Skincare Guide: Is your Skin Spring Ready?
Spring (skincare) has sprung!
Most of us love spring with longer days, rising temperatures and a little humidity raising the spirits.
It’s also a transition time for your beauty routine to ensure your skin is Spring, er-um ‘fun’ ready.
Your to-do list should not just include a spring clean and a wardrobe revamp, it’s also time to shake up your beauty cabinet to recover and maintain fresh and fabulous skin.
The point is, while we may be more than ready to run right into sunny spring, our skin needs a little more time to adapt. Changes in humidity, sun exposure, and outdoor activity usually drive the need to change your skincare routine. Springtime brings more humidity and higher temperatures, which requires a tweak to your sun protection, as well as your anti-ageing regimen.
Upgrade Your SPF
Mainstream sunscreen with a good SPF rating is your best friend in summer whenever you venture out into the sunshine.
There has been a lot of hullabaloo lately about different products, natural and synthetic or dedicated or multi-purpose.
To my mind it is very simple.
Take expert advice. I for one never advocate skipping sunscreen, many people I speak to do not wear sunscreen during the winter. However, in spring and summer UV rays are stronger and using a broad-spectrum SPF of least 50+, is vital to ensuring adequate sun protection.
However, ‘in addition to but not instead of’ incorporating a sunblock into your daily beauty regime, I also recommend our mineral makeup which includes zinc and titanium dioxide to further avoid incidental sun damage.
Exfoliation
Let’s start at the beginning with exfoliation.
At the end of winter, you are bound to have a build-up of dead cells and flakiness on your outer skin barrier.
This explains that dull tonal appearance you may be observing.
And I often hear from those with dry skin who avoid exfoliation during the winter months because it can irritate, but as the weather warms up and the humidity increases, we are better able to tolerate cleansers with acids and stronger formulations of active ingredients. Spring is the key time to return to exfoliating and brighten the dull skin that has accumulated during winter.
My recommendation is to start with a gentle double cleanse and exfoliation to encourage skin cell turnover. Guaranteed, this alone will give you a gorgeous glow. Depending on your skin, this may include a switch to a rejuvenating and refreshing cleanser, that will simply remove dead skin cells gently from the surface of the skin to promote a brighter-looking complexion.
You don't have to limit yourself to physical exfoliation (I am not a fan of abrasive particles that scrub away dead skin). If needed, I also recommend heading to your beautician for a chemical peel to kickstart a springtime regimen. These quickly exfoliate, often trigger collagen production, and really are an excellent first step in maintaining a youthful complexion.
For a heavy duty exfoliation, you can check out a home DIY peel, an electronic exfoliating brush or if you can, a trip to the aesthetician.
But always be careful and not to overdo it. Missing the mark on a bright complexion to an irritated, inflamed one can happen quickly with overzealous exfoliation.
Switch to a lighter moisturiser
While richer moisturisers feel like a blessing on dry winter skin, applying them on a sticky, sweaty face is something else.
Obviously, when the weather is cold and dry, we need to use good emollients and barriers to reduce transepidermal water loss
As the weather starts to heat up, we may still be wearing masks and as the air-conditioning gets cranked up, skin can become clammy and oily, and more prone to clogged pores and blemishes, particularly close to the nose, mouth and chin.
I also recommend avoiding creams with harsh synthetic ingredients and mineral oils and instead opt for those with a thinner consistency to give your skin the chance to breathe.
Brighten-up with an antioxidant Vitamin C Serum
Serums have a massive impact on our skin due to their ability to penetrate and deliver active ingredients to the deeper layers of the skin. They also help in binding moisture and preventing moisture loss.
Introducing a Vitamin C serum into your routine will help reduce pigmentation and stimulate collagen and elastin production.
We all know Vitamin C is a super antioxidant that has the ability to accelerate the skin’s regenerative processes and can also help protect your skin from UV rays, pollution and free radicals.
Don’t forget your lips.
Spending more time outside means dry lips.
The skin barrier of the lips is especially delicate and so requires a little extra TLC. In lip balm Vitamin E can play an important role as it both seals in moisturise and anti-oxidant.
Don’t be afraid to reach for a lip balm or a nourishing lipstick.
Spring Ready Products
A daily cleansing + lightly exfoliating wash off cleanser to purge impurities and polish to reveal a fresh, glowing healthy skin. Contains a potent, multi-fruit complex to remove dead skin cells.
The ultimate organic Vitamin C serum for glowing healthy skin. Rich in Australian Superfoods and vitamins, this anti-ageing serum helps to combat sun damage and dark spots and reduces fine lines and wrinkles.
Happy Spring everybody.
Sylvie xx
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