moisture! And the Deep Hydration Moisturiser? It smelled incredible ​​– almost tempting enough to eat – which made sense looking at the ingredients. Avocado oil, anyone? If it's good enough for my toast, it's definitely good enough for my face. And now I can't help but keep patting my cheeks, reveling in how different my skin feels, like I've discovered the ultimate hydration hack.

LETA KEENS
When I was 26, a financial salesman hit me with the line, “Superannuation – is this something you’ve talked about with Mummy and Daddy?” At 35, I was still being asked to show my school pass on the train. Jeepers, if I’d started looking after my skin then, I would have been plonked in front of The Wiggles and sent to bed at six.

Over the decades, my skincare regime has consisted solely of standing under the shower and letting the water do the work, and slapping sunscreen on my mug.

Goodness knows, then, why I was asked to test these endota products. Maybe my colleagues thought I could do with them – thanks, I get the hint. When I heard they were going to be organic, I was imagining something a bit porridge-y and a bit useless. Wrong, of course.

First up is the Ceramide Cleansing Balm, which contains lovely things like hemp seed oil and willow bark extract. My skin wants to say a big thank you to it for washing away years of gunk so easily and non-judgmentally. The Vitamin Treatment Oil goes a heck of a long way – a couple of drops amazingly does the whole of my newly clean dial and makes it feel looked after for the first time ever. With the Deep Hydration Moisturiser, I could have done with a demo on how to warm it through my fingertips – even though I’m never sure I have it at the right temperature, my face and neck eagerly lap it up.

I have to mention that the sweet little containers everything comes in look gorgeous at my place. Spookily, the colour almost matches my new bathroom door. Since I’ve started using these jars of goodness, I haven’t exactly been asked for ID at the pub, but pleasingly no one’s offered to help me across the road either.

This roadtest comes straight from the pages of issue 119. To get your mitts on a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our lovely stockists.

This road test was put together in partnership with endota and its skincare range endota Organics. Take a peek at the results-driven range on the endota website.