In my post on seasonal skincare tweaks (you can read it in full here) I talked about some of the things I change up in my routine when fall gets into full swing. Replacing lighter moisturizers with richer ones, for example, to counteract the drying effects of colder weather and central heating.
Arguably the most important piece of advice in that post was the advice to stay away from very strong, powerful active ingredients if your skin feels irritated. Powerful vitamin C serums, intense acid peels, advanced retinoids – keep them for a while until your face is robust enough to use again. Which might be a week later, or a month later, or it might never be. My general point is that if your skin barrier is compromised and your face feels sensitive, dry and tight, then why would you – for lack of a better phrase – rub salt in the wound? Why put harsh exfoliants on skin that may already be excessively exfoliated? Why force your skin into emergency repair mode when it’s already fighting to protect itself?
It would be like having a terrible flu and thinking, I know what I need: an ice bath session followed by eight double gin and tonics and a Boxercise class.
Or something like that.
I have some fleeting and not-so-fleeting concerns that things have gone a little over the top in skincare. I think it’s great that we have highly effective products at our fingertips – products that we don’t need a prescription for and that don’t cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds – but there is a downside to this new level of accessibility. And that’s the fact that no one is standing over the one who buys them all and says “DON’T USE ALL OF THIS IN ONE ROUTINE BUT YOUR FACE WILL LITERALLY GET ON FIRE AND THEN IT FALLS OFF AND YOU CAN’T WEAR MAKEUP FOR A YEAR”. .
OK, so I’m being a little dramatic here, but it would be really easy to just pick up a handful of readily available skincare products—acidic exfoliating pads, a pokey vitamin c, retinol in a particularly user-unfriendly formula—and use them as weapons. face destruction. I feel like the concentrations of some active ingredients have increased noticeably over the years I’ve been writing about beauty, and I definitely have to be more careful now when testing products than I had to back in the day.
(I mean yeah, the fact that my face is bigger could have something to do with it – he’s probably sick of my shit now, the daily slobbering and the constant “let’s try something new!” – but let’s just ignore it that’s it for now.)
So: what if you want highly effective products but not the potential irritation? What if you want to get away from color-stripping exfoliating pads, but want something that will give you a good glow? Or what if your skin is permanently a little on the sensitive side? Doesn’t do well with retinoids or vitamin C? What if – and these are most of my non-beauty friends – you just don’t mind using the strongest stuff you can get your hands on, you just want to keep your skin on an even keel, but still want to be safe in the knowledge that you have a highly effective skin care routine? Box ticked?
I have some suggestions for you. I have tried and tested the following products on nth degree and you feel that everything is beautifully gentle on skin that is more sensitive, but do not sacrifice potency or effectiveness. They’re all products that I use regularly in my routine, whether my skin is feeling thin or not – I’m not really one for the ‘blast your face off’ approach to skincare, I prefer to keep things balanced these days – and they’re great pieces to wear you can invest if you want a routine that still packs a punch but does so with very furry inflatable boxing gloves.
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I talk about it a lot. A very gentle daily exfoliating liquid that you swipe over the skin after cleansing, it’s formulated with a blend of alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids to brighten (AHAs) and decongest (BHAs) skin. The ingredients have been balanced “just so” to maximize results and minimize irritation. If peel pads usually leave your skin smelling a little too much, this is a great (and very affordable) swap.
Placid Daily Exfoliant is here*.
If anything is going to piss me off, it’s going to be an unknown vitamin C serum. I tend to be pretty hard on retinoids in general, but throw in a vitamin C product that doesn’t agree with my face at all and I’m as irritable as a bear in a swarm of bees for the whole day.
No such problems with Skin Rocks highly advanced serum, “The Antioxidant”. It has more tolerable levels of vitamin C in the formula, but smart ways to boost it and reduce the risk of irritation. It’s impressive. If you’ve invested in expensive, high-performance antioxidant serums in the past, but found them incompatible with your skin, then this could be just the ticket.
The antioxidant is here*
If high-strength retinoids tend to make your skin dry/itchy, make sure you introduce them very slowly – every few days to start, or even once a week. If you still can’t tolerate them but want to reap the benefits of a good retinol product, try a cream formula instead of a serum. I’ve found that the cream acts as a buffer – it’s almost like putting out the fire as it happens, although I wish I could think of a less alarming way to explain it. Haha.
I do incredibly well with RoC retinol products – the Retinol Correxion Moisturizer (gold pot) is so hydrating that you’ll struggle to deal with any kind of dryness or tightness or flaking. (These can be common side effects of using retinoids if you’re not careful.)
Retinol Correxion is here*.
You might be wondering why anyone bothers with retinoids after all my weird warnings: they bother with it because it’s widely regarded as the “gold standard” skin care ingredient that treats (almost) all skin ailments. Lines, cracks, uneven tone, loss of firmness, dullness: you name it, it’s usually been extensively proven to help with it. So it’s great to incorporate into your routine if you’re not into skincare at all but want something that ‘really makes a difference’. And on that note, we also have:
Retinol + HPR is here*.
Some additional notes:
A brand I really rate when skin is generally on the sensitive side and I want to be able to trust anything and everything on their site: Pai. I fell in love with Pai products when I was still modeling and couldn’t find a single eye cream that didn’t sting the patch of weird rawness I constantly had under my left eye. They started with very few products and then the range gradually expanded until there were things like AHA masks and spot treatments and none of them ever left my skin feeling uncomfortable.
I currently have a real thing for Vitamin C Day Cream. (Actually, another great one if you usually find Vitamin C products to be a little irritating!)
Pai C-2 Believe Moisturizer is here*.
Another current favorite that ties in closely with this niche: Avene Hyaluron Activ B3. Truly highly concentrated hydration in a gentle formula.
Hyaluron Activ B3 serum is here*.
