Comfort blankets for skin….

If you follow my Instagram (abrunetteedit) it won’t have escaped you that I’m a big fan of snuggly scarfs and cosy coats as the weather transitions in the colder months. Over the past few years I’ve taken the same approach with my skin and fully enjoy layering up nourishing products to help defend against the colder weather. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to do this is to introduce oils into my skin care. A favourite beauty writer of mine once depicted a perfect winter evening as putting on her favourite PJ’s, climbing into bed with a hot chocolate, a good book and her skin basted like a turkey in the oven at Christmas!  There’s something about this image which has stayed with me…..

The introduction of oils into my skincare routine over the past few years has been a revelation, especially as previously I would have been positively drawn to products labelled as ‘oil free’ due to my oily/combination skin type. However I’ve learnt that this is wholly counter-productive as stripping skin of natural oils will only encourage a greater production of oil to compensate (the same is true of foaming cleansers containing SLS’s – avoid!!). Using carefully chosen facial oils within products will instead nourish and calm skin, and result in a dewier, more glowy appearance. I choose to use oils in my skin care in the evening, as as much as my skin drinks it up, it would be a step too far for my naturally oily skin to expect make up to stick around all day on top. Dry and more mature skins however could absolutely introduce oil in the morning too.

My two favourite ways of using oils are in within cleansers and as the last step of my evening skin care routine as a treatment. Oil based cleansers are fantastic at breaking make-up down effortlessly, including waterproof mascara, and remove the need to use a separate eye make up remover. Massaged into dry skin they generally turn into a milky cleanser when water is applied and can be splashed off. My long term favourites are The Body Shop’s Camomile cleansing oil and Superfacialist’s Vitamin C cleansing oil,  neither of which irritate my eyes. More recently I was sent some products from Dermalogica to try and they included their Pre cleanse oil. It’s a slightly misleading name as this works brilliantly as your evening cleanser, with no need for a follow up product, the scent is divine and my skin feels so nourished after using. Its definitely earned its place in my evening skincare line up!

The second way I like to use oils in my skincare is as a final step in my evening routine, layered on top of a serum or retinol product to seal the active ingredients in and let them work their magic while I sleep. The skincare market is flooded with facial oils to suit all budgets but Trilogy’s Rosehip facial oil is a good starting point, as using a pure oil, rather than one with several different oils, gives you a good overview of how your skin reacts to different ingredients. Balance Me and Liz Earle both do brilliant facial oils that would work for all skin types, and you only need a few drops pressed into the skin, so value for money these products last months. Two recent discoveries are the L’oreal Extraordinary Oil which is a really good high-street option and easily available at Boots. The other is  Skin Doctors Age-defying power oil which has been the only oil I’ve used over the past week as it sinks in beautifully, calms any wind and rain induced redness or irritation, and has the most beautiful scent which makes the bedtime skincare routine feel like almost spa-like.

If you are a fellow oily skin or spot prone reader and remain sceptical about purchasing a facial oil, then my top tip would be to head to a Clarins counter and ask for a sample of their Lotus Treatment oil which has been developed for combination skin to help balance and refine. This product was a lifesaver when my skin really wasn’t playing ball and, having recommended it to several friends recently, appears to continue to work its magic on misbehaving skin.

Jess X

~I was very kindly gifted the Pre Cleanse Oil and Skin Doctors power oil however was under no obligation to review or include them in a post. I will only ever include products I genuinely feel are worth the investment. ~