GET YOUR SKIN IN SHAPE FOR 2020.

GET YOUR SKIN IN SHAPE FOR 2020.

Good skin isn’t just about products. It’s about using the right products, and having a good  lifestyle to go along with it. I like to come at skin from a 360 approach – so many things can affect it, both inside and outside of our body. It’s our largest organ and therefore a lot of factors can affect the way it looks.

Below I’ve outlined some of the main factors that affect skin health and given you tips on how to approach each of these. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed so maybe starting with 3 of these things and seeing how you go will be super beneficial to your skin – and once you see the effects you can try more. Or how about adding one every month for this year? See what you think it do able for you. But I promise you with these tips you’ll have your best skin yet in 2020 🙂

LIFESTYLE

I’m not here to tell you to have a really strict diet or workout regime – but simply to be as healthy as you can be. Good skin is healthy skin and since your skin is your largest organ – it’s always going to reflect your lifestyle.

Drinking lots of water, adding a lemon in hot water first thing to flush toxins, making sure your workout to release toxins and promote circulation, adding supplements to help balance your hormones (you can watch my highlight on supplements here), not eating dairy or too much sugar (which inflame and imbalance the skin) are quite simple things that make a huge difference. Even just making sure you have clean pillowcase and silk eye mask if you sleep on your side and have crows feet. Make sure to clean your phone, too – it’s likely you put it down on surfaces you wouldn’t lie your face on and then you either take a call and spread that bacteria, or you handle it and then touch your face. Sleep is a huge factor for any healthy body and skin does most of it’s repairing at night so it’s paramount you get some proper shut eye – try putting your phone and any other devices in another room – you can read my top sleep tips here. Sleep also helps combat stress which can be  a huge factor when it comes to upset skin.

If you live in a busy city I’d also recommend trying to make the air you live in as clean as you can, there are of course air purifiers available to buy – but even leafy greens plants help remove pollutants from the air – spider plants, fiddle leafs and aloe vera have been proven the  most effective. Try and have at least one plant in every room. Adding a great antioxidant daily like green tea is a great way to help protect your skin too. All really easy to do but really effective changes to have your best skin yet.

 

KNOWLEDGE

Learn about your skin. Your skin is different to everyone else’s – yes you may have a skin ‘type’ but you also have specific genes and hormones at work that only you have. Knowledge is power. To know what products will have the best affect on your skin you need to figure out what your skin needs. Is it dry? Oily? Breaking out in a certain areas? Sensitive to sun? Allergic to certain foods? I’d recommend writing down everything you know about your skin. eg ‘it gets oily in the afternoon’ ‘When I’m on my period I get breakouts’ ‘It gets dry in winter’ ‘my forehead has some fine lines’ literally anything and everything you can say about it – the good and the bad! Once you have this information you can begin to see certain patterns in your skin and figure out which areas need to most help.

If you feel completely lost I highly recommend booking your self an appointment with a great aesthetician who can let you know the areas you can work on. I love Pfeffer Sal as they do a scan of your skin to see dehydration, sun damage, sensitivity, irritations, skin tone, pigmentation, pore size, wrinkles, thinned skin. It really is an incredible way to give you such useful information about your skin that can’t necessarily be seen to the naked eye. It comes as part  of the Essential Facial or you can book it alone with a consultation for £50.

CONSISTENCY

Using a product once isn’t going to make  a huge difference to your skin – just like working out once doesn’t give you muscle definition. Skin is an organ and needs time and training to be at its best. Once you have figured out what your skin needs in terms of products and lifestyle then it can take up to 2 or 3 months to see a big difference – so don’t give up! Use that eye cream twice a day and that mask every week even if it doesn’t seem to immediately be making a difference. Your skin will eventually realise you’re giving it what it needs and all the small things you’ve changed will begin to make a difference – not just in your skin but in how you feel. All good things take time.

PRODUCTS

The non negotiables for every type of skin are to wear sunscreen everyday (yes even in grey London – if it’s daylight there are rays around and it’ll protect you from blue light from screens also), make sure you cleanse your makeup off properly (this means a double cleanse in the evening), exfoliate at least 3 times a week and use a clay mask weekly and a hydrating one twice weekly. Remember to clean your makeup brushes regularly to remove germs that may be lurking and being transferred to your skin daily. Those are the basics.

In terms of figuring out what products are right for you then that’s what my Instagram Highlights are for  – I do a Sunday School weekly where I break down an ingredient or type of product for you to let you know what it does and who it’s for. I’ve been doing it weekly for almost 2 years so there is so much info there. You can find all my favourite products for each step of your routine on my Lolita List, here.