Caring for your skin over the festive period.

The holiday festivities are underway and while it’s all great fun, usually we are left with the tell tale signs on our skin – not to mention our waistlines and wallets.

While I can’t help to control your bank balance or calorie intake, I can offer some tips to surviving the party season with your skin intact(ish)!

1. Prevention is better than cure. If you anticipate a late night, drink plenty of water between drinks to help keep skin hydrated. (It will help with hangovers too).

Leave your cleanser and a clean cloth out where you can quickly pick them up on your way to bed, reducing the likelihood of sleeping with your makeup on.

2. If you do sleep in your makeup, I recommend an enzyme exfoliation next morning followed by a deep oil treatment such as our Skin Comfort Oil.

Apply 1-2 pumps over a freshly exfoliated face, then go back to bed for twenty minutes with a cup of tea while it does its work. It will awl amazing!

3. Give your skin extra nourishment daily as a protection against dehydration. A couple of drops of Lipid Repair Concentrate, or other non-fragrant facial oil, under your moisturiser every day will ensure that your skin retains water and is supplied with essential fatty acids.

4. Try to relax. I know it’s hard when you have a million things to do, but stress will exacerbate breakouts in people prone to acne or can cause rosacea flare ups in others.

5. If you are prone to spots, go easy on the dairy products and salty foods.

6. If you are prone to facial redness avoid spicy foods, shellfish, fizzy drinks, alcohol and caffeine. (Ok, that’s hard, but at least be aware that they are potential triggers).

7. If your Christmas is more walks on the beach than drinks by the fire then remember you still need an SPF 30 every day and in cold or windy weather I recommend using a rich cream underneath for extra physical protection and repair.

Try our Skin Comfort Cream – a pea-sized amount will be all you’ll need.

8. Remember that sugar is an ageing agent on the skin, so think twice before you have that extra piece (crate) of chocolate.

9. Eat lots of fruit and veg. We all tend to ignore the fruit bowl at Christmas when there’s much more ‘interesting’ fare on offer but be nice to your skin and feed it lots of anti-oxidants from the inside too.

10. A smile is a great facial treatment! A good laugh takes years off you and is the best form of relaxation. Enjoy the time off work, catch up with friends and try not to fight with your family!

Discover our range of skincare products online and in our Wexford clinic:

The most important cell in the skin structure is the keratinocyte.

Certainly all of the other cells are important, and if any one system goes wrong all the others are negatively affected, but for me keratinocyte is king because it repairs the outer, protective layer.

If this layer is compromised your skin will look, and be, unhealthy and all possible skin issues will worsen.

This is why, for us at Skin Essentials, our first concern is always the state of repair of your keratinocytes! When these key cells are healthy they are effecting communication between the skin’s surface and the cells and systems underneath, helping with immune system responses, hydration, natural exfoliation and oil/water balance.

These functions have a direct impact on things such as how smooth your skin looks, how plump it is, evenness of colour, formation of lesions such as milia, redness, reactivity and comfort of the skin.

When the keratinocyte layer is intact and healthy you will experience softer, smoother, more even coloured skin with fewer breakouts, irritations and slower visible ageing.

Taking care of these vital cells means supplying the skin system with all of the building blocks of strong keratinocytes. These ingredients include omega 3 & 6, phospholipids, ceramides, vitamins A, C, E , B3, multiple antioxidants, squalene and many others.

To ensure that your skin is getting these building blocks and to give it the best chance to remain healthy and functioning optimally for many years you can provide these nutrients from inside and out.

In your diet, make sure that you are getting plenty of varied fresh fruit, vegetables and water, include essential fatty acid-rich foods such as oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds.

From the outside supply your keratinocytes with top quality nutrition via your Skin Essentials products. To ensure all of the required building blocks are covered we recommend the following products:

Lipid Repair Concentrate (oil soluble nutrients)

Hydra Collagen Serum (water soluble nutrients)

Age Slowly Serum (vitamin A)

So you are happy with your skin right now,

Either because you have completed a course of advanced corrective facial treatments such as our Pyramid Facelift,

Or because you are one of the lucky ones who are starting early enough with great skincare habits to be able to work the ‘prevention is better than cure’ angle.

Either way, the situation is the same…you are happy with your skin and want to keep it that way.

It may be obvious, but the first consideration is your homecare. Get this right and you are a long way towards keeping your skin happy, healthy and youthful.

Failling to get this step right would be like going to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned and then not brushing them daily at home! If you are not yet a Skin Essentials homecare client, or if you are and you want to check that your routine is still optimum for you, why not avail of our product matching consultation service with one of our experts, it’s free of charge!

Once your homecare is right, you can then start to consider maintenance facials. These are monthly or bi-monthly treatments – depending on your skin’s needs and your availability.

Our facials are custom blended for your skin every time and are not your usual ‘relaxing’ type facial.

While we can promise you that you will be blissed out by our signature facial massages, hot towel cocoons and delicious natural aromas, our custom facial treatments are primarily results-focused using custom combinations of enzymes, acids, plant botanicals and specialised machines.

Adding a regular facial to your skincare routine will extend the results of any corrective courses and dramatically slow down the ageing process – while being the treat in your month that you will look forward to the most!

Book a treatment online or call us on 053 9145981 for more info:

We are hosting a Product Matching Day on Friday 16th November at Skin Essentials, Wexford. Booking is essential so call us on 053 9145981 to book your free consultation. Find out more about the event HERE.

The onset of winter and the associated heating has an unbalancing and often drying effect on many skin types, but sensitive & acne prone can suffer more than most.

This is specifically aimed at those who have dry/occasional breakout prone skin, rather than oily or full-blown acne.

Because the air around us is drier at this time of year, at least indoors, the barrier of the skin can also become more dehydrated and compromised,

leading to increased reactivity, sensitivity and breakouts as your skin struggles to regulate itself while also keeping irritants out. Working on strengthening the barrier is of far more use in these cases than trying to deal with breakouts.

Keep your skin hydrated and happy, then the breakouts will lessen as a result. 

Try these tips:

• Use oil cleansing instead of washes or lotions. This will help stop the barrier from drying out in the first place. 
• Whatever cleanser you choose, avoid perfumes, sulphates and scented oils.
• Do not exfoliate. You want to strengthen the skin, not scrape it away!
• Increase internal and external hydration. Water, fruit and vegetables in your diet help hydrate as well as nourish, hyaluronic acid, essential fatty acids and lightweight creams are the ones to look out for (see suggested routine below).
• Make sure everything that comes in contact with your skin is clean and free from any potential barrier-disrupting bacteria. This includes makeup brushes (wash weekly), facecloths (wash daily) and pillowcases (change at least twice a week).
• Be careful of product transfer. Shampoo running down the sides of your face in the shower, perfume from your scarf transferring to your neck/jawline, hand cream being transferred to your chin if you lean on your hands at your desk – are all very common triggers for breakouts.

If your skin tends to have sensitive winter breakout behaviour the following products will help restore balance:

Hydrating Cream: light, non-greasy. Hydrates without clogging. Use under your SPF during the day or last thing at night after treatment serum.

Hyaluronic+ Moisture Boost: Binds water in the upper layers of the skin. Use one pump day or night under other products in winter if your skin tends to dehydration.

Lipid Repair Concentrate: supplies all the lipids and essential fatty acids necessary to rebuild skin barrier and prevent the water loss that leads to sensitivity. Apply 1 pump at night. Follow with moisturiser for drier skin. (Use alone for combination/oily).