Winter life-savers for skin.

I was chatting with a friend who's just back from a week at the London Muse Makeup School (I'm so jealous of her), she was complaining about her skin acting up because of the weather, tiredness and general crazy rythm of these past weeks.
This is how I feel a lot in Fall and Winter too. The first thing that make my skin change from normal/combo to dry/sensitive/totally crazy is central heating, and that's something we can't be without at the moment (and for the next 6 months), can we? The temperature variations, wind, cold etc. totally ruin my skin. Over the years I've found quite a few good products that really help, so I thought I'd pass my tricks.


1. Get a dry oil for your body.
I don't care for my body skin, really. I do the strict minimum in Summer time because a lot of skin shows, but then in the Winter, I tend to neglect it.  Big mistake, as it's really dry and I even get eczema if I let things go too far.
My solution: use a dry oil. Mine is Remederm from Louis Widmer Switzerland.

It's a spray, so it's very easy to put on and to blend. It dries within a minute so you can get dressed. It doesn't have much of a smell so it won't bother you or others.
I find it easier to stick to a body skincare routine using this than a body butter or another type of cream.
If you can't get this one, any dry oil will do and you can put it in a spray bottle.


2. The best mask for your face.
I have tried a billion face products. The one that works best, affordable and widely available is La Roche Posay Hydraphase Mask.

This used to come in a tube, which I liked because I went through huge amounts of this, but for the past couple of years it's sold by 2 individual doses in little bags. 

This mask looks like a thick blueish cream, which is slightly cooling when you apply it. It has a slight cucumber smell, very fresh and pleasant.

You put a thick coat of this at night and let it sink for 10 minutes. Then you wipe off the excess with a tissue, and go to sleep. The next morning, things are much better already.

I have sometimes used a smaller amount of this as a a day cream, where the situation was desperate.

I find one little bag does contain a lot, so I generally store the open bag in a clean, cool place and use the rest on the next day, I think 24 hours is OK. This way I don't waste any product.

3. Honey for the lips and hands.

I absolutely love the Nuxe Rêve de Miel (Honey Dream) range, as it feels luxurious, smells good, but is also extremely efficient!

I absolutely love this lipbalm and use it all year long. Unless most balms that I find drying because of the petroleum jelly in them, this one is very moisturizing, and it can also be used under lipstick.

It smells like honey and oranges, which is absolutely delicious. The formulation is quite thick and here are little beeds in the product that slightly exfoliate the lips. This is my holy grail lip treatment!

The hands and nails cream smells more like plants than honey but the scent doesn't linger very long so that's perfectly acceptable. The cream does sink in almost instantly and isn't sticky at all, which I really like. This has really helped me when my hands were in very bad condition. 
I usually apply this cream every night before bed time, as well as the lip time.

If this isn't enough for your hands...
I discovered this product last year, it was recommended by my pharmacist when the combination of cold weather and allergy to washing products had made my hands skin crack, peel and bleed. It's called VitaCitral soin TR for damaged hands.

This is formulated for people working in very drying and damaging environments (like concrete factories) and can virtually repair anything. This is basically a mix of aloe, glycerin and Vitamin A in a gel textured formulation. It feels like a coating on the hands, and if you apply thick coat at night and put your hands in cotton gloves (or socks, like I do), there is serious improvement overnight.

Now you know everything you need to know to pamper yourself and hopefully keep glowing skin all through Winter :)