Getting a grip on your skin’s seasonal moods: Some easy skincare swaps for year round skin awesomeness
It’s almost a given that when the weather changes, that fresh and glowy skin routine you’ve been rocking for the last few months will suddenly turn nasty. Seasonal changes can play havoc with your skin and trying to figure out what it wants can be tricky.
My best advice for staying on top of your skin game as the weather changes is to be proactive rather than reactive. Stock up on season appropriate skincare that you can incorporate into your daily routine before your skin has time to know what’s hit it. It’s all about keeping the balance… here are my best tips for each season.
In Autumn & Winter your skin will naturally become dryer. Cold temperatures = low humidity and together with the cold winds can lead to tight, cracked and flaky skin. The cold, dry weather can also aggravate eczema, psoriasis and rosacea, leaving the skin looking red and irritated.
Avoid taking long hot showers… as counterproductive as that sounds in the middle of winter; Extreme heats such as shower steam, heaters and roasting marshmallows by a roaring fire can exacerbate conditions such as broken capillaries, eczema and rosacea by stimulating an excessive surge of blood flow through the tiny capillaries in the skin, heating up the surface and evaporating the moisture and lipid content. Instead, take your shower temp down a notch (or two), try and avoid going in and out of hot & cold environments too often and step away from the fire pit!
Swap to a gentle foaming cleanser or creamy cleanser that will help to maintain your skin’s hydration while preserving it’s natural lipid bilayer (protective oil barrier). Try ASI’s Rejuvenating Foaming Cleanser with it’s restorative Vitamin C and calming Chamomile or ASI’s Radiant Cream Cleanser with it’s super nourishing Vitamin E, Rose Otto and calming essential oils.
Use a protective serum or slightly heavier moisturiser during the day. This will act as a shield against the cold, dry air and help to support your skin's acid mantle. This is super important because the acid mantle (made up of your skin’s own secretions of lipids, free fatty acids and sweat) is responsible for protecting the skin from bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. It also helps to keep in moisture (water content) and lubricates the skin with it’s oils, keeping skin soft and supple. Try adding ASI’s Vitamin C serum under your regular moisturiser for that extra layer of dewy protection. It’s bursting with 25% pure vitamin C to help strengthen the skin and capillaries and it’s silky smooth texture doubles up as the perfect primer so you're not trying to apply foundation on dry, flakey skin.
In Spring and Summer as the weather warms up, your skin will start to become more active. As you enjoy your summer vibes, the sunshine and the heat can lead to all sorts of bad news for your skin. For starters, you will get oiler. A combination of the higher humidity and the heat will activate your sebaceous glands into producing more oil. While this is great news for those of us with a naturally dryer skin, it can cause complete chaos for others. An increase in oil-flow often leads to breakouts and congestion, suffocating the skin and creating the perfect environment for p-bactria (that causes Acne) to flourish.
And while you may think that your days of dried out skin departed on the last carriage of that winter train… Summer months bring a whole new type of dryness to the station. Unlike colder months when the cool, dry air strips away at your protective oil barrier; Summer’s hot temps can dehydrate the water content in your skin. Couple this with the likelihood that you may be tempted to be a little more vigorous with your cleaning and scrubbing (in order to get those squeaky clean skin feels) and your skin can end up looking like the Sahara desert… dry and barren.
Look for a cleanser that’s powerful but hydrating at the same time. ASI’s Rejuvenating Foaming Cleanser will not only remove make-up and surface oil build-up but will deliver a deep and hydrating moisture quench. Team it up with a facial cleansing brush to combat blackheads, congestions and other impurities without the abrasive harshness of traditional skin scrubs.
Add a hydrating booster to your routine. One of my favourite ASI picks and a staple in my own skin regimen is Pure Hydration Concentrate. Loaded with Hyaluronic Acid; a cosmeceutical known for its ability to hold 1000x its weight in water, PHC will keep your skin plump and hydrated like no other.
Be sure to use a protective day cream like ASI’s Rejuvenating Day Cream. Packed with illuminating vitamin b3, this light weight cream also contains Zinc for chemical free sun protection that is also healing and restorative for the skin. Your skin will look clean and fresh so you can enjoy the sunshine without that greasy sunblock feel.
And finally… in summer, grab yourself a clay based treatment mask to give your skin a deep cleansing weekly boost. Try the Purifying Hydration Mask by ASI for a detoxifying and skin smoothing blast. Enriched with Volcanic Clays, Sodium Hyaluronate and skin perfecting peptides, this mask is your summer buddy in a bottle. It will absorb impurities, toxins and excess oils while allowing oxygen and beneficial minerals to fill and hydrate your skin cells.
My best advice for staying on top of your skin game as the weather changes is to be proactive rather than reactive. Stock up on season appropriate skincare that you can incorporate into your daily routine before your skin has time to know what’s hit it. It’s all about keeping the balance… here are my best tips for each season.
In Autumn & Winter your skin will naturally become dryer. Cold temperatures = low humidity and together with the cold winds can lead to tight, cracked and flaky skin. The cold, dry weather can also aggravate eczema, psoriasis and rosacea, leaving the skin looking red and irritated.
Avoid taking long hot showers… as counterproductive as that sounds in the middle of winter; Extreme heats such as shower steam, heaters and roasting marshmallows by a roaring fire can exacerbate conditions such as broken capillaries, eczema and rosacea by stimulating an excessive surge of blood flow through the tiny capillaries in the skin, heating up the surface and evaporating the moisture and lipid content. Instead, take your shower temp down a notch (or two), try and avoid going in and out of hot & cold environments too often and step away from the fire pit!
Swap to a gentle foaming cleanser or creamy cleanser that will help to maintain your skin’s hydration while preserving it’s natural lipid bilayer (protective oil barrier). Try ASI’s Rejuvenating Foaming Cleanser with it’s restorative Vitamin C and calming Chamomile or ASI’s Radiant Cream Cleanser with it’s super nourishing Vitamin E, Rose Otto and calming essential oils.
Use a protective serum or slightly heavier moisturiser during the day. This will act as a shield against the cold, dry air and help to support your skin's acid mantle. This is super important because the acid mantle (made up of your skin’s own secretions of lipids, free fatty acids and sweat) is responsible for protecting the skin from bacteria, viruses and other contaminants. It also helps to keep in moisture (water content) and lubricates the skin with it’s oils, keeping skin soft and supple. Try adding ASI’s Vitamin C serum under your regular moisturiser for that extra layer of dewy protection. It’s bursting with 25% pure vitamin C to help strengthen the skin and capillaries and it’s silky smooth texture doubles up as the perfect primer so you're not trying to apply foundation on dry, flakey skin.
In Spring and Summer as the weather warms up, your skin will start to become more active. As you enjoy your summer vibes, the sunshine and the heat can lead to all sorts of bad news for your skin. For starters, you will get oiler. A combination of the higher humidity and the heat will activate your sebaceous glands into producing more oil. While this is great news for those of us with a naturally dryer skin, it can cause complete chaos for others. An increase in oil-flow often leads to breakouts and congestion, suffocating the skin and creating the perfect environment for p-bactria (that causes Acne) to flourish.
And while you may think that your days of dried out skin departed on the last carriage of that winter train… Summer months bring a whole new type of dryness to the station. Unlike colder months when the cool, dry air strips away at your protective oil barrier; Summer’s hot temps can dehydrate the water content in your skin. Couple this with the likelihood that you may be tempted to be a little more vigorous with your cleaning and scrubbing (in order to get those squeaky clean skin feels) and your skin can end up looking like the Sahara desert… dry and barren.
Look for a cleanser that’s powerful but hydrating at the same time. ASI’s Rejuvenating Foaming Cleanser will not only remove make-up and surface oil build-up but will deliver a deep and hydrating moisture quench. Team it up with a facial cleansing brush to combat blackheads, congestions and other impurities without the abrasive harshness of traditional skin scrubs.
Add a hydrating booster to your routine. One of my favourite ASI picks and a staple in my own skin regimen is Pure Hydration Concentrate. Loaded with Hyaluronic Acid; a cosmeceutical known for its ability to hold 1000x its weight in water, PHC will keep your skin plump and hydrated like no other.
Be sure to use a protective day cream like ASI’s Rejuvenating Day Cream. Packed with illuminating vitamin b3, this light weight cream also contains Zinc for chemical free sun protection that is also healing and restorative for the skin. Your skin will look clean and fresh so you can enjoy the sunshine without that greasy sunblock feel.
And finally… in summer, grab yourself a clay based treatment mask to give your skin a deep cleansing weekly boost. Try the Purifying Hydration Mask by ASI for a detoxifying and skin smoothing blast. Enriched with Volcanic Clays, Sodium Hyaluronate and skin perfecting peptides, this mask is your summer buddy in a bottle. It will absorb impurities, toxins and excess oils while allowing oxygen and beneficial minerals to fill and hydrate your skin cells.
