A personal trainer who blew more than £4,000 trying to repair her sun-damaged skin finally cured the problem – with a £49.99 moisturiser.
Self-confessed sun worshipper Harriet Metzger, 34, tried facials, creams and even underwent a string of clinic treatments.
They involved having vitamins injected into her skin, in a bid to fade sun damage on her forehead.
Exasperated Harriet had all but given up hope when a pharmacist at her local chemist recommended an off-the-shelf moisturiser.
Within weeks the unsightly brown patches had almost completely vanished.
Harriet of Woodford, Essex, said: ”When I was younger I rarely wore sunscreen which I now deeply regret.
”It wasn’t until my late 20s that the sun damage started to show.
“It began with a few small brown patches but it got worse until it covered around 60 per cent of my forehead.
”It literally looked like I had smeared mud on my forehead. The brown patches were really dark and very noticeable, even under heavy make-up.
”It aged my skin by about 10 years, I was very insecure and self-conscious about it.”
Harriet holidayed regularly when she was growing up, and always spent as much time as possible on the beach.
A dozen trips to Dubai were the highlight but she also travelled to Spain, Thailand, and Australia.
She started to notice the pigmentation on her forehead in her mid-20s and keen to nip it in the bud, Harriet first tried Crème de La Mer, The Brightening Essence Intense which set her back £220.
But the Essence made no difference. Her next attempt to rid herself of the markings was to use Dermalogica C-12 Pure Bright Serum which left an £86 dent in her bank balance.
Then she tried the £19.50 No.7 Lift + Luminate Dark Spot Corrector which again had no effect.
After opting for a Skinceuticals Advanced Pigment Corrector (£93.45) she underwent her first invasive treatment, a course of Mesotherapy, which cost £1,000 and involved needles being inserted into the epidermal layer of the skin.
Harriet was forced to endure painful side effects such as bruising, swelling and soreness – again without noticing any difference to her skin.
Following that Harriet splashed out over £2,280 on monthly facials – all with little effect.
It was only when she visited her local pharmacy, Hamlets of Woodford, to discuss her sun damaged skin with the pharmacist that they recommend she try CULT51 Night Cream.
Sceptical at first to splash out on yet another cream, Harriet wasn’t convinced that anything would budge her discoloured skin.
But the £49.99 cream worked wonders.
Dr Natalie Blakely, at Light Touch Clinic, said: “Pigmentation can be notoriously difficult to treat.
“Practitioners often have to use machines with downtime or creams that will cause a lot of irritation.
“The fact that Cult51 has achieved these wonderful results without downtime or irritation just highlights how special Cult51 is.”
Harriet added: ”I have been promised so much over the years from beauty creams, some of which cost over £200, and I’ve never seen a real difference.
”I never thought a cream would give me these results and I’m so happy that I gave it a go.”
Former Engineer Richard Mears, who founded CULT51, said: “I set myself the challenge to create a single product that would provide your individual skin needs and suit all skin types.
”I had one year of abject failure as active chemistry fights itself causing instability and also the skin can only absorb so much.
”Then whilst watching Grand Designs of all things, Kevin McCloud went back to see how a couple whom had wanted to create a sustainable house carbon neutral and enjoy a sustainable lifestyle had got on.
”He went back in the winter and commented that he could not see any greenhouses so where did their food come from in the winter.
”The answer was my Eureka moment – instead of forcing nature to do what we want we have learned to work with nature.
”Nature wants us to survive however we are too used to popping down the local supermarket.
“This was the ‘light-bulb’ moment and CULT51 was created. A single product that works with your metabolism to prescribe your skin with what it needs.
”The key to the effect is in the way the ingredients combine and act together to work with the skin’s metabolism generating younger skin,
”Not just the appearance of younger skin. CULT51 Night Cream is a revolutionary development in anti-ageing skincare that is clinically proven to deliver on 51 anti-ageing benefits.”
