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Each season poses a unique set of challenges to your skin, with winter often being the most difficult time of year. The fluctuating temperatures, from the bitter cold outside to the stuffy heat indoors, combined with the lack of humidity and harsh weather can leave your skin looking dull, dry, and less than radiant.
This is why experts advise switching up your skincare routine as the seasons change. What adjustments do you need to make now that winter is here? Read on as VouPre explains!
Ease Up on the Cleanser
While warm weather stimulates sebum production, cold weather does the opposite. This may seem like good news for those of you with oily skin but, for everyone else, it can be disastrous. A lack of sebum can lead to a whole host of skin problems, from dryness and flaking to sensitivities and redness.
What can you do about this? Plenty, beginning with ensuring that you’re preserving the small amount of sebum that your skin is producing. That sebum is precious, so you don’t want to end up removing it each time you cleanse your skin.
This is why experts recommend switching to a gentle and moisturizing cleanser once the weather turns cooler, just like the Skin Balancing Facial Cleanser from the Bird Nest Collection. This sulfate-free formula makes use of surfactants that have a conditioning effect on the skin, leaving it feeling plump and soft. Meanwhile, it’s also packed with ingredients that will soothe the feeling of irritation and keep your skin barrier feeling healthy – both of which your skin could do with some help with in the winter! Thanks to the peptides, vitamins, and plant extracts in this cleanser, plus the unique addition of swiftlet nest extract, it would be the perfect addition to any winter skincare routine.
Cool it With the Exfoliation
It’s not just cleansing that could potentially leave your skin feeling stripped dry in the winter months – exfoliation can have this effect too. This can then leave the skin looking rough and flaky, causing people to think that they need to exfoliate even more often. The result? Over-exfoliation, the symptoms of which are even harder to overcome in the winter.
To avoid the redness, irritation, and breakouts that over-exfoliation can cause, switch to a gentler exfoliator once the winter weather bares its brute force. Look for a product that will still efficiently remove dead skin but without the use of overly potent acids or sharp abrasives that over-dry or damage the skin.
One great option would be the VouPre Deep Renewal Facial Peel. It’s gentle yet extremely efficient – it does a fantastic job of exfoliating the skin. At the same time, thanks to the inclusion of vitamin E, you can rest assured that it won’t leave your skin barrier feeling vulnerable.
In addition to switching to a gentler exfoliator, you may also want to cut back on how often you exfoliate. If your skin is already showing signs of over-exfoliation, then put a complete pause on exfoliation for now until your skin recovers.
Pay Attention to Your Skin Barrier
Due to the decline in sebum production in the winter, along with the harsh weather conditions, your skin barrier can really take a beating at this time of year. Many of the common skin problems that are associated with the winter months can be traced back to the skin barrier.
So, how can you give your skin barrier the extra support that it needs in the winter? One way is by incorporating plenty of barrier-loving ingredients in your skincare routine. Certain ingredients are known for leaving the skin barrier feeling stronger, thicker, and more resilient to external damage. These are the ingredients that you need in your winter skincare regimen!
Let’s talk specifics. Vitamin E has been proven to leave the skin barrier feeling more stabilized while research confirms that amino acids work to preserve skin barrier function. Sodium hyaluronate is another popular one, as are several plant extracts. It goes without saying that you’ll want a product that brings together as many of these ingredients as possible, which is where the Invigorating Luminous Serum from the BioCool Collection comes in. Not only does it contain all of the ingredients we’ve just mentioned but it’s also packed with compounds that will soothe the feeling of inflammation while giving your skin a radiant glow!
Reach for a Richer Moisturizer
Another way to keep your skin barrier feeling supported in the winter months is to physically add to its defenses. How? With a moisturizer. The thin film that moisturizers form over the skin’s surface functions in a similar way to the skin barrier itself. The thicker that film, the more bolstered your skin barrier will feel.
This is why a rich moisturizer is a must in your winter skincare routine. Those lightweight lotions simply won’t cut it at this time of year. A rich cream not only leaves your skin barrier feeling supported but will also slow down moisture loss. This will give you a dewier and bouncier complexion.
How do you know if a moisturizer is going to be suitable for your winter skincare routine? Take a look at its ingredient list. You want to see a mixture of humectants, emollients, and occlusives, which is exactly what the VouPre Revitalizing Night Cream offers. It’s also full of fatty acids that will keep your skin feeling exceptionally smooth! Although primarily designed for evening use, go ahead and use this cream during the day too if your skin would benefit from its luscious touch.
Dial Down the Actives
As you know, your skin barrier needs some extra help in the winter months. Using the right ingredients and products is a good start but, just like when it comes to switching to a gentler cleanser and exfoliator, you need to also make sure that the other products in your skincare routine aren’t potentially causing any harm to this all-important barrier.
Potent active ingredients are notorious for this. Sure, you use them with the intention of helping your complexion but, in the winter, they can often do more harm than good. Your skin barrier won’t be able to tolerate highly powerful ingredients at this time of year, resulting in redness, irritation, and increased sensitivities.
There are several actives that can cause these problems in the winter, such as retinol and ascorbic acid. While both vitamins A and C are incredible antioxidants, you don’t want to use them in potent forms in the winter.
The VouPre Vita C Serum will help you to get around that problem. With this serum, your skin will still benefit from the amazing properties of vitamins A and C. However, it makes use of these ingredients in gentler derivatives; retinyl palmitate instead of retinol and tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, plus ascorbyl palmitate, instead of ascorbic acid. The vitamins have been combined with other ingredients that will keep your skin feeling soothed and calm while the plant oils in this formula help with hydration.
Layer Your Hydration
We’ve mentioned hydration a few times now. It’s something that should be at the forefront of your mind in the winter months as this is when your skin really struggles to hold on to its moisture reserves.
Ideally, in the winter, you need to be giving your skin as much hydration as possible. A single hydrating skincare product isn’t going to cut it – your skin needs to be hydrated in layers. Each new layer will push the previous one in, ensuring longer lasting hydration.
So, what sort of hydrating products should you be layering? Start with a hydrating toner after cleansing, like the VouPre Hydrating Toner. It will give your skin a splash of moisture while also rebalancing the pH of your skin’s surface to leave it feeling more receptive to the rest of the skincare products you’re about to apply.
Then, follow up with a couple of hydrating serums. The Aqua Hydration Serum from the VouPre Aqua Collection would be a great one to use. It’s a lightweight formula filled with a blend of super-hydrating ingredients, including sodium hyaluronate, collagen, and lactic acid. The Cannabis Facial Serum from the VouPre Cannabis Collection is also extremely hydrating. With this one containing a few plant oils too, it’s a slightly thicker formula, making it perfect for layering over the Aqua Hydration Serum.
By this point, your skin should be well-saturated with moisture. Top it all off with a hydrating face cream and your skin will look plump and dewy for hours.
Keep Going With the SPF
It’s no secret that sun protection is vital during the summer months. It’s something that’s difficult to forget considering that unprotected skin will quickly start to burn.
However, once the winter months arrive and the sun doesn’t feel quite so strong, people become more neglectful with their sun protection efforts. In some ways, this is understandable – you can often go through several winter days without seeing much sun! Nevertheless, those UV rays are still there and are continuing to damage your skin.
If you want your skin to look healthy and happy year-round, SPF needs to be a vital part of your winter skincare routine too. With the VouPre Age Defense Cream SPF 30, this becomes easy. This product is a two-in-one formula. It functions as a moisturizer while also offering protection from the sun. For this reason, it would be a useful addition to your morning skincare routine. Use this cream instead of your regular morning moisturizer and you’ll know that your skin will be feeling safe and protected for at least a couple of hours.
Winter Skincare From VouPre
If you often struggle to keep your skin looking clear, smooth, and bright throughout the winter months, it’s time to change this, and the tips that we’ve shared above are the perfect place to start. Aim to implement as many of them as possible and it won’t be long before you start to see some big improvements in your complexion. Your skin will soon have a glow that will be the envy of everyone!
Click here to boost your winter skincare routine with more bestselling products from VouPre.
