Cost-wise skincare: firm the skin

What causes sagging?

‘No one has proven exactly how skin sags, but the hypothesis is that loss of elastin is to blame,' says Clinique expert Tom Mammone. Skin is made up of 70-80% collagen proteins and 5% elastin, which is essential for keeping skin tight. Think of it as being like Lycra in a pair of knickers - if the stretch loosens, so do your pants.

Stewart Long, scientific adviser for Boots No7, adds: ‘If your face loses elastin, it droops. Skin is pretty heavy stuff, and with reduced elastin the skin gradually stretches.' It means that, in the fight against sagging skin, preserving elastin is at least as important as preserving collagen.

What to do

Eat a low-GI (glycaemic index) diet, which means avoiding sugar-rich and starchy foods such as mashed potato and white bread. Why? Because they generate AGEs (advanced glycation end products), which wreak havoc on your skin.

Dermatologist Dr Brandt explains: ‘Research shows sugar speeds up the degradation of collagen and elastin through glycation, a process by which excess sugar attaches to collagen and elastin fibres and causes them to harden.' The result is a loss of elasticity and skin that sags and wrinkles more easily.

What to try

Dr Brandt Lineless Anti-Sugar Serum, £68 (spacenk.co.uk), contains Alistin, an innovative anti-oxidant that acts as
a decoy for harmful molecules produced by the glycation process, so the molecules damage the Alistin instead of your skin cells.

Clinique Repairwear Intensive Night Cream, £43 (0870 034 2566), contains whey protein, derived from milk and cheese, to promote elastin production. It also contains extracts from heather and apple to minimise elastin loss by slowing down damaging enzymes called elastaces.

Nivea Visage Expert Lift Night Care, £17.99, includes the company's newest anti-sagging ingredient, Bioxilift -
a complex of oligopeptides that have been shown to increase the connectivity of collagen in scientific tests.

Vichy LiftActiv CxP, £22.50, contains a firming peptide and vitamin C to boost collagen. It also comes in a ‘dry' version to moisturise seriously parched skin.

Clarins Extra-Firming Tightening Lift Botanical Serum, £41 (0800 036 3558), is a non-oily gel containing instantly skin-tightening oat sugars, plus Renewing Stimulen (a patented tetrapeptide), vitamin E and a brown algae that helps to increase collagen and elastin production.

Find the perfect cream for you to:

Smooth out lines

Even out your skin tone