One of the many things we love about Davina McCall is that she doesn’t bother with false modesty. ‘Because I’ve been looking after my skin, I’m hoping I look pretty good for my age,’ she tells GH. ‘For me, vitamin C is all about the glow. The fact that I don’t have any pigmentation on my face is one of the big benefits. I’m pretty sure that’s because I’m using this serum...’
We’re catching up with the TV star at an event for Garnier, the skincare brand Davina has worked with for decades. And, yes, we can confirm she’s in fantastic, age-spot-free nick at 57! Looking radiant and healthy following her recent tumour removal, she’s visibly reaping the rewards of being the UK’s longest-standing beauty ambassador and getting first dibs on all its latest anti-pigmentation technology.
Her current serum ‘obsession’ isn’t so much a brand-new love as an update on something she’s sworn by since it launched. That favourite is Garnier’s Vitamin C Brightening Serum, a £13 formula that’s already the UK’s number-one brightening serum but now boasts an 18-years-in-the-making technology for even better pigmentation-fighting effects.
We’ll come to the lab stuff in a minute, but its real-world celebrity guinea pig certainly puts forward a convincingly radiant face. ‘It’s brilliant because I’m all about glow,’ she says. ‘The older I get, the more glowy I want to be. I’m hoping that nobody will be looking at the wrinkles – they’ll just be looking at the glowyness!’
Vitamin C is at the heart of Davina’s anti-ageing strategy, including scrupulous use of the brand’s matching facial SPF range. ‘I do take care of my skin a lot more now than I did when I was younger. In terms of sunscreen, I was hopeless,’ she says. ‘The one thing I would say to my younger self is: “Use sunscreen!”’
The brand’s viral over-makeup SPF50 mist is a favourite for keeping her on track, she says. ‘It’s such a good top-up if you’ve already got your makeup on. I find that’s a barrier to reapplying, but just being able to spritz on extra SPF and not mess up makeup is so helpful.’
Garnier Ambre Solaire Super UV Over Make-Up Mist SPF50
The updated vitamin C serum, meanwhile, has just been swapped into her regime in place of the original, and she tells us it came with her on holiday to keep rogue pigmentation patches locked down.
‘I’ve been away with my eldest, Holly,’ she says. ‘I took the whole range. The new serum is a major breakthrough – it’s going to revolutionise pigmentation in people’s skin, and the fact it’s a price point that’s available to everyone is what’s so great.’
The updated serum now combines brightening vitamin C, exfoliating salicylic acid and balancing niacinamide with Melasyl, a L’Oréal-group-patented molecule with credentials backed up by respected dermatologist Dr Mary Sommerlad.
‘It’s been 18 years in the making, and it’s unique in the way it works,’ she says. ‘Traditionally, anti pigmentation ingredients act on an enzyme that makes eumelanin [the form of melanin that can lead to uneven skin tone],’ she says. ‘What Melasyl does is stop the precursors to that enzyme, so it’s preventative to it being formed in the first place.’
This avoids the issues with many other dark-spot-fighting actives, she adds. ‘The traditional compounds we use to treat pigmentation can be irritating. In the UK, the ones that are very effective are usually prescription-only, and there’s usually a lot of caveats around using them. When Melasyl was compared with prescription-only treatments like hydroquinone, it was shown to be highly effective. It’s also been tested on all skin tones.’
Clinical trials on the formula showed a reduction in age spots within two weeks, and an even quicker boost in brightening, with 99% of testers reporting brighter skin in three days. And while the price point might seem suspiciously cheap to some, that doesn't mean the tech is ineffective; in fact, Melasyl already exists in La Roche-Posay's well-regarded MelaB3 range, and is now being shared out with its Garnier stablemate.
‘The one thing I often get asked in clinic is, “I want you to recommend the best thing for me – I don’t mind about the price,”’ says Dr Sommerlad, who runs an exclusive Harley Street practice. ‘What I’ll say is that, actually, the important thing is the formulation and whether it suits your skin type. And we know the cosmetic scientists at Garnier are incredible. In skincare, a lot of ingredients or formulations can be really identical, and the difference in the price point is the marketing.’
As with so many things in life, skincare isn't necessarily a case of 'you get what you pay for' – and we're all for that.
