The best winter skincare routine to adopt in your 50s and beyond
In this regular series, Ageless Beauty, The Telegraph’s beauty experts Annabel Jones and Lisa Armstrong tackle the conundrums they’ve been searching for answers to, and share their favourite tips and tricks.
This week, they discuss winter skincare. Ask them your questions below...
It’s tempting to overdo your skincare in winter. Go through your current routine before adding yet another layer. Start at the beginning: a gentle but effective cleanser. I’ve been wowed by DoSe’s Daily Cleanser which is a gel that turns milky when applied to damp skin. with prebiotics and encapsulated vitamin A, C and E.
I finally met Joanna Czech recently. She’s a big deal in the world of facialists, knows her stuff – and one of her five golden pillars of skincare is that your beauty routine should start at your scalp and end at your nipples. I also use any leftover product on my upper arms. Depending on how my skin feels, I might use hyaluronic acid. Jane Scrivner’s Bioluronic Buzz is a clean, biofermented formula easily absorbed by the skin .
Y Theorem Bio Cellulose Facial Masks, £95 for five, 111 Skin; Jane Scrivner Bioluronic Buzz, £36, Sue Parkinson
Products are 60 per cent more effective at night and to make sleep time even better for my skin, I’ve just bought one of those “Flawless Pillows” you see on Instagram from Blessed Silk – it’s shaped like a double-sided bone and various colleagues, who are all side sleepers like me, say it eradicated those deep morning face creases, £85.
Morning and night, I like to massage for three minutes with some organic oil – currently Ilapothecary’s with vitamins A, C, D and E. Czech is a big advocate of Vitamin C, for stimulating collagen and elastin production, and brightening skin and helping pigmentation. I use my hands but also a gua sha crystal which helps lymphatic drainage more efficiently than any machine, tones and makes products much more effective. Then I pop on a moisturiser. Neal’s Yard’s Frankincense Hydrating Cream feels like an emollient treat and is very reasonable - all their Frankincense formulae are terrific. I finish with Mii SPF 50 primer, £26, which makes any concealer or foundation last longer, but also protects from the sun.
Vitamin A, C, D & E Rich Face Oil, £51, Ilapothecary; Rejuvenating Frankincense Hydrating Cream, £35, Neal’s Yard
Sometimes I use 111’s Sheet Masks – there’s a whole range and they really are the business. The Y Theorem Bio Cellulose ones are biodegradable. I put one on during a flight to New York recently and had to go out to dinner that night. Several people remarked how good my skin looked.
You can achieve a huge amount by drinking more water - something I struggle with, especially in winter, so I slurp down warming herbal teas. I make my own loose-leaf mixtures from Neal’s Yard: fennel, liquorice, organic rose petals, maybe some chamomile… it’s warming and the liquorice is slightly sweet so it helps with sugar cravings.
Victoria Beckham says she uses her Dermalux Light Mask every day for 30 minutes – it’s the most powerful home one on the market and costs £2,000. But if you have a less expensive version sitting in a drawer, get it out. At the very least, it’s a chance to park your mobile for 20 minutes. That’s good for your skin and neck too.
As soon as I turn on the central heating, my skin rebels. It feels tight and uncomfortably dry like it’s dying of thirst. It’s most certainly in a sulk, refusing to emit a healthy glow in protest, and I can hardly blame it.
The oscillating nature of going from hot to cold a trillion times throughout the day is too heavy a burden for anyone’s complexion to take – particularly one that’s low in ceramides and collagen, two of the things that diminish as we age. Hence, it needs more than you think in winter to keep the status quo.
More doesn’t always equate to more products, it simply means you must make some smart swaps. The first product I trade up is my cleanser. It must be oily, balmy and nourishing. There’s a few I like – Sarah Chapman’s Skinesis Ultimate Cleanse, £54, is delightful. For something lighter, Naturium’s Fermented Camellia Creamy Cleansing Oil, £22, melts away makeup and pollutants efficiently.
But my ultimate is Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm. Both soothing and nourishing, it dissolves make-up and deep-down dirt without an ounce of effort, leaving your skin feeling as smooth as a pebble. It’s so good you’ll go through the pot in record time (it’s 54g compared with Sarah Chapman’s 100ml and Naturium’s 104ml). A price I’m willing to pay for such decadence.
Tatcha The Indigo Cleansing Balm, £40; Ultra Violette SPF50 Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial SkinScreen, £34 (both SpaceNK)
During the day, I continue with vitamin C as I do all year round. I’m back on Allies of Skin 20% Vitamin C Brighten + Firm Serum, which is best applied to wet skin after cleansing. This one includes diamond powder which provides instant radiance. Over time it illuminates a dull visage while fighting free radicals from the environment.
Retinal 0.05% & Peptides Repair Night Cream, £77; 20% Vitamin C Brighten + Firm Serum, £65.10 (both Allies of Skin)
Speaking of Allies, the brand’s founder, Nicolas Travis, has the best skin I’ve seen on a human being. Ever. I trust his advice wholeheartedly and have been a fan of the range since it launched. Thus I also use the Retinal 0.05% & Peptides Repair Night Cream, £110, every other night.
Retinoids are best applied in winter when the sun is hiding out. Retinal (retinaldehyde) is a fast-acting kind of retinoid that minimises fine lines. In the long run, it boosts collagen and firms the skin. It’s also superb on blemishes, if you can tolerate it. I’ve had zero irritation with this retinal, but it’s always advisable to increase your dose slowly when using any retinoid for the first time, beginning with once a week, then twice and eventually daily, if required.
I wasn’t going to mention it, as it’s a queasy amount a lot of money to splurge on one serum alone, but Allies of Skin Multi-Peptides and GF Advanced Lifting Serum, £176, has some miraculous clinical results on hooded eyelids and forehead wrinkles. This can be layered in the morning and at night with the vitamin C and with the retinoid at night. I’m new to this one, but I’m hopeful my hoods will soon be a distant memory.
Whatever serum I use, in winter I always end my nighttime routine with a face oil. There are so many good ones.
Pai’s Rosehip Bioregenerate Rejuvenating Overnight Facial Oil, £29, is one of the best sustainable, organic oils I’ve found. Rosehip is rich in Vitamin C, E and A, a gentle but potent anti-ager (retinol is a form of Vitamin A). Otherwise, I’m a devotee of Skinesis Overnight Facial. Expensive, but for me, it lasts all season (cost per wear, it’s as cheap as chips…). This one contains Vitamin A and C, Omega oils for suppleness and two other fancy ingredients that firm the skin and increase the cell longevity.
The other thing to mention is SPF. I hate to be a bore, but skin is really, truly vulnerable to sun damage in the winter. And since UV light causes as much as 90 per cent of visible ageing, I carry on with my sunscreen during the day as if it were summertime. Besides, it gives the skin a thin veil of reflection, making it the perfect primer for under make-up. My go-tos are: Mecca Cosmetica’s To Save Face SPF50 Brightening Sun Serum, £38, and Ultra Violette’s SPF50 Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Skinscreen, £34. Both are lightly hydrating and non-greasy.
Skinesis Overnight Facial, £104, Sarah Chapman; RMS Beauty SuperSerum Hydrating Mist, £39, Cult Beauty
I must squeeze in one more, though it’s more of a booster than a necessity. RMS Beauty’s SuperSerum Hydrating Mist is a blend of mineral-infused sea water and a glow complex of niacinamide and seed extracts that I mist over my make-up – once in the morning and again midday to add dew. I’ve not found anything as good for bringing skin to life.
