FREE SHIPPING OVER $125 TO THE US + CANADA
How to Stay Hydrated and Luminous All Winter Long
Ah, winter… it’s beautiful, it’s festive, it leaves your skin parched from head to toe. As you probably know, winter can be especially taxing on skin. The air outside is frigid and dry, while heated indoor areas suck even more much-needed moisture from your skin. If you don’t work fast to prevent or treat this dryness, your skin’s protective moisture barrier can become damaged, leading to a host of other unwanted issues.
During the gloomy winter months, Marula oil is our superhero of choice for keeping skin moisturised and protected so it appears pliant, firm and revitalised. Our Marula Hydrating Serum offers a burst of antioxidants and omega-9 fatty acids that fight off free radicals (which degrade collagen and elastin, making skin less firm and bouncy) [1], and help increase hydration levels, strengthen the lipid barrier and help smooth away flakiness [2]. Using this serum regularly will help maintain skin integrity, making winter skin look anything but dreary.
If you’re looking to avoid moisture-starved skin and stay brilliant and glowing all season long, follow some of our tips to care for skin during the colder months.
1. Pre-Cleanse
Begin your winter routine by first cleansing with Marula Hydrating Pre-Cleanser. While it may feel excessive to double cleanse by first removing impurities with the hydrating properties of an oil, followed by the purifying prowess of a water based cleanser, this extra step can be especially nourishing for when skin is feeling dry.
In addition to Marula, our Pre Cleanser is infused with jojoba and rosehip oils to help remove makeup, dirt and grime gently without stripping skin of its natural, protective oils that nourish the lipid barrier. In other words, it helps maintain moisture levels while ensuring skin stays plump and hydrated despite the deep-cleansing action from your regular water-based cleanser. (Learn more about double-cleansing here.)
2. Shower Your Skin
Face mist may seem unnecessary to some—after all, what can one or two spritzes really accomplish?—but during the winter, skin is drier than usual and needs more than just the traditional moisturiser during morning and night. Using a face mist has the added bonus of revitalising and quenching your skin’s thirst throughout the wintry day, while allowing skin to remain damp and receive ingredients from following treatments more efficiently.
After cleansing, follow up with the Camu Brightening Mist before applying your serums. Camu is loaded with vitamin C, and will help to brighten your complexion (the perfect antidote to “overcast” winter skin), fading away dark spots and discolouration for a luminous glow [3]. It also contains sodium hyaluronate, the salt of hyaluronic acid, (a plumping substance that can hold 1,000 times its weight in water) that will give that necessary hydration to strengthen the moisture barrier [4].
3. Layer Your Serums
If you’re not replenishing your skin’s moisture levels as it loses its natural reservoir, you run a high risk of compromising your skin’s delicate outermost lipid (oil-water) barrier, which leads to parched, dull skin in the short term and wrinkled, sagging skin in the long term.
Start with the more aqueous Kigelia Clarifying Serum, which is designed to focus on repair—precisely what your skin needs after a day of being barraged with oil-stripping winds. After letting that sink in, ensure you bathe your skin with extra protective moisture on extra dry and cold days with Marula Hydrating Serum to lock in hydration. Just avoid the eye area to keep your mascara and eyeliner on!
4. Stay Bright During the Day
Cold temps don’t just come with dryness—it’s accompanied by a lackluster complexion. The two come hand in hand.
Enter the Camu Brightening Moisturiser. Not only does it provide deep, intense hydration thanks to skin-quenching ingredients like avocado, jojoba and grape seed oils (all three plant oils are great at maintaining moisture levels) [5], but it also brightens with powerful vitamin C and a huge dose of antioxidants that restore radiance and help even out skin tone. That’s a double whammy right there!
Moisturising as the daytime winter chill barrages your skin might be a no-brainer, but remember, it’s equally vital to moisturise both day and night. In fact, your time of slumber is when your skin works its hardest to repair itself, and the active ingredients in the products you use are more readily absorbed [6]. On top of that, your skin tends to get dry more easily when you sleep as your body’s temperature drops.
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean your skin has to match the cloudiness of the season—keep it looking sunny and bright by flooding it with nutritious moisture. Be proactive and you’ll stay radiant until the spring!
Want even more tips on keeping skin dewy during winter? Click here for our Holiday Skincare Survival Guide!
Naturally yours,
The Luxe Botanics Team
