I don’t know what the weather has been like
where you are, but where I live it’s been absolutely freezing! I can always
tell what the weather is going to be like by looking at my skin, and as soon as
that cold weather hits, my skin gets very unhappy. My hands are usually the
first to show it, with my fingers getting sore and cracked. But I also struggle
with dry and itchy skin on my face and body. It’s not much fun, so I’m always
looking for products that might help and have tried quite a few over the years.
I thought I would share some of my favourites with you today in case you are
also battling with the cold. As well as some of my personal favourites, I have
also asked my friends and family for their recommendations, so I have quite a
few things to share with you.
Body:
Let’s start with some body products – if you’re
finding your skin feels tight, itchy, dry and flaky, using a good moisturiser
is so important.
One of my favourite drugstore body creams I’ve
tried is this Vitamin E All Over Body Cream from Superdrug. It’s an absolute bargain at £3.49 and I would recommend it time
and time again. I started using it after a couple of operations, as I wanted
something I could use on my scars. After a few months, my scars had faded so
well, and I’ve continued to use the cream on areas such as my elbows, knees and
even hands during really cold spells. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that
helps to shield your skin against environmental damage and premature skin
ageing. As well as containing vitamin E, this cream also includes a skin
conditioning multivitamin complex of vitamins A, B, F and H.
When I was thinking about writing this post, I
also wanted to talk to friends and family about their favourite products. One
person I chatted to was my sister, who has been plagued with itchy and painful
eczema for most of her life. She’s tried so many different creams and lotions
over the years, but unfortunately has struggled to find anything that makes
much of a difference. One product she has continued to use is Aveeno Cream,
which was recommended by her GP and seems to help with the itching a bit. It is
formulated with active colloidal oatmeal, which is proven to restore the skin’s
natural barrier, making it great for eczema sufferers. It is also suitable for
babies from three months, and although it’s a bit pricier, it does seem to
work.
You might remember my post from a couple of
months ago, when I chatted to you about some products the lovely people at
Eucerin sent me. I loved them so much, so when they contacted me again and
asked if I would like to try out their dry skin range, I jumped at the chance!
This Eucerin Dry Skin Intensive Lotion* is formulated with urea (which might sound a bit odd, I know it did when I
first heard about it! But my GP has prescribed things with urea before, and
it’s actually a really great moisturiser that is naturally present in healthy
skin). In many dry skin conditions the skin’s natural urea levels are
decreased, which leads to further moisture loss. This cream helps to replace
the lost urea, as well as containing natural lipids, which help the skin feel
smooth and supple. It is particularly helpful for conditions like Atopic
eczema. It does say it’s fragrance free, but I think it does have a bit of an
odd smell, which I think might be the urea, as I’ve smelt it in similar
products before. But it’s not overpowering, and the cream definitely helps so
I’m happy to ignore it!
Nivea is a brand I’ve used for as long as I can
remember and one I can always trust to take care of my skin. This Nivea Crème is a lovely thick formula, with the typical clean smell that Nivea products
tend to have. According to Nivea, it provides the skin with all it needs to
stay pure, nourished and smooth, and I can definitely vouch for this. You can
pretty much use it everywhere – face, hands, body, arms and legs, and a 50ml
pot is only £1.39 – an absolute bargain!
Face:
Next up, I’ve got a few face products for you.
Although a couple of the body creams are suitable to use on your face, it’s
often the case that the skin on your face needs different things to the skin on
your body.
My first face product is another item from
Nivea – the Nivea Daily Essentials Regenerating Night Cream,
which is £3 at Boots at the moment. My one is for normal and combination skin,
but they also do one specifically for dry skin too. Again, this cream feels
thick and luxurious, lightly scented with the usual Nivea scent. Putting this
on my face at night, I can really feel my skin drinking it up, and in the
morning it feels soft and refreshed. The cream is enriched with good old
vitamin E, Lotus Extract and Hydra IQ, which provide intensive moisture and
support the skin’s regenerating process during the night. I wasn’t sure what
Hydra IQ was, but according to Nivea it supports your natural moisturisation
via the skin’s own water channels, therefore promoting moisture flow between
skin cells. Sounds good to me!
Another Eucerin product I was kindly sent to
try out was the Eucerin Dry Skin Replenishing Cream*,
which is currently £9.75 in Boots (and also on Buy 1 get 2nd half
price on selected Eucerin). Like the other Eucerin product, this contains urea,
but only 5% this time, and the scent (or lack of) is much nicer. As well as
using this on my face (generally at night) it also works wonders on my hands
and elbows and doesn’t irritate my skin, which is always a bonus.
Next is this Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel Moisturiser that you can find in Boots for £12.99. I was intrigued to find out what a
‘water gel’ was, and am so impressed by the consistency of this gel. It’s
lovely and cooling, which feels so nice when my skin is dry and itchy, and
absorbs really quickly, leaving my skin feeling hydrated and glowing. It also
has a really fresh, clean fragrance. The moisturiser contains a unique
Hyaluronic Gel Matrix to instantly lock in intense hydration and continuously
release it as and when your skin needs it throughout the day. It really is the
product that keeps on giving! It is also oil free, so if you’ve got combination
skin, this should still suit you well.
My final face product is the Champneys Spa Skin Plus Collagen Intense Night Cream.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to find it online, but this one came from a blogger
meet-up, where Champneys kindly donated products to go in goody bags. I love a
good spa treatment, and the scent and texture of this face cream take me back
to when my Mum and I enjoyed a spa break at a Champneys hotel and spa. Oh how I
would love to go back there again! Every element of the Spa Skin Plus range is
enriched with a collagen-boosting peptide complex, so it works to actively
stimulate your skin’s collagen production and help fill out fine lines and
wrinkles. As our body’s natural renewal process works best when we sleep, it’s
the perfect time to nourish and replenish our skin. This cream is incredibly
hydrating and my skin feels so good when I wake up in the morning. The cream
includes raspberry seed oil to deeply condition and shea butter to soften.
Lips:
One thing I really hate is having dry lips, so
you will always find a selection of lip balms in my bag and bathroom cupboard
to keep them hydrated. There are so many great products out there – here are a
few to get you started.
The first product you need to use to keep your
lips feeling smooth is a scrub, and you can’t find anything that smells better
than the Lush Sugar Plum Fairy Lip scrub. Unfortunately, this was a Christmas
special, but you can find several other flavours including Honey, Bubblegum and
Popcorn here.
A mixture of smoothing fine sea salt, caster sugar and Fair Trade cocoa butter
help to soften the skin and leave a delicious taste on your lips. Believe me,
it’s very difficult not to lick it off afterwards!
One of my favourite stick lip balms comes from
Burt’s Bees,
who now boast 11 great flavours including strawberry, vanilla bean, pink
grapefruit and wild cherry – yum! They’re great for popping in your handbag,
and really nourish your lips. Infused with powerful fruit extracts and Beeswax
to richly moisturise and soften your lips, they include nourishing oils and
butters that make your lips feel healthy and happy. They are also 100% natural
and free of parabens, phthalates, petroleum and SLS, as well as coming in
recyclable packaging. I just want to try them all!
If you’re looking for something a bit more
intensive, then look no further than Eucerin Dry Skin Intensive Lip Balm*.
Another part of the Eucerin Dry Skin range that I was kindly sent, this
intensive balm contains soothing Licorice Extract to relieve extremely dry and
cracked lips, and reduce the redness around the lips due to dryness. I’ve been
turning to this time and time again during the day to keep my lips protected
from the cold. It feels soothing on my lips and it’s good to know it’s also
suitable for sensitive skin.
Before I go to bed, I like to put something on
my lips that can really work overnight to moisturise and repair them. For a few
years now, I’ve been turning to Nivea Lip Butters most nights, and they really seem to help. They’re not something I would
generally wear during the day, as they are very thick and creamy, so quite
visible on the lips. But they’re perfect for night-time when I won’t lick them
off straight away! They come in a range of scents including blueberry, coconut,
raspberry and vanilla and macadamia – all of which smell so good (and there is
an original one too). The moisturising formula with Hydra IQ contains shea
butter and almond oil to provide intense moisture and long-lasting care.
Carmex is another brand I always go to for lip
care products, and I particularly love this Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm in Cherry.
You can either get this in a pot or a squeezable tube, which I must admit I
prefer, so I don’t get it all over my fingers! Its unique formula soothes,
moisturises and relieves, resulting in soft and healthy looking lips. So many
times I have had cracked, sore lips, and Carmex have managed to get them back
to feeling normal again. It also contains SPF 15, which is so important all
year round to protect our delicate lips from the sun.
While I’m talking about winter skincare in
general, I thought I would just share this Burt’s Bees Naturally Nourishing Vanilla Bean Gift Set that I received for Christmas. It contains one of their lip balms, but also
some Ultimate Care Hand Cream, which is just as good at hydrating my skin as
their lip products are. They do all sorts of combinations and products, so I
would really recommend giving them a try.
Hands:
Last up in my winter skincare saviours are a
few products I’ve been using to keep my hands feeling soft and smooth.
As well as hating having dry lips, I can’t
stand it if my hands feel dry. It’s something I have experienced since
childhood, and I remember being on holiday somewhere and crying because my
hands felt so dry. So these days I try to make sure I carry some hand cream in
my bag, and this Eucerin Intensive Hand Cream 5% Urea* really does make such a difference, especially during these cold months. The
cream feels thick and luxurious, with the urea and lactate quickly soothing my
hands even when they’re really dry. It absorbs well into my skin and doesn’t
leave them feeling sticky, which I think is a sign of a good moisturiser. It’s
been tested in clinical studies on people including those with hand eczema, and
they found that there was an improvement in skin moisturisation of over 150%
after just one week! Everyone in the study said their skin condition had
improved, which is pretty good going I think!
My poor Mum really suffers with her hands,
especially when the weather turns cold. She’s tried various creams from the
doctors, but never seemed to find anything that helped. I decided to do a bit
of research, and came across O’Keeffe’s Working Hands,
which seemed to have a lot of recommendations from people with severely cracked
hands. It had to be worth a try. It’s an interesting texture – more like a balm
than a cream, and after a while using it, my Mum’s hands did improve. It’s a
concentrated formula that naturally conditions your skin with a high
concentration of glycerine, creating a difference you can feel within days.
Although my Mum still struggles with her hands, this has certainly helped.
One hand cream that you can often find in my
bag is the Nivea Hand Express Hydration Cream.
It’s a fairly light texture, but doesn’t skimp on the moisturising, leaving my
hands feeling hydrated and smooth. The formula contains a natural sea mineral
hydrating complex, which absorbs almost instantly. It’s one of my current
favourites, and I go back to it time and time again.
Another great staple hand cream is the
Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Concentrated Hand Cream,
which you can get either scented or unscented. This is a thicker consistency
than the Nivea one, but it still absorbs very easily, although you only need a
small amount! It gives your skin immediate and lasting relief, and I tend to
turn to this when I need something a bit more intensive. It is enriched with
glycerine and instantly relieves and protects seriously chapped hands. My hands
definitely feel noticeably softer after using this.
Last on my list is The Body Shop Hemp High Moisture Cream.
Now, I’ll start off by saying that this doesn’t have the best smell, so you
need to prepare yourself for something that isn’t going to smell like some of
their other yummy fruity products. But the smell doesn’t really bother me
because the products work so well. The hemp helps to soften and protect your
hands, and is sometimes the only thing that will offer some relief to my dry,
cracked skin. I love to lather my hands in this before bed, and then wake up in
the morning with silky soft hands. Definitely a bathroom cupboard staple for
those chilly winter days.
And there we have it – my winter skincare
saviours! This is just a selection of some of the products I enjoy to use
throughout the winter months, but I hope it has helped you if you’re currently
struggling with dry skin and need something to try.
Do you use any of these products to help with
dry skin? Are there any others you would recommend that I could try out?
*I was sent anything marked with this to review. However, all opinions are my own and I only discuss products that I would genuinely try myself.
