Winter Beauty Season, Problems Solved

I’ve experienced crazy weather before. I’ve lived my entire life in the Northeast – I’m used rapidly changing seasons. What I am not used to is experiencing at least three of the four seasons in the month of October alone. The past two weeks have been especially weird. Last Thursday was the first snow-storm of the season (almost four inches accumulated at my house). Less than a week later, the thermometer was pushing 75 degrees (the mailman wore shorts and a t-shirt). And of course, when it’s not extremely warm or extremely cold, it’s raining.

Not surprisingly, a walk through campus (I work at a college) exposed me to at least half of the student population wheezing, coughing, and sneezing. Wonderful. I hear they started giving out free hospital masks and hand sanitizer at the health center. Cold and flu season is upon us, and with it comes what I like to call “winter beauty season.”

Winter beauty season, for me, means plethora unfortunate changes. My skin gets both dry and super-oily, causing breakouts; my hair frizzes; and my hands start to look like one of those moisturizer commercials with either an alligator or a desert, your choice.

Of course, I don’t take any of that sitting down. Throughout this winter beauty season, I will be bringing you my tips for combating the beauty hardships that many people face when the weather gets colder.

How to combat dryness: moisturizer! Ok, it’s obvious for those who tend to have dry skin. But it’s also important for greasy girls (like me) to use an oil-free moisturizer. Cold winter air combined with indoor heating dries out everyone, and when that happens, your skin tends to overproduce oil – double trouble.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t moisturize as well as I should during the summer, but during the winter, I make sure I use my trusty Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer on a daily basis. I usually opt for the version with SPF 15. I’m also a fan of Olay moisturizers. It's so important to amp up your moisturizer routine during the colder months. Dryness not only makes your skin look dull, it also makes your makeup look worse and emphasizes fine lines and wrinkles.

The addition of a night cream might be necessary for those with really dry skin. During the winter, I use a rich moisturizer at night with Vitamin C, an antioxidant. I like Sally Beauty brand Beyond Belief Vita C, which is one of the most affordable lines containing V-C. If you tend to break out or have very oily skin, you don't have to use a night cream. A day cream will deliver many of the same benefits without the heaviness.

Dry skin on the body sometimes needs more than moisture. Stubborn dry skin requires a good scrubbing! An easy to make scrub is one part fine grit sea salt, one part olive oil, and a splash of lemon. The salt makes a gentle scrub, the olive oil moisturizes, and the citric acid in the lemon delivers some chemical exfoliation. This is a great scrub for winter knees and elbows, and it smells pretty nice, too.

Keeping up with the Greasies

From one matte to another, today’s topic is mattifying oily skin. I am convinced that I have the world’s oiliest skin. There are three items that I absolutely cannot live without:

Primer: I’ve used a few different primers, and the two that I can truly recommend for their mattifying properties are Smashbox Photo Finish and Rimmel Fix and Perfect. The Rimmel primer has a scary looking tint to it which doesn’t completely vanish into my skin, but cannot be seen under my mineral foundation (strange).

The Rimmel primer does help my makeup stay perfect, similar to the Smashbox primer which is about 5 times the price - at Ulta.com, Rimmel Fix and Perfect is 1 oz for $7.59 vs. Smashbox Photo Finish, 1 oz for $36.00. I usually use my Rimmel daily and Smashbox primer for special occasions. I do like how the Smashbox primer feels on my skin better than the Rimmel – it feels kind of cool and smooth while the Rimmel feels more like a liquid foundation. On the plus side, neither primer made me break out, a major accomplishment for any cosmetics company.

Here’s a cheap-o tip: if you are only going to be using the Smashbox primer once in a while, go for the travel size, which, at .5 oz for $16.00 at Ulta.com, is actually cheaper per ounce than the full sized tube. It doesn’t come with the handy pump dispenser, but it’s infinitely more portable and a good way to test the product out before committing to the full sized product. Here’s a link to the product.

I don’t recommend Ulta’s Foundation Primer, which I can’t even find on their website anymore (hopefully they stopped making it). It left me feeling greasy from the get-go.

Powder: Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder has become a holy grail item for me. Even with primer, I used to be greasy by mid-afternoon in my mineral foundation, but not anymore! There are several problems with this powder though, and the most important one is the lack of color choices. Rimmel’s website says it comes in three shades, ranging from what looks like light to slightly lighter. Not good.

Another huge problem is the packaging. The point of pressed powder is portability. Unfortunately, Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder comes in a package that doesn’t snap closed, the lid just sort of sits on top.

No doubt about it, this powder if flawed, but I get a fabulous matte finish that lasts most of the day when I use it. It also has not made me break out. If you decide to try this powder, check your Sunday papers for Rimmel coupons. And a lot of drugstores have buy one get one free or buy one get one half off sales that you can combine with your coupon for a pretty sweet deal.

Blotting sheets: These have always been a staple to me, but they range in price from 5 to 10 dollars for tiny sheets of thin paper. That’s screwed up. A cheap alternative is to use toilet paper...just rip a sheet off and blot. Just because you can’t see greasy stains accumulating on the paper doesn’t mean it isn’t working! I know that a lot of people know this tip, but honestly, when I was in college I saw several girls using those blotting sheets. (sigh)

Clean and Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets: $5.19. philosophy the supernatural oil control blotting tissues: $10.00. Something you already have in your bathroom and can get for free at work or a public restroom: Priceless.