Just like shortly after summer, good skin hydration is also essential during the colder winter months. In this review we focus on four of our favourite hydrating products from the pharmacy and tell you when we use them and why.
Our favourite moisturizer to use the whole year round is Water Jelly from Uriage. This ultra-fresh gel texture delightfully melts upon contact with your skin, infusing it with its unique moisturizing complex. I must say that I am a big fan of gel textured products, but in winter you might feel that they don’t nourish your skin deep enough. That’s why in winter we shift mostly to richer creams. As soon as I feel my skin is again getting too greasy or oil , I switch back to Water Jelly from Uriage.
Water Jelly is enriched with Uriage Thermal Water, which helps not only to rebuild the cutaneous barrier to maintain an optimum level of skin hydration, but also acts on the reconstruction of the corneocitary cement for a long-lasting hydration boost. Born in the heart of the French Alps, the unique Uriage Thermal Water has flowed for 75 years through the rocks. As the seasons pass by, it gets enriched with minerals and trace elements that reinforce the barrier of our skin.After a few days of use you will notice that your skin looks more radiating. The skin’s texture is refined and the more you use it, the more your complexion will look more fresh and brighter. The fragrance of Water Jelly is a very subtle fruity floral scent which reminds us of elderflower.
Water Jelly is especially adapted for normal to mixed skin types and is available in a very practical 40 ml travel size.
www.uriage.com
Weleda Skin Food is the kind of product I use on my face and body wherever my skin needs that little bit extra; on those spots where my sensitive skin feels a bit dry or rough. These can be specific areas on my face or even my whole face. Or on some days my elbows, hands and feet, wherever we feel that our skin has been put under strain, we let Skin Food put it back in.
Weleda Skin Food is not a typical cream. It has more the texture of an ointment so it might feel a bit unusual when you first apply it, as it doesn’t melt into your skin straight away, but don’t worry it won’t stay greasy. When I feel my skin needs it, I even apply a thin layer on my face in the morning and it’s no problem at all to apply my foundation (from Clarins) immediately afterwards. Your skin won’t look shiny or feel oily but when you touch your skin you will realize that it feels well nourished. Even after only one day of application.
Skin Food is a 100% certified natural deeply nourishing and intensely hydrating moisturiser that restores and protects dry and rough skin. Organic sunflower oil rich in essential fatty acids and vitamin E nourishes the skin intensely. Extract of tricolor violet and organic extracts of chamomile and calendula have a soothing and calming effect on the irritated and dry skin. Protecting sweet almond oil, lanolin and beeswax enhance the regenerating powers of our skin and bring it back in balance. The scent is a typical Weleda scent and reminds me of a herbal garden. It’s the perfect product for colder days.
Our favourite sizewise: the 30 ml travel size.
www.weleda.be
My biggest secrets for when things go wrong are ‘Avène Soothing moisture mask‘ and ‘Cicalfate Restorative Protective Cream‘. These Avène products have the same properties as Flammazine. It’s something everybody should have in its medicine kabinet. Avène Soothing moisture mask is particularly indicated for sunburns, flushes, tight, irritated, dehydrated, dull or sensitive skin. The application instructions advise you to put a thick layer of product on the skin, leave it for 10 to 15 minutes and take of the residue with a cotton, but I mostly apply a thin layer before I go to bed. You will experience a true moisture bath that leaves your skin refreshed and glowing. Cicalfate Restorative Protective Cream is a kind of SOS-cream ointment that restores your skin 2.5 times faster than normal, with proven efficacy of 48 hours.
Free from fragrance, colouring agents and parabenes.
www.eau-thermale-avene.be
Eucerin Aquaphor Skin Repair Balm I use on my lips and hands whenever I go running during winter months. It provides dry, very dry, cracked and irritated skin with the SOS care it needs but I also use it as a kind of prevention for cracked skin. The waterless balm forms a soft, semi-occlusive and protective protective barrier on the skin that promotes the natural transfer of water vapour and oxygen to and from the skin, allowing it to breathe and strengthen its natural protective barrier.
As Eucerin Aquaphor Skin Repair Balm also accelerates the skin regeneration process I use it just before I go to bed on my heels whenever they are cracked or feel dry. Make sure to put some bed socks, otherwise your bedlinen will get all greasy.
Aquaphor Balm is enriched with glycerin and panthenol. Glycerine is an effective moisturizer which attracts water and helps keep it in the skin. It works alongside panthenol which helps to speed up regeneration and repair while moisturising the skin.
It is fragrance free and has no preservatives.
www.eucerin.be
