My skin gets really dry in the winter, so I sometimes need to bulk up my regimen with more hydrating ingredients, with chosen items like:
- Ceramides
- Fatty acids
- Hyaluronic acid or sodium hyaluronate
- Selected skin care oils
- Shea butter
So here are nine products I absolutely love for the wintertime:
1.) Cleanser – TATCHA PURE One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil ($48.00, TATCHA.com)
The last thing you want to do in the wintertime is strip your skin of much-needed (and scarcely-produced) natural oils.
The PURE One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil instead leaves the skin more hydrated than when cleansing started.
The oil is dense and translucent, with a beautiful light scent. It rinses away clear and leaves the skin feeling plush, supple, and hydrated.
One secret to this rice bran oil. This exotic ingredient contains the antioxidant gamma oryzanol (African Journal of Biotechnology,International Journal of Toxicology), a free-radical scavenger.
Amazingly enough, oryzanol also helps to improve the stability of oils and fatty acids (International Journal of Pharmaceutics).
Overall, you’re doing your skin a wonderful favor by using an emollient, moisturizing, and cleansing oil.
2.) Daytime Serum – FutureDerm Vitamin CE Serum ($89.00. FutureDerm.com/Shop)
Don’t worry, this entire post isn’t going to be an advertisement for FutureDerm products!
In the wintertime, however, I can find a lot of vitamin CE serums to be drying. Ours has a lovely silicone base, so it glides across the skin and does not dry out the skin.
3.) Moisturizer with Sunscreen – NEOVA DNA Damage Control Sunscreen Everyday SPF 44 ($39.00, FutureDerm.com/Shop)
If NEOVA DNA Damage Control Sunscreen Everyday SPF 44 technology didn’t have a patent, I would be formulating it myself. It’s, like, that awesome.
This super powerhouse sunscreen features the anti-aging ingredient DNA repair enzymes (photolyase and endosomes), plus some of my favorite antioxidants (L-ascorbic acid and vitamin E), and sodium hyaluronate to boot. It’s a true winner year-round, especially in the winter months, when super-aging UVA rays are at their strongest! [Full review]
Full Ingredients:
Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 6.5%, Octisalate 2.5%, Zinc Oxide 8.5%.
Inactive Ingredients: Allantoin, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Butylene Glycol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Citric Acid, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Ergothioneine, Ethyl Hexyl Isononanoate, Glycereth-26, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Lecithin, Micrococcus Lysate, Octyl Stearate, Oleth-3 Phosphate, Panthenol, PEG-7 Trimethylolpropane Coconut Ether, Phenoxyethanol, Plankton Extract, Polyether-1, Polyisobutene, Purified Water, Retinyl Palmitate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopheryl Acetate, Triethoxycaprylylsilane.
4.) Eye Cream – Your Best Face Correct Eye Cream ($150 — ON SALE for $120, FutureDerm.com/Shop)
In all of time, this product is one of my absolute favorites. Its like your favorite iTunes playlist: Every few years, it gets updated, but the real classic hits are still there.
In 2014, Your Best Face Correct Eye Cream was updated with the following ingredients:
- Uplevity™(water, acetyl tetrapeptide-2, caprylyl glycol), ethylhexyl palmitate)
- Matrixyl® synthe’6™ (glycerin, water, hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin, palmitoyl tripeptide-38)
- Cupuacu butter
- Aspen bark extract
- Quercetin dihydrate
As for the classic hits, its ingredients have been shown to brighten and firm undereye skin (Eyeseryl®), reduce undereye puffiness (caffeine), and take down dark circles caused by hyperpigmentation or blood pooling (Haloxyl®). I’ve been a longtime fan (as is my 70-year-old mother!), and the fact that it has a creamy, hydrating base makes it all the better. [Full review]
Ingredients: reverse osmosis water, cetearyl olivate (and) sorbitan olivate, Eyeseryl® (water, acetyl tetrapeptide-5),
ceteareth-6 olivate, Haloxyl® (hydroxysuccinimide, chrysin, palmitoyl oligopeptide, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3), Leucidal®
(leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate), licorice root ex-tract, Syn®-Hycan (tetradecyl aminobutyroylvalylaminobut-
yric urea trifluoroacetate, magneisum chloride, glycerin),Uplevity™(water, acetyl tetrapeptide-2, caprylyl glycol), eth-
ylhexyl palmitate, Syn®-Tacks (glycerin, palmitoyl dipeptide-5 diaminobutyroyl hydroxythreonine, palmitoyl dipeptide-5
diaminohydroxybutyrate), Matrixyl® synthe’6™ (glycerin, water, hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin, palmitoyl tripeptide-38),
Tego® Pep 4-17 (tetrapeptide-21, glycerin, butylene glycol, water), dimethicone/vinyl dimethicone crosspolymer (and)
silica, ethoxydiglycol, alpha arbutin, Matrixyl™ 3000 (glycerin, butylene glycol, carbomer, polysorbate-20, palmitoyl
oligopeptide, palmitoyl tripeptide-3), Renovage (triglyceride, teprenone), olive leaf extract, Relistase™(glycerin, acetyl-
arginyltryptophyl diphenylglycine), polyquaternium-10, caffeine, cupuacu butter, aspen bark extract, spin trap
(phenyl butyl nitrone), Homeostatine® (enteromorpha compressa extract, caesalpina gum), sorbitan olivate, trans res-
veratrol, tetrahydrodiferyloylmethane, Sepilift DPHP (dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline), vitamin e, lipochroman-6
(dimethylmethoxy chromanol), dimethyl isosorbide, co-enzyme Q10, vitamin B5, quercetin dihydrate, alpha
bisabolol, alpha lipoic acid (R-lipoic acid), violet leaf absolute, oakmoss absolute
5.) Bi-Weekly Scrub: Grand Central Beauty Skin Perfecting Serum + Polisher ($38.00)
Did you know that most glycolic acid is sourced from sugar? It’s true! Even in non-natural, traditional products, glycolic acid is most often from sugar.
If you’re looking for a shiny, healthy glow for your skin and more of a natural product, Grand Central Beauty Skin Perfecting Polisher has a refined mix of sugar cane (as a natural source of glycolic acid), fruit acids, and green tea that you cannot mix in your kitchen, no matter what the lovely girls on Pinterest tell you! [Full review]
6.) Best Physical Mask: Bel Mondo Beauty Ultra-Hydrating Facial Mask ($45.00, BelMondoBeauty.com)
You know what I love in the winter?
Napping under a warm blanket. A good book. Spending time indoors with my family. Cuddling with my boyfriend. Sipping on hot coffee.
And you know what else I love?
Being able to restore my skin to its normal, non-winter state within 20 minutes.
That’s what the Bel Mondo Beauty Ultra Hydrating Facial Sheet Masks are all about. Designed with amazing hydrators including sodium hyaluronate, hyaluronic acid, ceramides, olive oil, and rice extract, these are the awesome. Especially when your face feels like it’s numb, its so frigid from the cold.
Ingredients: Purified water, glycerin, sodium hyaluronate, propylene glycol, sodium alginate, Dansonyl (plant extract), ceramide gel, chlorphenesin, Skinasensyl (acetyl tetrapeptide-15, sodium citrate), rice extract, Hydromanil (moisturizing compound derived from tara seed), olive oil, hyaluronic acid, biosol, panthenol, fragrance
7.) Best Wipe-Off Mask: Airelle Hydrating Manuka Mask ($90.00, Airelleskin.com)
People often ask me, are natural products better? Aren’t I getting lots of toxins from synthetic products accumulating in my body?
My answer is always the same: No, natural products aren’t necessarily better. What you need is high concentrations of key, proven ingredients with effective delivery systems. (Nothing’s worse than trying to get retinol to get through, say, Vaseline!) And most ingredients are not toxic at all in the concentrations they are used in beauty products.
But people love to talk. And now that I’m getting to the point where I’m planning to have children in the next few years, I’m looking more closely at natural products.
Very few natural products have high concentrations of key, proven ingredients with effective delivery systems, but the Airelle Skin Maruka Hydrating Mask definitely does. It contains the trio of vitamin C as L-ascorbic acid, vitamin E as tocopherol acetate, and coenzyme Q10 that have been proven to be network antioxidants, meaning they work in the same pathway and reinforce the power of one another. Typically, you only get one or two, but here, you get all three!
The maruka honey is amazing as well. A little of this product goes a long way and it leaves your skin soft, smooth, and refreshed. Definitely an awesome mask! Visit Airelle Skin for more
Performance Ingredients: Berrimatrix, Prunus Amygdalus (Sweet Almond) Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate (Hyaluronic Acid), Chondrus Crispus
Extract, Hydrolyzed Chrondrus Extract, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Leptospermum Scoparium (Manuka Honey) Extract, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin
C), Copper Gluconate, Ubiquinone (Co-Enzyme Q10), Superoxide Dismutase, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Vaccinium Cyanococcus
(Blueberry) Seed Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Oil
8.) Best Moisturizer: TATCHA Supple Moisture Rich Silk Cream ($150, TATCHA.com)
Choosing the best moisturizer for dry winter skin was like choosing your favorite child. There are just so many attributes of such a plenitude of brands that I love. And the ingredients — oh, I could go on for days!
But just as a child can show you some extra love (and perhaps win a teensy bit of favoritism, if only for a moment), this TATCHA Supple Moisture Rich Cream showed my skin the extra affection with a plethora of proven hydrators and antioxidants, a wonderful delivery system, and a beautifying pure silk-based texture.
It actually made me feel pretty afterwards. I’m not kidding. After trying too many moisturizers as of late, I’m swearing by this one to help my skin come back to life. (And it’s working!)
For more, visit TATCHA.com.
9.) Best Body Lotion: AminoGenesis Cocoon Body Lotion ($44.00, AminoGenesis.com)
In an interview with the AminoGenesis CEO, Ron Cummings, he mentioned that the product he recommends most is the Cocoon Body Lotion.
And no wonder — it’s hard to find body products that work! But this one features 17 amino acids that revitalized my skin and keep it feeling smooth and hydrated, despite the fact that it’s around 30 degrees in Pittsburgh right now!
Love this stuff!
Bottom Line
If you have dry, parched, reddened, rough winter skin that feels a little sore to the touch, products from this regimen will definitely help.
If you’re already using a line you love, trade in one product at a time, and use it religiously with your existing regimen for at least 1-2 weeks, to assess how well the products are working.
If you’re not already using products you adore, try some of the ones above! I love them all, and find them all to be great for my normal/combination, slightly sensitive skin.
What are your thoughts? Let me know in Comments!
This post contains sponsored links, but in this case, I loved the product and the brand and contacted the advertiser to partner and work together. All opinions are exclusively my own and are not in any way influenced by sponsorship.