Tag Archives: dry

Avoid dry and dehydrated winter skin with these must-have products

Winter must-haves for beautiful skin.

Is it just me or does to seem like we have skipped autumn and landed straight into winter?
I find that I have already begun reaching for my winter skincare routine and thought I would share my must-haves for avoiding the winter dry-out with you early this year 🙂

See my top 5 products below, handily sorted by skin type to help you choose:

Image of the top five winter skin products from Skin Essentials by Mariga, Wexford

Winter skin must-haves: Mariga’s picks.

All skin types:
If you don’t use it already our Lip Comfort Balm is an absolute MUST if you suffer with dry lips. Use as often as you like but my tip is build it into your skincare routine and use it morning and night when you do your regular skincare routine. This is enough to prevent winter dry-out or to maintain lip hydration. If you are already dry you may want to use it several times a day until your lips are back to their best then go to twice-daily maintenance.
Colourless, non-sticky and non- shiny it’s a must for everyone.

Dry or sensitised skin (low oil production): If your skin tends to dry out in the winter once the temperatures drop and heating kicks in, then prevent winter tightness and itchiness by switching to Skin Comfort Cream day and night to deeply moisturise, prevent and soothe irritation and combat redness cause by exposure. Apply after your normal serum/facial oil but remember even though it’s winter, you still need SPF30 over the top during the day.

Dehydrated skin – dry or oily (lack of water retention in the skin): If dehydration is your issue, you will experience fine lines, particularly around the tops of the cheeks, flaking or patchy skin. This skin needs help to retain water and hyaluronic acid is the answer. This hero ingredient binds water to itself resulting in a hydrated and plumped up skin. The Skin Essentials by Mariga product to choose is the Hyaluronic+ Moisture Boost Serum. Use alone or mixed in with your regular serum to provide a shot of hydration. Tip: I use this at night under my night cream because my day serum (Hydra Collagen Serum) already has some hyaluronic in it. Too much hyaluronic acid on your skin at once can cause your makeup to roll off. If you don’t wear makeup, no problem use it whenever you prefer.

Oily skin:
You can still get dehydrated (see above) if the water in your skin is evaporating too fast due to central heating or fires. If this is already happening use the Hyaluronic+ Moisture Boost as above. To prevent dehydration and keep oily skin conditioned and healthy, but not greasy or shiny, use Hydrating Cream at night after your regular serum, and also during the day if you work in a dry heated environment. As always, you need SPF30 daily throughout the year.

Find all our products on our webshop here or call in to us in our Selskar Street skin clinic in Wexford Town for advice.

What’s your type? Tips for each skin type.

Skin types listed on a face diagram by Skin Essentials by Mariga

What’s your type?

Do you find it difficult to choose a skincare product off the shelf ? There are so many, all claiming to be THE ONE that it’s no wonder the consumer is confused. After all, how are you supposed to know which new amazing-sounding high tech ingredient or ”new” plant extract is going to clear up that flaky patch on your chin or stop your make-up from sliding off your face an hour after you applied it? In an effort to categorise the products into something you might relate to yourself, most mass market companies divide their offerings into ”skin type”. You will see these as the words dry, dehydrated, combination, oily, normal, mature, sensitive, blemish-prone, delicate, fragile etc. etc.

Clear? I thought not!

In reality there are only three basic skin types that everyone will fall into to some degree: Lipid Dry, Oily and Permanent Diffuse Redness (ref: Florence Barrett-Hill, Advanced Skin Analysis).
The rest are just marketing terms and have nothing to do with the skin type that you are born with. ”But I have dry cheeks and an oily T-zone, isn’t that combination skin?” I hear you say. Well, yes and no. You may well be suffering from an imbalance in your skin that is causing these symptoms, but this is a correctable or treatable condition, not your basic skin type. Often, these skin conditions are caused by ongoing use of the incorrect products for your basic skin type.

How do you know which one you are? If you have mainly oily, mainly dry or predominately red skin with little to no secondary concerns then it’s easy, just treat at home for your skin type and get an appropriate facial every couple of months (see the links below for characteristics and tips on each skin type). But many people won’t be an extreme version of any type so to get an accurate analysis you must be diagnosed by a skincare professional. This will involve examining your skin under strong light and magnification, taking a detailed history of your skin and using a diagnostic device such as a skin scanner. A comprehensive skin analysis will take at least 90 minutes. You will come away with a full understanding of your skin, what has been wrong in the past, how to treat it and which products to use going forward. Your basic majority skin type will be explained, any current skin conditions addressed and questions answered. This detailed consultation is the only way to truly understand your skin and means that your salon treatment and homecare regime will be completely personalised for a real, long-term solution.

Once this information is in place you can really begin to get a handle on your own individual skin needs and address them daily. In this way your skin will get better and better over time, transient conditions such as dehydration, flaking, shine will become a thing of the past and your skin will be balanced and well-behaved. Generally speaking your basic daily homecare is geared toward caring for your skin TYPE while corrective serums to use at home and/or clinical treatments correct skin CONDITIONS.

Remember, all skin types will require anti-ageing at some point, this does not affect your basic skin type!

See more on SKIN ANALYSIS here

Read Mariga’s focus on DRY SKIN here

Read about OILY SKIN here

Is your skin suffering from January syndrome?

Have you spent January being (mostly) healthy? Have you eaten well, exercised a bit and kept a consistent skincare routine? If you have, well done and I hope you are getting the benefits in increased energy and glowing skin!

Or are you one of those superhuman people that have actually stuck rigidly to a January ‘detox’? If so, your skin may be suffering from what we here at Skin Essentials by Mariga call January Syndrome! This is where you feel like you are doing all the right things for your body and skin but you still end up with a dull, dry complexion. The major culprit for this is fat, lack of good fats in your diet will impact skin negatively and after a few weeks you will notice that your skin feels rougher, looks less radiant, maybe even downright dull or ashy, and it can feel dry with an increase in noticeable fine lines.

Good fats are needed in your body for your skin cells to be properly formed, healthy and intact. Without these you are producing poor quality keratin cells that will not function properly to keep water in your skin and to keep environmental irritants out, resulting in the conditions described above.

Lipid Repair Concentrate from Skin Essentials by Mariga will help restore your skin to its radiant, healthy, strong best.

Lipid Repair Concentrate – restore healthy, radiant skin.

The good news is that this can be corrected as long as you haven’t let it go too far! People who follow a long-term fat free or very low fat diet will have prematurely aged skin that is difficult to restore to its former appearance. But if you have just started noticing it then it will be simple enough to reverse with correct skincare, barrier repair treatments where necessary and definitely a re-introduction of good fats in your diet. (The favourites from a skin point of view are avocados, salmon, nuts and seeds).

The most important consideration in your skincare routine to correct this issue is a high quality, bio-balanced facial oil that gives your skin the exact percentage of each type of lipid it requires to rebuild and restore strength, smooth uneven texture and give you back your glow. We recommend using Lipid Repair Concentrate morning and evening under your regular cream until your skin is showing signs of recovery and then reducing to once per day for maintenance.

To quick-start your skin recovery book in for a Barrier Repair Facial. This is available in a 30 or 60 minute version and is absolutely divine as well as delivering results. Definitely one to treat yourself to, especially if you have been good for the month of January!

Have you noticed any changes with your skin since the New Year? Give us a call on 053 9145981 and let’s see how we can help you today.