Winter playing havoc with your skin? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there! Here’s how you can keep your skin soft, supple and glowing during the cold weather.
If summer skincare is all about protection from the sun whilst still making the most of the lighter days, what’s winter skincare all about? In one word: hydration.
The cold, wet and often windy weather isn’t mirrored indoors where we have the benefits of central heating. So when our skin goes from cold to hot, then hot to cold, it’s at risk of being dry and dull.
Without further ado, here are my own tried and tested tips for achieving a winter glow!
Ditch dead layers with an exfoliant
If you want to hydrate your skin, you want to make sure that it’s getting into layers of skin that will make the most of it. To achieve this, you want to slough off the top layers of dead and dry skin to reveal newer and fresher skin underneath (within reason, we’re talking about gentle exfoliation).
Chemical exfoliants can be great, the trick is to know how to use them. For me, I’m a fan of the Ordinary AHA/BHA exfoliant. You only need to use it for 5 to 10 minutes, and you can really feel it working as it begins to tingle!
One word of warning: if you’re using any form of chemical exfoliant, perform a patch test first to ensure its okay for your skin.
Physical exfoliants have a bad reputation, thanks to lingering memories of brands like St Ives rubbing skin raw. I’ve starting using an Elemis gentle exfoliator, which is made with its iconic pro collagen cleansing balm, once or twice in the week. With a soft warm cloth, it gently scrubs away the skin to reveal a bright complexion underneath.
Brighten things up with vitamin C
Before you get hydrating, you need to brighten up your newly exfoliated base. Vitamin C is a hero ingredient that reduces hyperpigmentation and acts as an antioxidant against whatever we may face during the day.
In the wintertime, I’ve been known to use the Olay AHA/Vitamin C cream. Let me tell you now, this stuff works wonders! It combines exfoliation with brightening – perfect if you don’t want a 10 step routine – and I found that when combined with a good under eye cream… I look awake!
I’ll throw in another warning though: don’t use this in the summertime! Even with regular factor 50 SPF, my cheeks and nose easily burn when using this cream.
So what do I do instead? I focus on a vitamin C serum that I use as an early step in my morning skincare routine. I like this Garnier vitamin C serum, and it applies wonderfully before I put on my day cream and SPF.
Hydrate day and night
I’ve used the Neutrogena hydro boost day gel on and off over the years, and it’s a favourite that I know I can always come back to. More recently, I’ve discovered the equivalent night cream and my skin has been beautifully soft ever since.
Both creams are beautifully lightweight and refreshing to apply. Within a couple of minutes, they’re absorbed and starting to work their magic.
As a bonus, the consistency works perfectly with my go to Garnier sunscreen – there’s no pilling or weird reactions happening when these two products meet!
Mind the sun, even when it’s grey and dull
We all know about wearing SPF in the summer, but let’s not forget the winter! If you live as far north as I do, then there’s really no chance of burning at this time of year. That being said, the effects of the sun can still hit and lead to premature ageing – which I’m sure we’re all keen avoid!
My go to SPF is one from Garnier. It’s the super UV face fluid, and it has a much thinner temperature than some other face SPFs. Because of that, I like to opt for factor 50 (yes even in winter) as the final part of my skincare routine.
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