I like to think of winter  as a time of nurture, repair, planning and growth. That’s a lot of pressure for one season I hear you exclaiming …all of this isn’t just in the psychological or emotional sense but also relates to our health and skincare too. You don’t need to look too far to find articles about what lotions and potions we need to be using to protect our skin from the ravages of winter, which is great, but of course the nurture and repair process really does begin on the inside with healthy skin …….Here’s our guide to help your skin to survive winter in a stress free way!

As with everything Wow Beauty Let’s begin on the Inside:

Hydration

At a recent Murad launch one of the things that stuck in my mind was that Howard Murad said that we need to ‘eat our water’: he explained that eating your water literally means eating foods that are high in water content like cucumber, watermelon etc…because it’s important that we don’t just think about hydration in terms of drinking the traditional eight glasses of water per day. Perfect logic right?

Tip: Follow Ayurvedic principles and drink your water slowly throughout the day as opposed to drinking large quantities in one sitting. Apparently when we drink of water gradually the body absorbs it better where do we drink it all at once with excreted super fast before it gets to nourish our cells.

Feed your skin

This is also the perfect time to start eating for skin ‘feed your skin’! its the perfect time to increase your intake of essential fatty acids with foods like avocado, oily fish and seeds: EFA’S are essential for skin plumping, inflammation and a healthy brain function. We asked one of our favourite nutritionists Sandra Greenbank for her top tip and she said:

Eat the rainbow. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants which help protect us from cellular damage caused by free radicals. We come into contact with free radicals all the time, for example from sun exposure, eating fried food, drinking alcohol, pollution etc but free radicals are also produced by our own cells in the normal day to day processes. Each colour vegetable represents a set of antioxidants so for the full benefit, have some of each colour every day, i.e. red, yellow, blue, purple/blue, white, orange and green

Products

These are a few of the products that we’ve handpicked for your winter skincare kit, these are all very effective and packed with ingredients that deliver results and of course I’m recommending them because they are all products that I enjoy using because they work.

Here we go…

Favourite serums and oils: These are quite varied in both ingredients and price 

Antonia Burrell Press Serum: “From the first couple of days use I’ve loved the effect on my skin. Moist and nourished, the effects of which last all day. This is easily absorbed and leaves a silky smooth finish.”  Our full review is here.

Vintner’s Daughter: “This luscious oil has developed cult status and there is good reason: it has been formulated with 22 active and wild crafted botanicals and is designed for all skin types, healing phyto nutrients, strengthening phytoceramides, firming amino acids and brightening vitamins and  it deeply moisturises, nourishes, plumps and makes your skin glow.”

Vanderohe No. 1 Nourishing Serum: “As soon as you open the bottle and inhale the pureness of the ingredients, they start to work on you, they start to envelop you … it’s like apart from the initial pleasure of smelling pure rose, lavender and other yummy oils, this oil goes deeper and seems to tap into the part of the brain that deals with moods and emotions, creating a calm euphoria this is due to the sheer power of organically sourced ‘active’ essential oils.”  We’ve got a full review of this here.

Zelens High Potency Vit C: “Uses a vitamin c ester at 20% which is a stable oil soluble form of vitamin c which won’t irritate the skin and leaves your skin gleaming.”

Image Vital C Hydrating Face Oil: This oil is beautifully light and easily and quickly absorbed into the skin, it doesn’t leave any intense shine just a beautiful glow and is the perfect base for your other serums or your moisturiser. It also has that lovely citrus scent to it.” 

The Ordinary Buffet: “Buffet is a multi-peptide serum to tackle multiple signs of ageing, it feels silky on the skin and leaves the skin feeling plumped and together, these two products make your skin feel lovely.”

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid: “Hyaluronic Acid can hold up to 1000 times its own weight in water so this product will help you get more hydrated skin which is plumper, firmer and has a luminous glow.”

Let’s not neglect our bodies:

Kypris Body Elixir: “The texture is a satisfyingly weighty oil, not too thick or thin. I love oils especially good quality oils that have such a perfect affinity with the skin. A good quality oil does just what your skin needs it to do, without making its presence too obvious. This pale gold oil sinks into the skin with ease moisturising, nourishing and protecting while leaving a healthy glow. Here’s our full review here.”

Nivea Nourishing Rich Body Lotion: “This cream is great for dry skin, infused with almond oil for increasingly smoother skin with each application. This simple but fabulous moisturiser is budget friendly and very effective.”  

Daughter of the Soil Shea Body Butter: “Rich in shea butter, it provides instant and lasting hydration. Shea butter has a high composition of essential fatty acids, in particular oleic acid makes it ideal for nourishing dry and ageing skin.”

Spa Of The World Japanese Camellia Cream: “This is a real treat! It feels rich and as the name suggests… incredibly velvety! The key ingredient in this is Camellia Seed Oil which is a rich source of Palmistic and Omega-6 Linoleic fatty acids, as well as numerous anti-aging polyphenol antioxidants. It is non-greasy and an excellent all-around moisturizer for the skin.”

Nuxe 24 Hour Body Lotion: “Fantastic for dry skin, it contains  Orange Blossom and Almond Blossom petals to leave your skin feeling velvety soft and smooth. It also smells heavenly.”

Palmer’s Coconut Oil Body Lotion: “Love this! Contains ethically and sustainably sourced Coconut Oil and Tahitian Monoi Oil, infused with Tiaré flower petals.”

Votary Body Oil: “This lovely offering from Votary London is designed as an intensive SOS treatment used to target patches of dry or dull skin, the kind that can sometimes appear on the upper arms, backs of thighs, elbows, knees etc. Read a review of the oil on our website here. “

Buy the Antonia Burrell Press Serum for £98 from Antonia Burrell
Buy the Vintner’s Daughter Serum £175 from Cult Beauty
Buy the Vanderohe Serum for £88 from Vanderohe
Buy the Zelens Vit C drops for £125 from Zelens
Contact Image Skincare to find your local stockist
Buy The Ordinary Buffet for £12.70 from Cult Beauty
Buy The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid for £5.90 from Cult Beauty
Buy the Kypris Body Elixir for £91 from Cult Beauty
Buy the Nivea Body Lotion for £3.75 from Boots
Buy the Daughter of the Soil Shea Body Butter for £27 from Naturisimo
Buy The Body Shop Japanese Camellia Cream for £25 from The Body Shop
Buy the Nuxe Body Lotion for £16.50 from Marks and Spencer
Buy the Palmer’s Coconut Oil Body Lotion for £4.19 from Boots
Buy the Votary Body Oil for £65 from Space NK
(*PR gift/sample)