Silly question, but I've played Skyrim for ages without using enchanted items.

In Oblivion, if you had a sword which increased your blade by 15, for example, it showed this in the skills screen. It was green, and showed a higher number. The downside was once you got blade to 85, you couldn't use it to train beyond that number. And it was the same in every other skill.

I've currently got items which say they give me a skills boost to all my magic skills, but I don't see any difference in the numbers. Could someone explain whether it actually works differently in Skyrim, or if I've got a botched item or something? I'm assuming instead of making the number actually go up, it might make the skill more proficient in another way - harder blows, cheaper spells - but I'm not sure.

Thanks.