"People don't notice it's winter or summer when they're happy." -Anton Ceckhov

With winter knocking at our door, we need to start changing our skin care and make-up routines to suit the climate.

Winter is particularly harsh on our skin as it assaults us with all extremes; the bone chilling cold outside, heart warming heating inside as well as winds, rains, and the never forgiving suns rays of our Australian climate.

So what does this mean for our skin? Protection.

In winter, our skin tends to get dryer from both the cold outside and the heating inside. Both of these have negative affects on our exposed faces, and can results in dry, flaky, uncomfortable skin. No matter what your skin type, winter tends to call for a slightly richer moisturizer to help retain hydration through all conditions. For example, if you usually don’t wear a moisturiser due to oily skin, maybe look at a light lotion or gel for winter. Normal / combination skin which may be used to a lotion may look at a cream for the winter months, and dry skin which is used to a cream, may need to think about an addition such as a face oil to combat the weather.

Most importantly though, is to remember that although we are heading towards the overcast, drizzly days, sunscreen is still vital. The suns rays are comprised to two major levels which affect our skin. Firstly UVB rays, which are the rays which causes the skin to burn in prolonged exposure. Most sunscreens on the market protect against this and the product is rated with the SPF rating. However, UVB rays are not the only ones we need to be wary of. UVA rays are ever present; they can even assault our skin through windows. UVA rays do not burn the skin, and offer no indication that exposure is present. Theses are the rays, however, which cause 80% or aging in the skin, and what we need to protect against the most. Although there is no rating for UVA like there is for UVB rays in our products, there are two main ingredients which you can look for when buying products to make sure you are protected. In a sunscreen product, you need to look at the ingredient listing for either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. Even though you may not see the sun in winter, UVA rays are still present, so it is imperative we continue to take care of our skin through these months with a sunscreen everyday.

When it comes to make-up in the winter months, most women need to change the foundation colour. Ideally women should have their foundation colour re-matched twice a year, once in summer as we tend to have a little more colour in our skin, and once in winter, as most of us don out winter white faces. If you have one colour which takes you throughout the whole year, chances are that the colour will never quite match, as in summer it will be too pale, and winter, too dark. So head to your local cosmetics counter and get re-matched for your colour. You may also want a slightly heavier foundation in winter, once again to protect the skin from the dehydration our winter climate causes on the skin. If however you are extremely diligent, as we all should be, with protecting your face from the sun, chances are you are like me, and are ghostly pale all year round, so changing your foundation colour isn’t really relevant. No need to worry though, that’s what bronzers are for, so we don’t look like walking corpses!
Whether you are inside in the heated luxury, or out in the chilling cold, remember, your skin needs protection. Be aware of your skin and its changes, because no one knows you skin like you do.