Winter Skin

Winter can play havoc with your skin… harsh, cold winds and overly heated indoor interiors can strip your skin of its natural oils, causing it to dry out. Redness, flaky patches, tightness, cracked lips – sound familiar? Specifically our faces and hands will experience these symptoms, as, lets face (pun intended) it… there’s not much other skin exposed at this time of year…

In order to protect your lovely skin and help prevent it drying out, here are a few top tips to keep in mind and add in to your routine

Gentle Cleansing

You should already know that I’m a huge fan of oil cleansing – all year round, not just in the winter months!

However, if you’re still using harsher, foaming cleansers winter is the perfect time to make the swap and give something a bit gentler a go.

Those harsh cleansers will strip your sebum (your skins natural moisturiser) which means it’ll feel dry, tight and sore afterwards.

Enter cleansing balms… these babes are gentle (and make ah-mazing make-up removers too) on your skin and don’t strip the natural oils. It’s the best place to start for a winter routine.

Even if you’ve got combination skin – an oil cleanser can still work for you

Nourishing Cleansing Balm is perfect for your super dry skin
Balancing Cleansing Balm is better if you suffer from combination skin

Cleansing Balm as Mask Treatment

While we’re on the topic of cleansing balms… obviously they’ve been designs to wash your face. But, if you’re skin is really screaming out right now try a second application as a mask.

Do your first cleanse to remove dirt, pollution, make-up etc and remove with a damp cloth.

Then apply again, this time leave on for 5-10 mins before gently wiping any balm residue away. The extra time it has to sit on your skin will work wonders!

 SHOP CLEANSING BALMS

STOP using HOT water to wash your Face and Body

Ok, so it’s super tempting to turn that hot water UP in the cold weather. I mean, who can resist warming up in a hot bath or shower?

Don’t worry, I’m not insisting you adopt the Wim Hof method in the winter months, but your skin will thank you if you keep the water temperature a bit lower. When the water is too hot, you’re more prone to chapping, redness and soreness.

FACIAL OILS

Again, you will know by now that I’m always banging on about facial oils.

I love them. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to facial oils though, you really need to find the right combination of oils for your skin condition*
Lucky for you, you’ll find two formulas in my range 😉 one for dry, dry skin, the other for combination skin.

Facial oils will help prevent TEWL (trans epidermal water loss) from your skin by acting as an occlusive barrier. Take that cold, harsh winds!
You can use your facial oil both morning and night. It really just depends on your own preferences. If you don’t like using an oil in the morning, you can give your AM moisturiser a boost by adding a few drops of your facial oil to it before applying to your skin

*not sure what your skin needs right now? Take the skin quiz! You’ll receive personalised results, tips and rituals right to your inbox 

Overnight Lip Mask 

Chapped lips? Yeah, it’s pretty common in winter (or at any time of the year, especially if you’re dehydrated). Give your lips a boost with an overnight mask.

Once you’ve finished your night-time routine apply a thick layer of balm just before you hop into bed. This will provide an occlusive barrier to stop any moisture loss overnight and let the lovely oils and butter slowly sink in. Say good morning to soft lips!

 You have lots of options here. Choose a straight forward Lip Balm or go for one of the multi-purpose skin balms!

Be mindful of overly hot interiors

It’s very tempting to turn the heating up and bask in a sauna like heat right?
While this will feel all warm and cosy, it’s not great for your skin. When your home or office is overly hot it sucks all the moisture from the air, which in turn will dry your skin.

To keep some of the much-needed humidity try a portable humidifier to balance things out.

If you’re not keen on that, throw another jumper on, grab a hot-water bottle, a blanket on your knees and do some star jumps.

Get your feet ready for sandal season!

While the idea right now of wearing sandals feels actually disgusting… now’s the perfect time to give your feed some TLC so that when the warmer months arrive you’ve got beautiful, smooth skinned feet!

After an evening shower or bath, reach for your pot of Super Balm. Generously apply all over your feet (why not turn it in to a lil foot massage?!) and then pop some socks on. The socks will stop the product rubbing off on to the floor, couch or bed and the warmth will aid the product to sink in! This is the perfect way to treat cracked heels.