Winter Skin Care Routine

rose

Here in Vermont, winter is all about itchy skin and crazy, crazy dry hands, feet, and cheeks. It starts around late October and by January I just want to move into a spa and spend my days in a full body paraffin wrap. Well. Sadly I must go to work, so this is how I get through winter with daily spa-esque times.

Body

1. Dry brush before you hop in the shower. Also good for your immune & lymph system. I’m a doctor.

2. In the bath or shower, a salt scrub with a good oil in it. I like Jane Gee’s Rose Geranium, and The Body Deli’s Honey Date scrub. For shaving, I’ve been stealing Sean’s Naturopathica Soothing Shave Cream. If I try to shave my legs with soap, I end up in a world of pain and with scaly legs. Good times.

3. While still damp, moisturize up. I’ve been using this Shevanti body balm from In Fiore that Jen sent me, which basically smells like you’re preparing yourself for ancient sacrifice. I also love Huile et Baumes Gentle Dry Oil for the Body.

4. Sometimes you just have to go get a manicure / pedicure with a paraffin wrap. I tried to do the heavy moisturizer + socks thing the other day and it did nothing.

5. Keep hand cream at your desk. I use Aesop’s Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm. Weleda’s Skin Food is pretty great too, and cheaper.

aesop_in_fiori

Face

Because I live in the middle of nowhere, I tend to shop for makeup and skincare on Sephora. Between racking up samples and points, turning 39 and feeling like I should up my skincare game, and Jen sending me a lot of these fancy things, I’ve been trying a lot of different products lately.

I took the photo below (it’s hard to take a selfie with a real camera) because I felt silly talking about skincare without being like “Hi, I have skin.” Ok then. I have skin. And strabismus. I feel like I look like a middle-aged mom here.

face

1. Alternate a clearing / exfoliating cleanser with a moisturizing one. On the mornings when I use the Clarisonic with the delicate brush, I use either Apotheke Charcoal soap or Josie Maran cleansing oil, depending on level of dryness / oiliness. At night, I take off my eye makeup with this Caudalie cleaning water, and do either a hand or washcloth wash with the Aesop Fabulous Face Cleanser.

2. Face masks. My favorite. I love the Farmaesthetics Rosehip + Clay Mint Mask to draw out impurities, and the fresh Rose Face Mask does some kind of tingling witchcraft and leaves my skin super super soft and refreshed.

caudalie

3. For moisturizer, I mostly stick with Caudalie Vinexpert Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Radiance Day Cream. On super dry days I use the Rodin oil, but that’s basically like rubbing (sorry, patting) gold into your face so I don’t use it that often. I also really like MD Solar Sciences Mineral Tinted Crème Broad Spectrum SPF 30 UVA-UVB Sunscreen, especially if I’ll be out skiing or doing winter sports. It makes my skin feel super velvet-y and matte.

cheeks_lips_face

3. Makeup is fairly simple, I’m using all of these in the photo above: bareMinerals BARESKIN in Bare Linen. Josie Maran gelee blush, Josie Maran Matchmaker Powder in Fair/Light, Josie Maran mascara. Uh, I didn’t really think about the fact that most of it is Josie Maran until now. It’s really hard to find decent natural makeup that works, so I stick with what I like. Sean did treat me to the Chanel Rêve d’Orient eyeshadow palette for Christmas, so I will add sparkly (non-natural) lids.

4. Tinted lip balm, forever. Here are a few of my favorites: rms Beauty Lip Shine in Sacred, Tata Harper Lip Treatment in Be Adored, ellovi lip butter (c/o), & fresh Sugar lip treatment in Petal.  I really want to try this Terry Baume de Rose in Fig Fiction. I should maybe tone down the lip balm addiction a little.

chanel_caru

5. Spritz all this madness with a facial spray, like Caru Lavender & Chamomile Facial Toner, or Caudalie Beauty Elixir.

Hair 

Don’t forget your hair, it needs moisture too! Keep the static fly-aways and split ends away with Bumble + Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Conditioner, davines OI Absolute Beautifying Potion, and Phyto Subtil Elixir Intense Nutrition Shine Oil. My hair is really, really dry, and I do a lot of heat styling on it.

In Conclusion

Whew. That’s a whole lotta product. I don’t always have or use all these at the same time, and some I’m using via deluxe Sephora samples, but these are my tried and true recommendations. I’m still trying to stick to more “natural” skin care and makeup products – especially with so many of the chemicals of concern in conventional products being endocrine disruptors.

After writing this post, I said out loud “But I don’t FEEL this high maintenance” and then Sean laughed a lot. Ha ha, let’s look at your tie collection, bro.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links. I may receive a commission on purchases made after following an affiliate link. If you add up the products in this post, you’ll know why I need a commission. I am not actually a doctor.

5 Comments

  1. This is exactly the sort of thing I have been hoping to see: a tell-all exposé from a beautiful lady about her fantastic looking skin! For the past year or so I have been looking rather leprous, so I need all the tips and tricks I can get.

  2. ha, when I read this I feel too low-maintainance 😉 thanks for all the tips! I like Dr. Hauschka products and also like their make-up – that is, I’m about to use up an eye shadow palette of theirs that I liked a lot. eye make-up can irritate my eyes sometimes, but I’ve had no problem with using the Dr. Hauschka stuff. for my hair (very curly, very dry and frizzy) I like moroccan oil – I use a drop or two of the treatment oil, and then their ‘intense curl cream’ (who thinks up these names?). oh, also my hairdresser gave me a tip to not use shampoo too often, maybe once every few months, but to use conditioner every time I rinse my hair (which is every morning in the shower). it really makes a difference. I like Urtekram’s lavender conditioner a lot, but I’m going to try out some others too, just to see what will work best, I’ll report back.

  3. Your skin is pretty much flawless so I will buy whatever you tell me to. (Plus I am lazy and my current skin care regimen is: sunscreen and sometimes a hydrating oil. Maybe. Mostly I just don’t go outside anymore.)

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