HOW TO | Keep your skin in top form this winter

WITH EACH winter I plunge into a grumpy, hopeless state over what happens to my grown-up complexion, thus gifting me with my own special version of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’m affected by the seasons, alright, but it’s because of my seasonal skin problems not the lack of sunlight. Winter plunges me into despair with rosacea in full ruddy bloom, spots that never heal, skin that’s dull and papery. Creams seem to be futile weapons against the onslaught of bone-dry air in my flat. I slather on a thick, butter-like layer before falling asleep and inevitably wake up to find that not only has my skin (and, yes, maybe my pillow case) drunk the entire lot, but it’s still the same dry mess it was the night before.

Over the years, I’ve been honing my artillery of skincare weapons and this winter I’m ready to go to war with the weather to save my skin. Here are the best tips I’ve gleaned from the experts and my own trial-and-error experience over recent rosacea-afflicted years.

1. Vitamin C

A notoriously useful brightener and anti-oxidant, Vitamin C can take your skin from dull to radiant in seconds. The trick is actually finding Vitamin C that’s in its active form – no easy feat (read more about that here). Most of the products touting Vitamin C have so little in such a degraded state that they’re just paying this wonder-vitamin lip service and not providing you with a useful amount in any sort of useful form. Vitamin C should be stored in powder form (or another un-activated form) until used (to contain its potency or it degrades with speed).

2. Exfoliate

Do this a few times a week to rid skin of dead skin and debris build-up. A scrub is fine, so is a gentle peel, mask or liquid exfoliator with gentle acids or Vitamin A derivatives. They’ll help keep your skin looking fresh even before you put on your skincare or makeup, which is the best sort of canvas to start with during any season. Plus – added bonus – Vitamin A creams and peels will help diminish fine lines.

3. Massage

While you’re applying your creams, serums or oils, really massage them into your skin. It’s a great way to get the blood to the surface of your complexion to create a healthy glow. And it feels good, relieves tension and means your really working in those products.

4. Highlighter

Many foundations and lotions now come filled with light-reflecting and brightening particles. Use these on well-moisturised skin instead of a tinted moisturiser or matte foundation. To make your own, add one part highlighting cream to two parts foundation (a non-drying formula), mix it in your palm and then apply it, starting at the center of your face and fanning outwards.

Product suggestion: La Prarie White Caviar Illuminating Cream

FIND OUT the other 5 winter skincare tips in my column at Looking Good No Matter What. Do you have any suggestions for keeping your skin in good form during winter months? Share them here!

I don't need a rainbow family... I have skincare

Hear me out before you think I've gone off the deep end from working in windowless solitude 15 floors above humanity. I'm no madder than before, just agonising over posts lately. There's a backlog, you see, and the more projects I pick up (I can't feed myself on mascara and pixels and, if you didn't know, few beauty blogs are yet awash with advertising $£$£), the less precious minutes there are dedicated to das blog, esp. as it battles with husband, exercise (not a natural part of life in the Land of Lincoln, requiring a gym. French women would get fat here), the siren call of the wine cellar... Many things.

Anyway, I got to thinking lately that, really, there isn't any good reason I must segment my thoughts on the skincare gracing my bathroom, because I don't in practice either. I have a very hard time understanding (other than for revenue purposes) why brands swear you shouldn't stray and use -- gasp! -- products from different ranges all that the same time. There should be little harm if used interchangeably or, even, at once... my theory goes that they should, really, enhance each other (the unspoken exception is for 'sloughing' or acidic solutions... probably don't mix those together).

Never have I found this all-embracing attitude towards skincare more effective than with moisturisers. There's no reason (especially if a beauty editor with a bounty of beauty at your fingertips) not to customise your products and embrace the chaos of the extended skincare family. For the last month I've been concocting a powerhouse winter moisturiser in my bathroom-cum-lab every day because my skin is DRY (I mean, can't wear foundation because it sits atop my molting skin dry, more desicated than a mummy dry). At first, I tried using the three moisturisers separately, searching for anything to make the taut gossamer sheen, that telltale sign of supreme dryness, disappear. Alone, each performed okay but, alas, the complexion became ashy and red before too long, no matter how closely I sat next to the humidifier.

Starting in October, I had already also switched to cleansing solely with balms (a hybrid, this time of REN-The Organic Pharmacy-Emma Hardie) at night, using just a splash of warm water in the morning and applying said powerhouse moisturiser (detailed below) the rest of the time... and things seem to be going well for now (we'll get to the, I believe, unrelated outbreak of winter adult acne and bacne later). What's in the mix? Read on to find out...

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