True Radical Honesty From Our Community

No idea why you’re getting an influx of acne right now? Many lifestyle habits can trigger your breakouts ­­­­­– and sometimes they’re found in the most unsuspecting places.

As you know, acne is caused by one thing and one thing alone: an excess of sebum that causes your pores to become blocked with oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other impurities. Eating too much chocolate doesn’t give you pimples. Neither does moisturizer. Sure, they can trigger breakouts if you’re genetically susceptible to them, but acne isn’t caused by uncleanliness, a poor diet or crummy skincare routine. It’s caused by blocked pores. End of.

OK, so this begs the question: why bother trying to cure them if your breakouts are totally out of your control? Well, here’s the thing. You can’t change your genes, that’s for certain. However, what you can do is keep acne-triggering factors under control to help lessen the blow. Sleeping well, reducing emotional stress and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; all these things are important for maintaining balanced sebum and therefore reducing the likelihood of you breaking out week after week.

But there are also some less obvious reasons why you face might be suffering with regular breakouts. So if you’ve already dispensed with things like smoking, poor cleansing and too much exfoliation, but you’re still getting pimples on the reg, it might be time to look at some of the more unexpected areas of your life.

On that note, read on for five slightly more unusual causes for your breakouts.

1. Your Pillowcase

Getting enough beauty sleep is crucial for the health of your skin, but if you’re sleeping on a dirty pillowcase for a solid eight hours every night dirt and bacteria is inevitably going to build up and irritate your pores. This is especially true if you sleep on a synthetic pillowcase because man-made fibers don’t absorb sweat as effectively as natural fibres like cotton or linen.

The answer? Go natural all the way, for starters. Also, cleanse and moisturize your skin before bed to reduce the amount of grime getting on your pillowcase. Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ is a great acne-fighting cleanser that balances and clarifies your pores. Follow this with Retinol Moisturizer to lightly hydrate and moisturize your skin while boosting cellular turnover to keep your pores free of dead skin cells.

Finally, wash your pillowcase every three or four days. And ditto, your face towel. Old, dirty towels that are used by the whole family for drying their hands and who-knows-what-else are another breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Do you really want to be swiping this all over your freshly cleansed skin? Thought not. So, invest in a couple of cotton face towels for you and you alone and wash them every other day.

2. Your Makeup & Hair Products

Your skincare routine might be spot on, but what about your makeup and hair products? Rich hair conditioners, for example, are notorious for containing heavy ingredients like cocoa butter and coconut oil which, granted, are incredible for moisturizing your precious locks, but are not so great for acne-prone skin. Of course, we know you’re not smothering your face with conditioner but still, it can settle on your face when you rinse your hair so always cleanse your skin after, never before conditioning.

Makeup can similarly clog up your pores, especially if you use formulations that contain oil. So don’t do that. Instead, look out for noncomedogenic products (this means they’re less likely to block pores) and use powder rather than liquid formulations whenever possible.

3. Your Workout Routine

Do you love to get a good sweat on when you’re working out? High fives to you. However, allow all that sweat and grime to sit on your skin and your pores are going to clog up quicker than your instructor can say ‘hit the floor for ten push-ups.’

Cleanse your skin thoroughly and swiftly after exercising (the longer you leave your skin doused in sweat and grimy workout gear, the more bacteria is likely to breed), and always use a mild but effective cleanser that helps to detoxify your skin without drying it out. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a goodie as it harnesses the powers of coconut-derived activated charcoal which destroys skin-smothering impurities to offer a deep, gently purifying clean every time.

4. Your Winter Cover-Ups

Any fabric that rubs against your skin can lead to unwanted issues in the long-term. Remember how face masks were causing ‘maskne’ back in the pandemic? This was all due to friction from the mask combining with the obvious culprits of sweat, dirt, oil, bacteria and humidity which caused dryness, irritation and pimples.

Thankfully, for most of us, the days of having to wear a mask 24/7 are over. However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter and like to wrap yourself up in woollen hats and thick, heavy scarves, these can cause similar problems, trapping sweat and increasing friction around your chin, jaw, neck and forehead.

To help reduce breakouts caused by beanies, scarves (and even turtleneck sweaters), avoid synthetic fabrics and launder your winter cover-ups regularly. Weekly, at least.

5. Your Laundry Detergent

Speaking of laundry, your choice of detergent is also imperative. Just like your beauty routine, certain ingredients in your laundry detergent can be super irritating – especially if you have extremely sensitive or acne-prone skin. Fragrance, for example, can be a real Debbie Downer, as can harsh dyes, essentials oils, strong surfactants and preservatives.

To reduce the likelihood of your laundry detergent triggering those pesky breakouts, first up, choose liquid over powder detergents. Why? Because these leave behind less residue on your clothes and fabrics (who knew?!). Also, never use more detergent than is recommended on the label, avoid fabric softeners and try double rinsing your laundry after washing to remove as much residue as possible.

Do you feel like your already-supersized-pores are growing by the minute? They're not. But it might feel like they are...

Pores are the foundation of healthy skin. Of course, collagen makes your skin strong, supple and plump. And yes, elastin gives it that all-important bouncebackability. But without pores, your skin would be a dry, shrivelled up shadow of its former self. Not to mention the fact that your entire body would lose its ability to regulate its own body temperature.

As a quick reminder, pores are tiny, microscopic openings found at the surface of your skin right at the top of your hair follicles and sweat glands. They exist to allow important liquids (as well as other particles and gases) to pass through the surface of your skin. The human body has two types of pores: sweat pores which help regulate body temperature; and oil-producing pores that are found at the top of your hair follicles where they release sebum to moisturize and lubricate the surface of the skin. The good thing about sweat pores is that they’re so small you can’t see them making them of very little concern in the grand scheme of things.

Oil-producing pores, on the other hand, are just so annoyingly visible. So why?

What Determines The Size Of Your Pores?

Like your height, skin tone and color of your hair, the size of your pores is largely shaped by genetics. This means that yes, you can blame your parents, and yes, the size of your pores is pretty much fixed.

Of course, this is great news if you have almost invisible pores. Not so much if yours feel like they take over your entire face. But let’s get one thing straight: no matter how enlarged you believe your pores are when you study them in the mirror, they’re rarely as bad as you think. Because the truth is, nobody else scrutinizes your skin on the same level as do you.

Do Pores Get Bigger Over Time?

Yes and no. The size of your pores never really changes on a physiological level. So yes, all those half-truths about being able to ‘shrink’ your pores with alcohol-heavy toners or freezing cold water is a bit of a con. But there’s a little bit of truth in there because while the actual size of your pores doesn’t alter, their walls can stretch and expand, making them appear more pronounced.

Penny drops.

What Causes Pores To Stretch With Age?

Many things happen to your skin throughout your life that can cause the walls of your pores to become damaged and loose. Of course, regular aging plays the most obvious role as your collagen levels naturally decrease over time. Sadly, there’s not a huge amount you can do about your biological clock (there’s those genes doing their worst again!) but there are many other factors of which you can control that contribute to the rate at which your pores become slack. 

Sun Damage

Gosh, the sun gets blamed for a lot of skin issues. But we don’t apologize for that because it really is one of the worst things for the condition of your skin. UV radiation breaks down important proteins like collagen and elastin thanks to a build-up of free radicals. This weakens the collagen fibers that give your skin its structure, thus allowing the walls of your pores to become slack, weak and kind of baggy-looking. AKA more visible!

Picking Your Skin

If you have a tendency to pick or squeeze your skin, this not only irritates your skin as a whole, but it can seriously mess with the collagen and elastin fibers that keep your skin firm and supple. Scarring is the most obvious possibility from picking your skin, but you pores will also suffer as a consequence.

Excess Sebum

After puberty sebum production usually levels out to a somewhat more ‘normal’ rate. However, things can get messy again during significant hormonal changes in your life. Menstruation, pregnancy, the menopause, all of these periods in your life cause your hormones to become unbalanced and your sebum levels to fluctuate. And when sebum production increases it fills up your pores causing them to expand, stretch and appear bigger.

Slow Cell Turnover

When you’re in your 20s each skin cell has a life cycle of around 28 days in which time it is formed at the lower levels, moves up to the surface and then sheds. As with most biological functions, however, cell turnover slows down as you mature, causing dead cells to hang around longer than necessary at the surface of your skin. Like excess sebum, these dead cells have nowhere else to go but to clog up your pores. And clogged pores = saggy, enlarged-looking pores.

Bad Makeup Choices

Certain foundations and face cosmetics that contain heavy oils and thick butters can also block your pores, causing them to expand and become more noticeable. Make sure you scan the labels of your favorite makeup formulations to ensure they’re non-comedogenic. Non-comedogenic means they’re way less likely to block your pores (comedone is the fancy term for pore, if you didn’t know).

The Best Ways To Keep Your Pores Tight

After reading the above you can probably guess what you need to do to avoid your pores becoming damaged and saggy. But we’ll lay it out for you anyway, just to drive the point home!

1. First up, wear sunscreen. This is the best thing you can do to conserve the collagen you’ve already got while ensuring you’re still making quality fresh stuff. Apply SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C every morning as par for the course, and do your skin even more of a solid by doubling up your protection with an antioxidant serum underneath sunscreen. Niacinamide is a very good ingredient for smoother, more resilient skin so try our Niacinamide (B3) Facial Serum.

2. Don’t pick your skin. Pimples or no pimples. Nothing good can come of this.

3. Balance sebum by gently cleansing and lightly moisturizing your skin come what may. It’s super important to keep your skin clean morning and night so that oils don’t build up at the surface. We love Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ which harnesses the power of tea tree oil to clarify the skin without leaving it feeling parched. Just remember, it’s equally as vital to follow with moisturizer so your skin doesn’t think it’s dry and overcompensate with more oil than you started with!

4. Exfoliate to boost cellular turnover. But don’t overdo it. Listen to your skin and exfoliate just once or twice a week if that’s all it needs. Our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub (which just won an industry award may we add!) is a fantastic way to keep your skin bright, clean and dead skin cell-free. Plus, it’s kind to your skin. Which is super important, at any age.

5. Finally, don't underestimate the powers of retinol. Retinol is an incredible way to boost collagen AND encourage healthy cellular turnover. That's great news for your pores. And for controlling acne. And for reducing the appearance of wrinkles. And... well, you get the picture. Try our classic Retinol Facial Serum once or twice a week to begin with, building up to nightly as your skin acclimates.

Answer: epigallocatechin gallate, of course. No need for any further explanation, right? Just kidding…

If you’re into skincare you’ll be well aware of topical antioxidants and what they do for your skin. Heck, you may even be on first name terms with the likes of vitamin C, vitamin E, resveratrol and ferulic acid. And hats off to you.

But just to recap, antioxidants are some of the most important ingredients you can incorporate into your skincare routine. You see, they’re the absolute nemesis of one of your skin’s biggest enemies: free radicals. Free radicals damage up your skin at the rate of knots and are formed within the skin’s structure when it’s exposed to environmental and lifestyle aggressors like UV radiation, pollution, stress and a cruddy diet. Once they get under your skin they attack all the good stuff like collagen, elastin, even your DNA, ruining its strength, volume, suppleness and really screwing up the tone and texture of your skin.

To put it bluntly, free radicals are not your friend. Antioxidants on the other hand? Love ‘em.

So, what’s all this got to do with the elusive EGCG? Well, EGCG (aka epigallocatechin gallate) is an extremely hard-working, tried and tested antioxidant that works no end of magic on your skin, including a few benefits that others barely touch on. Here’s what you need to know…

What Is EGCG, Exactly?

EGCG is not just any antioxidant, but a very specific type called a catechin. Catechins are natural, plant-derived antioxidants found in many teas, fruits, berries, legumes and cocoa. Studies show, for example, that the leaves of green tea are made up of almost 40 percent catechins, with EGCG being the most abundant of them all. In fact, EGCG is the main reason green tea is so highly regarded for its health benefits.

When it comes to skincare, specifically, EGCG is considered to be an incredibly effective ingredient for warding off the visible signs of premature aging.

How EGCG Benefits Your Skin

1. Protects Skin From UV Damage

Let’s get one thing straight, no topical antioxidant can take the place of an effective, broad-spectrum sunscreen. However, they’re a fantastic addition to your skincare routine and a great way to further shield your skin from UV damage when used alongside your daily SPF. Of course, they don’t safeguard your skin from burning per se, but they work by fighting off DNA damage and helping to scavenge free radicals before they get a chance to mess with vital proteins in your skin. And that’s something all of us should get on board with.

As antioxidants go, EGCG is up there with the best. For starters, it’s the most tried, tested and trusted of all catechins, plus it rarely triggers irritation or sensitivities, so it can be used by most skin types with very little concern.

2. Helps Balance Oil Production

EGCG is an antiandrogen which means it helps block the effects that androgens like testosterone have on your body and skin. Androgens can cause your sebaceous glands to produce more sebum than normal, which makes EGCG a pretty useful ingredient for helping to control and balance sebum – great news for anyone who has crazy-oily skin or who suffers with blocked pores or acne.

Hormonal acne, in particular, can occur when androgens become unbalanced during certain stages of life such as puberty, menstruation, pregnancy or the menopause. These hormonal changes often cause sensitivities in the skin which can result in excessively oily skin, coupled with pesky monthly breakouts.

3. Increases Moisture Retention

Another great reason to incorporate EGCG into your daily routine? It’s awesome for keeping your skin hydrated, supple and well moisturized by regulating and encouraging it to produce hyaluronic acid. As you know, your skin naturally contains hyaluronic acid from birth which helps to keep it soft and supple. However, as you age, your levels of this hydrating powerhouse diminishes, causing dehydration and accelerating the formation of fine lines and wrinkles.

We’re big into topical hyaluronic acid and pack it into many of our serums and moisturizers to help keep your skin’s levels in check. (We recommend trying Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum for some major daily hydration.) However, working on the inside to encourage your skin’s very own HA synthesis? Another big yes from us.

4. Reduces Inflammation

Studies show that EGCG has anti-inflammatory properties which target and inhibit the molecules and processes involved in inflammation. This is more great news for anyone who sufferers with regular acne breakouts.

Anti-inflammatories are also fantastic for soothing sensitive skin or helping to calm facial redness.

5. Minimizes The Visible Signs Of Aging

Sun damage, free radical overload, inflammation and dehydration are all terribly aging on your skin, making EGCG an incredible addition to any healthy aging skincare regime. Not only does EGCG work on minimizing fine lines, wrinkles and sagging skin, but it can also improve the tone of your skin by helping to reduce the formation of dark spots. That's a big deal.

How To Use EGCG In Your Skincare Routine

We believe to get the most from any active ingredient like EGCG, you’re best off maximizing their worth by using a leave-on formulation like a toner, serum or moisturizer. Wash-off products are great as an added bonus, but leave-ons are truly where all the magic happens.

t

The good news is EGCG plays well with most other skincare ingredients. If you truly want it to work better and harder, experts recommend combining it with other antioxidants to provide a broad, all-encompassing barrier against environmental damage. All the usual suspects work incredibly well with EGCG but our favorites are soothing niacinamide and hydrating hyaluronic acid which really amp up its super powers. Try our Caffeine Facial Serum to reap the benefits of all of the above plus caffeine (obvs!) to energize and revitalize tired skin.

One final note: EGCG can be pretty unstable so make sure any product you buy comes in a dark container and is stored at room temperature away from direct sunlight. Fail to do that and your formulation will lose its special powers lightning fast.

Good news: the most effective things you can do for your skin are also the simplest.

We know we don’t need to reiterate the importance of cleansing and moisturizing your skin every morning and night. Those kind of skincare practices are a given. However, there are plenty of other basic habits you should get into if you want to maintain the best skin of your life. Because taking care of your skin is way easier than you think – but there are still rules.

Read on for ten of our favorites.

1. Use Toner

Toner is often overlooked in the quest for fabulous skin. But here’s the thing. It might not be an absolute ‘essential’ like cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen, but similar to other skincare greats like serums, a good toner can provide a whole lot of love to your skin.

Typically water-based, think of your toner as like a primer for your skin, gently removing any last traces of grime from your pores, while balancing your pH and providing much-needed hydration. Depending on the ingredients used, certain toners may even help brighten, firm or clarify your skin.

Take Action: Introduce a toner to your morning and evening routine and you’ll notice the benefits almost straight away. Just make sure you choose well, steering clear of harsh alcohols and synthetic fragrances in favor of calming, soothing and balancing botanicals like rose water and aloe vera. Try Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner.

2. Prioritize Sleep

Great skin isn’t just about great skincare. Your lifestyle is even more important than the products you put on your skin. Sleep, for example, is crucial. Deprive yourself of a good night’s sleep and your skin misses out on valuable regeneration time in which collagen production amps up, cell regeneration accelerates, blood flow increases and antioxidants kick in to neutralize environmental damage.

Take Action: You must have noticed how much better you look after a quality eight hours of sleep time, right? Then do your damnedest to make that a regular occurrence. Your skin will look and feel ten times better. Stat.

3. Avoid Harsh Skincare

If you have sensitive skin, you'll already err on the side of gentle when choosing your skincare products. But, in all honesty, the same rule should apply regardless of your skin type. We know it’s tempting to choose oil-stripping products if you have greasy or acne-prone skin, for example, but honestly, they won’t help. In fact, they’ll probably make matters worse, causing dehydration and irritation in both the short- and long-term.

Take Action: Don’t be too harsh on your skin. Sure, choose products that are tailored to help your individual skin type (dry, oily, normal or combination) but avoid anything that’s packed with strong alcohols and/or unnecessary chemicals. Kindness is next to godliness. Or something like that!

4. Embrace Eye Cream

For some people, eye cream falls into the same ‘do I really need it?’ category as toner. And sure, if you’re young enough to yet be dealing with dark circles, puffiness, dryness and wrinkling around your eyes then fair enough, eye cream won’t be your highest priority. For the rest of us, however, eye cream is vital.

Gentler than regular moisturizer, eye creams are specifically formulated to deal with the thinner, more delicate skin around your eyes. Unlike the rest of your face, this area contains fewer sebaceous glands to keep it moisturized as well as less muscle and fatty tissue for strength and volume. So it really does need looking after.

Take Action: We have three fantastic eye creams to choose from depending on your skin concerns. Depuffing Longevity Eye Cream is incredible for improving eye bags, while Hyaluronic Acid Eye Cream is a must for hydrating and firming the skin around your eyes. But don’t forget Peptide Eye Gel, our fabulously lightweight, cooling gel that works on all the visible signs of aging. Use just a tiny amount of your chosen formulation morning and night.

5. Find A Simple, Consistent Routine

Consistency is everything. It’s as simple as that. However, what might work for your BFF might not work for you, so find your own way in your skincare life. Then stand firm.

Take Action: Sticking to a daily routine that’s simple and effective will go a long way to helping you reach your skincare goals. This may be applying Retinol Facial Serum every night and exfoliating twice a week; or it could be alternating between Vitamin C Facial Serum and Niacinamide Facial Serum. If it works for you, roll with it.

Of course, you can switch the odd product up every now and again to work with the seasons and help target certain changes that may occur in your skin. But don’t mess around too much, and definitely don’t switch out your products every month. This won’t give them time to do what they set out to.

6. Quit Smoking

Cigarettes are packed with thousands of chemicals which are terrible for the skin. According to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, the long-term effects of smoking include dryness, patchy skin, bags around the eyes, sagging and deeper-then-normal wrinkles.

“It is common for the skin of a 40-year old heavy smoker to resemble that of a 70-year-old non-smoker,”  experts claim. We’ll just leave you with that for a hot minute.

Take Action: If you don’t smoke, don’t start. And if you do, there are many ways to quit. It might not be easy, and it’ll take time, patience and a lot of willpower. But we believe in you. Head here for help.

7. Wear Sunscreen

We may have said this before (ha, like only a thousand times!) but sunscreen is the most important product you can have in your anti-aging skincare arsenal. In fact, UV radiation is responsible for somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all visible skin aging, helping to ward off premature lines, discolorations and sagging.

And yes, you do need to protect your skin from UV radiation every day of the year. Because, not only does UVA penetrate right through clouds but it also goes through windows to hit your skin when you least expect it.

Take Action: Go for a broad-spectrum sunscreen that has an SPF of at least 30. This will ensure you’re giving your skin sufficient protection from both UVA and UVB radiation. Apply it generously to any exposed skin (your face, neck and back of the hands as an absolute minimum), and choose a formulation you actually enjoy applying to ensure it seamlessly becomes part of your routine, like cleaning your teeth and brushing your hair. Good news: SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C is so lightweight and easy to apply, you'll actually WANT to wear it.

8. Stop Touching Your Face

No matter how often your wash or sanitize your hands, they will always carry germs, allergens and bacteria that can transfer straight to the skin on your face. This can upset your skin’s delicate microbiome, potentially triggering breakouts or worsening existing conditions like eczema and psoriasis.

Take Action: We get it, touching your face is something you rarely realize you’re doing. But whenever you clock it, call yourself out. Hopefully over time you can stop, or at least reduce the amount of face touching you do on a daily basis.

9. Clean Up Your Diet

Whether it be chocolate, ice cream, Fritos or hot dogs, we all have our vices. And treats are fine in moderation, but too many can cause harmful compounds that attack your skin cells and really mess with the tone and texture of your poor complexion.

Take Action: The best diet for your skin is one that’s packed with antioxidant-rich fresh fruit and veggies, plus oily fish, seeds and nuts, all of which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Don't starve yourself of the good stuff (that rarely works), but don't go overboard and make sure the healthy stuff always outweighs the unhealthy.

10. Exfoliate

As you get older, exfoliation becomes ever more important as your skin’s rate of turnover becomes sluggish and dead skin cells start to outstay their welcome. This can leave your skin looking drab, dreary and extremely dull. Worse yet, it can block up your pores and invite acne breakouts to the party. Prefer brighter, smoother, more wide-awake skin than any of the above? Then you gotta exfoliate.

Take Action: Give your face a gentle exfoliation as often as you think your skin needs it. This could be as frequent as every day, or as little as once a week. It may also take a few weeks to figure out your skin’s sweet spot, but when you get there, trust us, it’ll be worth it.

Also, think about whether you prefer the physical action of a scrub or the simplicity of a leave-on lotion. The good news is we cater for both with our awesome Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub and 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant.

Jetting off somewhere fun but don’t want to hit arrivals with dry, dehydrated, AC-screwed skin? Here’s what we know about looking after in-flight skin.

Sure, the summer vacation period is nearly over but we still have the holiday weekend coming up and heck, time off to decompress and explore new places is always a good idea, any time of the year.

Flying, however, can really take its toll on your skin. Just ask any cabin crew member and they will attest to frequently having to deal with excess oil, dehydration, dullness and pesky breakouts.

So what’s the deal and why does airplane air affect the skin so much?

Well, firstly, there’s a huge amount of intense UV radiation high up in those skies above the clouds, so if you’re a big fan of nabbing the window seat you could be subjecting your skin to a whole lotta sun damage.

Also, airplanes contain pressurized cabins to protect us from the low air pressure that’s a given at such high altitudes. This is vital because it maintains an adequate amount of oxygen so you can breathe properly and not get altitude sickness, fatigue or worse. It’s kind of a big deal and crucial for keeping you alive.

Pressurized air, however, contains very little humidity – around 10-20 percent. And your skin prefers the humidity levels to sit around the 50-60 percent mark in order for it to remain hydrated and supple. So, you can imagine how angry it gets when it doesn’t get this vital moisture. Your barrier function becomes compromised, swiftly causing your skin to become dry, flaky, red and dehydrated. It can also cause your sebaceous glands to get extremely trigger happy, leading to excess oiliness and breakouts at the drop of a hat.

But that’s not all. Low air pressure also slows down lymphatic drainage and reduces the levels of oxygen in your blood which starves your skin of the essential nutrients it needs to remain bright and healthy-looking.

Getting the drift yet? Ha, we still haven’t finished because flying for long hours and travelling through different time zones can also mess with your body’s natural circadian rhythm. This upsets your sleep like nobody’s business, encouraging dark circles around your eyes and accelerating dullness and sad-looking skin.

Now that you understand why airplane skin is such a big deal, let’s see what you can do about combating the effects of flying on your skin…

Action Point #1. Cleanse Well & Layer Up With Moisture

Maintaining clean, moisturized skin while you’re at altitude is crucial. So, whether you cleanse and moisturize at home, whilst in departures or just after take off, make sure you do it thoroughly, but gently. Skin that’s stuck for hours with sweat, sebum, dirt and pollution on its surface will feel horrible when you land... and it'll look even worse. You have been warned.

Our favorite pre-flight cleanser is our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser which helps to truly detox and purify your skin without drying it out completely. You could also try our fabulous Tea Tree Super Cleanser which is super refreshing and ideal if you’re worried about in-flight breakouts.

After cleansing with lukewarm, never hot, water, gently pat dry and then layer up with hydration. Layering serum under moisturizer will give your skin the best start on its travels, helping to reduce dehydration and therefore maintaining its soft, glowy edge.

Try our brand new Caffeine Facial Serum after cleansing to energize your skin and boost its moisture content, then apply your favorite moisturizer. Which one do we prefer for traveling? That depends. For long-haul flights, we love the richness and intensity of Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream but for shorter hops across the country, try Firming Collagen Day Lotion.

Either way, expect happy skin when you touch down.

Action Point #2. Don’t Apply Heavy Makeup

Don’t get us wrong, we love makeup and literally could not live without our mascara-lip-gloss combo on a daily basis. But caking your skin in makeup, for a long-haul flight in particular, could clog up your pores and encourage breakouts. You’re way better off sticking with clean, moisturized skin as above.

If you really can’t bear the thought of walking around the departures lounge foundation-free, carry your favorite cleanser and moisturizer in your hand luggage and make sure you remove your makeup properly, just after take-off.

Action Point #3. Smother Exposed Skin With SPF

Sunscreen might not be front of mind when you’re sitting on a plane for x number of hours, but it’s probably undoubtedly your most important in-flight skin-savior. As previously mentioned, UV radiation is way stronger when you’re up in the air and, while windows block most UVB rays (they're the ones that burn your skin) UVA rays pass right through them. Reminder: UVA rays are the ones that age you up lightning fast.

Always apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen before your flight to combat photo damage. Our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C shields your skin from both UVA and UVB harm, plus it contains vitamin C to help improve radiance and further protect you from sun damage.

That’s what’s called a beauty no-brainer, btw.

Action Point #4. Keep A Moisturizing Mist Handy

Does your skin often feel parched when you’re mid-air, yet you still have four hours to go? We hear you. This is why we love to keep a small bottle of Rose Water Refreshing Facial Toner in our hand luggage.

This gem is the absolute nuts for balancing, hydrating, calming and soothing the skin, and it never overloads it with unnecessary ingredients since its made only from pure Moroccan rose water. It also feels super refreshing and smells darn fine, too. It’s right up there with Colleen Hoover’s latest novel as a traveling must-have.

Action Point #5. Avoid Anything That’ll Further Dehydrate Your Skin

Staying hydrated on the inside is going to do your skin all kinds of favors. So, limit alcohol, caffeine and foods that are high in salt (bye-bye free packets of mini pretzels) because all of these are super dehydrating.

Instead, knock back plenty of water and load up on fresh fruit, veggies and healthy snacks like nuts, seeds and unsalted popcorn.

Now, fare thee well, flight face!

Because not even Jennifer Lopez was 'born' with her infamous JLo glow…

Summer might be almost over (gasp!) but we’re still in full-on vacation mode at TruSkin HQ. And, for us, vacations are all about glowing, radiant skin – as well as a few new fabulous sundresses, of course. Ooh, and those Chloe sunglasses we’ve been eyeing up since June…

But we digress. Back to glowing skin, which, frankly, is not something most of us wake up with. Truth is, radiant skin takes work. Sure, you can spend a few minutes slapping self-tanner on your face and body, and, absolutely, makeup is fabulous for bronzing up your cheeks and adding shimmer to your décolletage. But wouldn’t you rather do real, longer-lasting good for your skin in the quest for an illuminating complexion?

Us too. That’s why you’ll find us mostly doing the following for the next few months. Scratch that, we’ll actually be doing them forever more. Because glowing skin is not something we want to give up once summer is over.

Get Handsy

A fantastic way to boost your circulation and simultaneously get your skin glowing and ready for the day is to give yourself a facial massage each morning while cleansing. It’s also totally free. And easy. Nice.

Wash your hands first, then wet your skin with lukewarm (never hot) water and squeeze a dime-sized amount of cleanser (Vitamin C Brightening Cleanser is a joy!) into the palms of your hands. Apply this all over your face and neck and really work it into your skin using the flats of your hands and the pads of your fingers – just NOT your nails as these can scratch and damage the surface of your skin.

Start on your forehead, pressing your fingers along the brow area and up your forehead towards the headline. Repeat this a few times, then work from the center of your nose and out along your cheeks to your temple area. Use large circular motions for a gentle, but fairly firm massage, again, repeating a couple of times, then continue with the same motions over your chin, along your jawline, then finish with long, smooth strokes down your neck.

Spend just two or three minutes doing this in the shower each morning. You'll be amazed by how much healthier your skin will look (and feel!).

Tone Down Your Exfoliation

Don’t get us wrong, summer is a great time to exfoliate more often than normal – if nothing else but to keep your pores clean and clear of excess oils, sweat and sunscreen. However, when you’re in the sunshine all day, every day, for however many days you’re lucky enough to be on vacation, exfoliating too much can make your skin extremely vulnerable to UV damage.

Of course, you can still reap the benefits of certain exfoliants while you’re away, you just need to choose your formulation wisely. Our Ocean Minerals Super Toner, for example, contains a super low percentage of glycolic acid to help boost cellular turnover without overdoing it. It’s a great little product to take away with you as it also helps to refresh and hydrate your skin.

If you prefer more of a scrub and can’t bear to be without it when you’re on vacay, stick to just once a week and exfoliate it in the morning rather than in the evening when your skin might be feeling the heat of a long day in the sun. Choose a super (and we mean, REALLY super) mellow scrub like our Vitamin C Gentle Facial Scrub and use a very delicate touch to smooth it over your skin and neck using lukewarm water to rinse thoroughly.

Layer Sunscreen & Vitamin C Before Beach Days

Want to ensure your skin is shielded from UV radiation in the best way possible? Then you not only have to apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day (SPF 30 is the sweet spot), but you also need to layer up with a vitamin C serum. This powerful double act is pretty unbeatable when it comes to winning the battle and the war against sun damage. No exaggeration.

Vitamin C is one of the best topical antioxidants you can use on your skin as it counteracts damaging free radicals which, if left alone, can and will screw up your collagen and elastin, causing premature aging lightning fast. It basically supercharges your sunscreen while strengthening and fortifying your skin. Not to mention the fact that it also helps keep melanin under control to stop dark spots from ruining your mojo.

The issue, however, is that vitamin C can be pretty powerful if you don’t use it wisely. So we recommend choosing sodium ascorbyl phosphate (SAP) over pure vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid) as it’s way gentler. It also remains more stable when it hits light and oxygen as an added bonus.

The great thing is that our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen already comes packed with SAP, but for an extra morning boost, we always apply a few drops of Vitamin C Facial Serum underneath. Because it’s nice to be smug. And doubly protected from the wicked ways of the sun.

Try An Evening Double-Cleanse

Your skin gets subjected to a lot throughout the day: especially on vacation when you’re out in the sun, sweating more, producing more oil and layering on the SPF. 

This is why a thorough, pre-bedtime double cleanse is so crucial. As you sleep, your skin goes into full recharge mode, regenerating itself and repairing environmental damage, but it simply won’t be able to do this properly or efficiently if it’s clogged up with daily grime.

To nail an effective, but not-too-harsh double cleanse, start with a cream or oil-based cleanser to remove makeup, sebum, sunscreen and other oily surface debris. Then use a water-based formula like a gel or lotion to take care of sweat, pollutants and anything else that might still be hanging around on your skin.

As a rule, double cleansing can be too intense and, frankly, kind of unnecessary for most skin types on a daily basis, but for a thorough, summer vacay clean-up job we are all in.

Moisturize Like A Demon Before Bed

Heat from the sun can suck all the moisture and oils from your skin making dehydration and dryness a real issue. And get this: dry, dehydrated skin is never, we repeat never going to look radiant and healthy because it isn’t able to reflect light as well as soft, moisturized skin. 

So what must you do? Easy. You simply must replace lost hydration with Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum (it’s the bomb for drawing water to the surface of your skin). Then, moisturize thoroughly and effectively morning and night. We specifically like to amp it up before bed, slathering our face and neck with Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream to repair skin from everything a day on the beach throws at it (cocktails, chlorine, salt water, sunshine, need we go on?).

Waking up with great skin with very little effort? That is what we live for!