Sleep Your Way to Better Skin with Your Perfect Night Cream

You may remember watching your mum put on her anti-ageing night cream when you were young, but when is it your turn to follow suit? Are night creams really beneficial to your skin wellness, or will your regular old moisturiser do?

According to Dipikka Topiwala, beauty expert and head of marketing at Tips & Toes, ‘Any kind of beauty treatment should be done when you are completely relaxed and stress-free, to help the nutrients absorb into your skin better. Night creams work on your skin when you are sleeping; moisturising and nourishing it.’ Sufyan Kapadia, make-up expert at Clere, adds, ‘Night creams contain ingredients like retinol and AHA fruit acids that fight wrinkles and fine lines. Thus it is a must for every woman to use a night cream on a daily basis.’

So with all those brands and types out there, how do you choose a night cream? Firstly, consider your age. Every night cream has been formulated with a specific age in mind, so, if you’re in your 20s, go for a cream containing natural ingredients like aloe vera, honey and other essential oils. When you hit your 30s, its time to turn to more active ingredients, such as amino acids, ceramides, retinol and other antioxidants. If you’re in your 40s, opt for a night cream that can fight puffiness, wrinkles and pigmentation, which requites ingredients like peptides, soy extract and vitamins. Finally, for the Big 5-0 and beyond, you need something with a little more moisture.

Plus, you need to think about your skin type. For dry skin, you need the maximum moisture you can find, from creams based in glycerine. Vivek Sahni, director of Kama Ayurveda, says ‘Creams that contain avocado, almond oil and shea butter are great for your skin type.’ A danger for oily skin is creams that trigger acne or rashes, so try to find a cream that’s oil-free. If you have sensitive skin, neem, cucumber, tea tree and Aloe Vera creams are your best bet, and you should avoid heavy, perfume-based creams, as these can cause rashes. Then, all you have to do is apply the cream half-an-hour before you go to bed, and sleep your way to better skin.

Categories: Age, Night Cream, skin type

How to Determine Which Skincare Products You Actually Need

There’s a jungle of skin care products out there, with everything from anti-wrinkle creams and BB serums to cleansers and exfoliators, but what do you actually need to take care of your anti-ageing wellness? Here’s some sound advice for your wellbeing-centred skin care regime.

1. Don’t go overboard in the beginning – Your new moisturiser may be amazing, but that doesn’t mean you should rush out and get the matching serum, cleanser, mask and eye cream. You should use a product for at least three weeks, in case it irritates your skin. That way, you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem without wasting your money on loads of products. Plus, using too many strong products may overload your skin and cause sensitivity and inflammation.

2. Test it out – Most brands are often happy to give you a sample before you buy, so you can test whether it’s going to work for you, or irritate your skin. If you find that the sample does irritate your skin, try other samples of moisturiser and look at which ingredients the irritating ones have in common.

3. Don’t mix and match – Check the ingredients on your skin care products, and make sure you’re not combining any ingredients that react badly together. Never put vitamin C with alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), copper peptides or retinol, and never put retinol with benzoyl peroxide or AHAs.

4. Use what you need – The products you need depend on your skin type. If you have acne-prone skin, you need a cleanser that helps remove oil and dead skin, an oil-free sun cream, a glycolic product and one that contains salicylic acid. If you have normal or combination skin, you need a cleanser, an anti-ageing serum which contains peptides and hyaluronic acid or vitamin B, a moisturiser with SPF, and an exfoliator twice a week. For sensitive skin, make sure your cleanser doesn’t contain sodium laurel sulphate because this can cause irritation, and opt for a perfume-free moisturiser, SPF50 sun cream and a weekly enzyme mask.

5. Use the right thing at the right time – Serums are especially formulated to penetrate deeply, so should be used before a moisturiser. Moisturisers should be applied before make-up, to keep your skin hydrated and protected against the elements. Primers should be used after a moisturiser and before foundation to even out your skin tone and help make-up go on smoothly, or you can use a tinted moisturiser instead to give a sheer wash of colour instead of foundation. A BB cream can act as a primer before foundation or be worn on its own, and a CC cream is for use instead of foundation.

Categories: ingredients, moisturiser, skin type