Winter: otherwise known as the time my skin flips because it doesn’t like cold winds, dry air inside, and all the skincare that used to work in Summer. I’ve got two product recommendations for you and a little hack for locking in moisture and leaves you with very moisturised, plump skin.
The Problem: irritated, rough looking skin, possibly compromised skin barrier
Potential Problem Solvers: Stratia Liquid Gold and Paula’s Choice Super Hydrate Overnight Mask.
Stratia Liquid Gold
The bright yellow, rather thin moisturiser ($27 for 60ml) comes with loads of ingredients to strengthen your skin barrier and is especially good for dehydrated skin or skin with a compromised skin barrier (overexfoliation, anyone?).
The hero ingredients are a complex made out of ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol that mimics and strengthens the skin barrier. On top of that there’s buckthorn oil (which tints the moisturiser yellow) that’s able to heal and strengthen, Niacinamide, Panthenol and green tea to calm and soothe.
Performance
I love Liquid Gold for its calming and soothing properties, and it does work a treat for me. The only issue I do have is the very, very thin texture. I used to think that because of the included oils Liquid Gold automatically is occlusive – imagine my surprise when I found out that plant-based oils AREN’T usually occlusive (shared by Stratia’s founder Allie on reddit).
Dimethicone (an occlusive silicone) is right in the middle of the ingredient list, but I had the sneaking suspicion that the formula isn’t occlusive enough and that all those nice ingredient evaporate into the night/my pillow (because of its colour, I mainly use Liquid Gold as my PM moisturiser).
Paula’s Choice Super Hydrate Overnight Mask
If I want to stop transepidermal water loss (my experience with that here), my first step is to reach for an overnight mask – any mask. Their main function is to keep a layer on your face and keep moisture from evaporating. While some people hate that feeling on their face, I personally don’t mind it. The Super Hydrate Overnight Mask ($34 for 88ml) gives you an impressive amount of hydrators, some anti-oxidants, and calming plant extracts.
Performance
Honestly, I’m not blown away: but it does the advertised calming and hydrating very well. (Basic products can be just that: basic and nice.)
It is AWESOME layered over Stratia’s Liquid Gold: it adds the occlusives Liquid Gold lacks. Together, they leave my skin hydrated, nourished and looking calm – all the things I want.
Skincare winter hack
Do you feel your usual moisturiser doesn’t cut it during winter? Try to add a (thin) layer of any overnight mask you own. It’ll prevent TEWL and leave your skin hydrated to the max. If you don’t want to try Paula’s Choice I’d recommend my fave cosrx Ultimate Moisturizing Honey Overnight Mask.
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