Twelve weeks, one photo a week.

Skin changes at a pace the eye cannot catch. A skin cell takes around four weeks to travel from the base of the epidermis to the surface when you are young, and closer to six through the transition. Whatever you started this week is working on skin you will not meet for a month or more. Day to day, there is nothing to see, and that is normal.

Memory makes it worse. You look at your face more often than at any other object in your life, and the brain smooths gradual change in both directions. Improvement gets absorbed and forgotten; so does decline. Ask anyone who has repainted a hallway: within a fortnight the new colour is simply the colour. Your face works the same way.

“Your memory of your own face is the least reliable instrument you own.”

So we measure. One photo a week, and the discipline is in the sameness: same mirror, same spot, same time of day, same light, no makeup, phone held at the same height. Front on, then each side. Saturday morning before coffee is a popular slot. Keep them in one album, and do not look at them between sessions.

At week twelve, put the first and last side by side. Look for what actually moves in this decade: the tone around the mouth and eyes, the texture across the cheeks, how the skin holds light, whether the tightness after cleansing has gone. Softening in those is a real result. A different face is not on offer, and was never the point.

Twelve weeks is also the honest judging window for any product or routine, ours included. Two skin cycles, near enough, is what the studies run on and what the biology needs. If the photos show nothing at twelve weeks, stop, and spend the money elsewhere. If they show something, you will believe your own eyes in a way no advertisement, including mine, could buy.

Davina Hearne, Naturopath (Diploma, NZ) · Founder, Valentia

Educational only. Always speak to your healthcare provider about your symptoms and before starting a new supplement.