My skin without fail, always acts up after the holidays. Between drying out my skin over multiple flights home for the holidays, the jet lag, the drastic changes in weather, the sugary foods, the endless cocktails, the late nights, and the petri dish of flu that is the office… it’s really no wonder. Of course it acts up.
While it’s not the end of the world, it is a huge pain in the butt. No one likes dry, red, flaky skin. Especially during the highly photo-documented holiday season. Thankfully, I have a pretty solid method of multi-masking that helps mitigate the problem. It also includes lots of drinking water. A drink of water for me, a metaphorical drink of water for my face. Lately, I’ve been loving the Clarins SOS Hydra Refreshing Hydration Mask!
It has a great creamy, gel texture, and feels just as refreshing as the name implies. I hadn’t heard of one of the main ingredients, Organic Leaf of Life Extract, a succulent herb that grows in the Caribbean. It’s been said to remedy colds, fevers, and bronchial/respiratory issues (great for the office petri dish conditions)… The second main ingredient is one I know much better, Hyaluronic Acid. Got to love that little molecule that can hold 1000x its weight in water.
It might sound a little counter-productive if you have dry + flakey skin, but I love doing an exfoliating mask or serum and then following with a masque that’s hydrating and nourishing. By exfoliating the dead skin first, it usually helps the hydrating masque work better and penetrate deeper into the skin.
I usually leave it on for about 15-30 minutes and instead of rinsing it off and cleansing, I remove it with a moisturizing makeup removing wipe and massage in whatever is left. Clarins also recommends that you remove it with a cotton round soaked in a moisturizing toner. Either way, it definitely leaves my skin feeling much more hydrated and refreshed.
What remedies are you loving for winter skin lately?
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