beat winter blues- part 2

If you missed my first post about how to beat the winter hair blues, check it out here. I have mentioned numerous times that I have incredibly sensitive skin, so you can only imagine it does not react well to the harsh winter air. These are my tried and true remedies and preventions to keeping my skin cool, calm, and collected. 

Just like in the first post about skin, my fish oil vitamins do a lot for my skin. The Omega-3's reduce inflammation, add essential oils that the wind strips from the skin, and gives my skin an over-all healthy glow. 

While skin does need cleansed as usual in the winter, it also needs a little more love. Try switching to a more gentler cleanser or one for sensitive skin. My Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser has never let me down and doesn't have a ton of irritating ingredients like many others do. Never shower or wash your face in hot water. Always keep it luke-warm so you don't strip your skin of it's natural oils and stress it out.

Yes you definitely do want to exfoliate in the winter. While your instinct might be to hold off of the exfoliating until the warm weather returns, I urge you to keep up the routine. It is important to get rid of dry skin and get deep in your pores. I use the trusty stand-by St. Ives Apricot Scrub for sensitive skin about 3 times a week. 

I love this body exfoliator! Its gentle yet strong, and so simple. It has a great simple brown sugar and vanilla scent and it's blended with vitamin E. I just love anything from the Mark Fair Trade product line but this one is definitely in my top 2 favorites. 

I love baths! And this Aveeno Soothing Oatmeal Bath is so good to my skin. Just empty one of the packets into a warm (never hot) bath and soak for 15 minutes. When you get out and dry off your skin, I promise you will see a difference right away! So nourishing and calming on winter skin.

Some rinky-dink lotion isn't going to cut it here in Ohio during the winter. My skin needs serious moisture and Olay Ultra Moisture Lotion does the trick perfectly. It is heavy duty enough to do its job, but light enough that I don't feel like I am wearing an extra layer of skin on top of mine. I love this lotion!

I really love this Mark Calm + Composed Soothing Moisturizer. I rotate it every other night with my L'Oreal RevitaLift Night Cream (since the L'Oreal is for anti-aging and the Mark is for soothing and healing) that I talked about in this post. The Mark moisturizer is so super lightweight and non-irritaing, it really calms my stressed skin down.

In the day I use Aveeno Smart Essentioals Daily Moistuizer with SPF 30. If you take anything away from this post take this: use a daily moisturizer with SPF 30 please. So many people forget about the sun when winter rolls around, and that is when most sun damage to the skin occurs. I tried quite a few moisturizers with SPF before I found this Aveeno moisturizer. It feels so natural on my skin. I can put it on under my make-up and not feel cake-y.

I first got Mac Fix+  from a friend and immediatley fell in love with it. It doesn't have a heavy scent like lots of other face mists and its packed with all kinds of vitamins and minerals to help heal the skin. I spray my face and neck with this multiple times a day. I always spray it before my moisturizer and make-up goes on. My skin and this liquid have a very serious relationship going on. 

A couple of years ago when I got sick in the winter I was sleeping with a Vicks Vaporizor on at night, and while I felt quite awful my usual winter skin looked great! I didn't even make the connection until I put the vaporizer away and my skin started getting dried out again. Ever since then I sleep with my vaporizer on in the winter. I don't put any medicine in it, but just let the warm steam work it's magic. You can also use a humidifier which puts cool mist into the air. Either way change the water every night you use it. I use mine every other night.

I love anything Soap + Glory, but this product is out of this world. I used to get this for my mom and then I started buying it for myself once I realized how amazing it was. Lather this all over your feet before bed, pull on some cotton socks, get some beauty rest, and when you wake up you will fall in love with your feet. Yes I did just say that. This stuff is literally a miracle in a tube.

Meet my number 1 favorite Mark product ever, The Big Fix. (Which I have talked about here) This might be a little over- dramatic but I don't know if I could live without it. This little stick can do practically anything you need. It is perfect to use on elbows, knees, and feet. I also use it for my lips (no not the same stick silly), cuticles, brows, the list could go on forever. Anything it touches becomes so soft.

Lips need extra special love in the winter. One of the best tips I ever heard was to take a warm washcloth, that has been wrung out and gently exfoliate your lips with it. It is the perfect amount of exfoliation. After that simply apply a generous amount of your favorite chap stick or lip balm. I love my EOS lip balm. In fact I dedicated an entire post to EOS because I love it so much! This little lip sphere is everything a balm should be; hydrating, smoothing, clear, and not oily, greasy, or waxy. I have gotten so many of my friends hooked on it because it really is the best. 

-picture borrowed from here-

Hopefully this isn't news to you, but your skin needs water- a lot of it. Especially in the winter. You should be drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily if not more. Mixing some lemon in your water not only adds some flavor but is awesome for your skin! Lemon helps clear the toxins from your body and can help with acne.

A cup a Green Tea in the evening, it became a habit long before I even knew its benefits. Green tea is high in antioxidants which gives your skin extra protection in the harsh winter months. I especially like Lipton Green Tea with Lemon Ginsing, because I know the lemon makes it extra good for my skin.