As the temperature starts to drop and the presence of the intense heat from the sun disappears, it’s the perfect time to assess how your skin is feeling as the summer months draw to a close.
SENSITIVITY
Heat from the sun, causes heat to build up within the skin and cause the capillaries to dilate. These capillary walls are responsible for the flushing you see in skins and after the summer is over you can feel like your skin isn’t feeling quite as calm as it normally is. As well as this, any potential sunburn you may have accumulated over the summer can cause the skin to be feeling dried out, tender and a bit lack lustre.
To support this, our Zinc Oxide & Protein A+ Clarifying Comfort Cream includes sea buckthorn to help soothe and promote elasticity and skin hydration. It also works on repairing the natural skin barrier by layering it in lipids and ceramides from sunflower, olive and coconut oils.
PARCHED SKIN
Tackling dehydration and skin dryness is a big part of the summer rehab programme for skin. If you’ve been abroad, the skin is likely to have been subjected to air conditioning, the drying recycled air from the plane, not to mention the moisture zapping sun rays.
It isn’t just the external environment that leaves our skin feeling parched, it is also what we have (or haven’t!) been putting on it.
The natural instinct with summer skincare is to avoid rich creams and opt for lighter textures. For lots of people’s skin a lighter texture can do the work and holds all the hydration they need to quench their skin under their SPF but sometimes the skin isn’t being hydrated enough due to skimping on the hydrating serums and creams for fear they would be too much.
Now is the time to lock in those hydrating serums with a cream. Our Alpha Glow Flash Facial serum can be used to build up the layers of hydration before sealing in with a cream.
This serum contains sodium hyaluronate and phospholipids provide lasting hydration and Aloe Polysaccharides, Vitamin E & Rose Stem Cells offer protecting & soothing properties.
Try generously layering this under our AOX B-complex cream to nourish and balance the complexion. This cream is also great for whitehead and blackhead prone skin to offer non-comedogenic hydration.
CONGESTION
Congestion and a build-up of bumpy skin happens for a few reasons.
Perspiring under a mask often leads to congestion in the areas where you sweat more and a bacterial build up of spots or ‘maskne’ accumulates under the areas where the mask lies.
Prolonged use of constantly layering SPF also takes a real toll on the skin. The face can feel like its full of spots and bumps and its important to tackle these whilst minimising the chance of any scarring.
To deal with the congestion hanging around, it’s important to increase the cell turnover to bring fresh cells to the surface. These fresher cells lift dull complexions and offer radiance as their smoothness offers light reflecting abilities to give the skin a natural, healthy glow. It also encourages the removal of excess sebum and dead skin cells that may need a little kick to get the complexion back to a balanced state.
The key to aiding with new cell turnover, however, is to make sure it is done gently and not over-done otherwise the skin will produce more oil to compensate as it will have been stripped of too much of its moisture.
PIGMENTATION
After a summer spent in the sun, you might notice an increase in pigmentation and darker areas or lighter areas across the face. Hyperpigmentation often occurs after being exposed to the sun as it is an increase in melanin production which the sun is responsible for increasing the production of anyway.
Our Alpha Glow Flash Facial Serum is designed to target areas of melanin imbalance seen with pigmentation issues. This serum contains alpha arbutin which can brighten dark spots and discoloration by reducing the melanin pigment found in the skin and providing a more even skin tone.
This serum is easily buildable as a serum under heavier creams, used as a primer before applying makeup to fill imperfections and as a layer over the skin as a night mask to bind all the moisture together.
LIFESTYLE
After an active and social summer, you may find that you are feeling lethargic and in need of a rest. Often, we find ourselves staying out later to enjoy the warm nights and the new refreshing drinks menu, as well as attending more social gatherings with friends, but that can lead to the skin functioning very sluggishly.
Sugary drinks (from the new drinks menu!) increase our natural insulin levels. When this goes up it increases our chances of causing inflammation within the body which can lead to a surge of future breakouts and can be very problematic for already acne-prone skins.
If you still feel like getting a sugary hit, consider the health benefits of fruit alongside their sweetness to tempt you away from the sugary drinks.
Increasing your fruit and vegetable intake actually increases your hydration levels and is one of the best ways to allow hydration to reach the layers of the skin as sadly water doesn’t offer that.
Eating water-rich foods allows the water content to be absorbed slowly and doesn’t flush good nutrients out the body like downing a bottle of water would do.
