Skincare Rules To Live By This Summer

Don’t let fragile, wintry skin and boozy breakouts ruin your skin when the rest of you is ready to rock the party circuit.

It’s the season of champagne, bright lights, festive apps and Santa hats and we, for one, are thrilled. But as much as we love all the fun and fabulousness of the holidays, your skin can take a real beating. Cold, dry weather; warm, steamy bars; a little more alcohol and a lot less sleep can all add up to stress on your skin, compromising your barrier function and throwing your moisture levels out of whack.

Granted, if you have the skin of an angel, you might not notice issues with dryness, shiny foreheads or annoying breakouts during the party season. Well, lucky you because for the other 99.99999 percent of us, party skin often needs an extra bit of TLC to look and feel as high-spirited as our moods.

Here’s how to help get your skin on its merry way this festive season…

One Week Before

To truly get your skin in the right frame of mind for partying, you have to start looking after it early. A good week in advance, in fact. Of course, we know you have a great and consistent skincare routine up your sleeves, period, but there are three things you should really concentrate on in the week up to a big do.

1. Chemical Exfoliation

A great way to kick-start your skin into looking more plump, energized and fresh, is to embrace exfoliating acids. These are the AHAs, BHA and PHAs of the world and include powerhouses like glycolic, salicylic and lactic acids.

Try applying 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant daily to cleansed skin to help boost cellular turnover, improve collagen synthesis and give sluggish skin a real kick in the booty.

2. Facial Massage

A simple facial massage is awesome for improving lymphatic drainage and blood flow. It gets everything moving thus helping to remove toxins while boosting nutrients and oxygen to the surface of the skin – super important for the party season when salty snacks and boozy beverages zap all the life from your skin. Simply work your hands all over your face and neck while cleansing each morning and night, taking your time to lift and smooth the skin in circular motions. You could also invest in a face roller or gua sha tool if they’re your jam.

3. Energizing Serum

While we wouldn’t suggest doubling up on your coffee intake (ever!), adding topical caffeine to your skincare routine will do your complexion all sorts of favors. An incredible antioxidant and with lots of anti-inflammatory powers, caffeine is a fantastic way to counteract all those free radicals that stress, lack of sleep and a poor diet produces. Gold star right there.

Caffeine also energizes your skin by tightening the blood vessels and stimulating circulation. Say hello to brighter, firmer skin and less puffiness and under eye bags as an added bonus. Get involved by applying Caffeine Facial Serum to your skin morning and night.

The Night Before

Big night out tomorrow? Then the following are some super effective ways to ensure your skin is clean, clear, beautifully hydrated and ready to partay!

1. Double Cleanse

We’re not massive fans of double cleansing – it just seems a bit excessive, as a rule. However, do it gently and on the odd occasion, and it can truly help to give your skin a proper ‘clear out,’ leaving you with a smooth foundation for some serious party makeup (if that’s your thing, of course!).

To double cleanse with success, first use an oil-based makeup cleanser to remove makeup, sebum and any other oily stuff from your skin. Then, go for a water-based cleanser to get rid of other surface debris while boosting your complexion with skin-loving ingredients like vitamin C, minerals, aloe vera or plant extracts. We love Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser for a party season detox.

2. Facial Steam

Steaming your face increases perspiration to help remove toxins and boosts blood flow to get oxygen and lots of nutrients flowing to your skin. Win-win. What’s more it’s arguably the easiest and cheapest (aka: free!) way to give yourself the results of a spa-like facial in the comfort of your own home.

Simply place your face over a bowl of recently boiled water (although not freshly boiled, that’ll be too hot!). Place a towel over your head to trap in the steam and hold your face over the surface of the water without getting too close for about 10 minutes. Just remember to always follow with moisturizer. Speaking of which…

3. Layered Hydration

Before bed, baby your skin with as much hydration as it will take – without overloading it with heavy coats of rich creams that might block your pores, of course. That can be disastrous. The best way to crush this? With layers. First up, smooth on a moisture-magnet serum like Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum then wait a few seconds before applying moisturizer over the top. We have tons to choose from but a current favorite comes in the form of Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream which contains skin-reviving bakuchiol (just like retinol, but gentler on the skin!), plus snow algae to boost radiance and protect your skin from any party stress factors!

The Day Of

OK, it’s crunch time. Hopefully, if you’ve kept to your routine and added in a few choice extras, your skin is ready to glow – who needs makeup, anyway!? However, if you still need a little pick-me-up, try these last-minute glow-getting tricks.

1. A Morning Scrub

First things first: don’t overdo it with the exfoliation, people. If you’ve been applying a chemical exfoliant in the run-up to party time, a facial scrub might be a tad excessive. However, if you’ve not had time to get ahead of the exfoliation game, a face scrub is game-changing for instantly smoother, brighter-looking skin. Grab our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub as a matter of urgency, and smooth it all over your face and neck, using gentle circular motions to work it all over.

2. Vitamin C

We rate very little above topical vitamin C when it comes to rejuvenating ingredients that get the job done. So, apply the best vitamin C money can buy after cleansing  and feel smug in the knowledge that your skin has started off the day right. Sure, it may end the day a little tipsy and full of sugar and salt, but at least you started well and, hey, we have just as many great tricks for hungover skin as we do for party prepping!

Try our Vitamin C Super Serum+ for a punchy pack of skin brightening goodness.

3. Ice Globes

A favorite with makeup artists for prepping celebrities’ skin for red carpet events, ice globes are glass or metal wands that have balls on the ends and are kept in the fridge or freezer. They're kind of like rubbing ice cubes all over your skin without the watery mess or potential skin damage.

Awesome for depuffing the eye area, ice globes also work wonders on facial redness, inflammation and sluggish skin. Cleanse your skin first, then apply serum before working them over the skin for 10 minutes or so. Use upwards movements to lift your skin and add radiance, or downwards strokes to encourage lymphatic drainage and reduce swelling. But make sure you don’t press too hard as this could drag and damage your skin. 

Finish with moisturizer and you are ready to, well, get ready!

Let’s get real, expensive skincare does not always equal better skincare. In fact, affordable brands are often the true heroes in your routine.

Ever asked yourself, is your $200 moisturizer truly worth it, or is it all glossy packaging and clever marketing? The truth can be a bit of a gray area, but at the end of the day, skin doesn’t give a hoot about hefty price tags. What it cares about is ingredients that actually ‘do’ something. For example, a great moisturizer should boost hydration and seal moisture into your skin. Sunscreen needs to protect your skin from both UVA and UVB radiation. And a good cleanser should gently but effectively clean the skin without causing irritation or stripping away its important barrier function. And honestly, products are perfectly capable of doing this without breaking the bank.

So, why are some products 10x the price of others? And, the most important question of all, do so-called ‘premium’ products honestly work any better?

What Makes Expensive Skincare So Expensive?

There are many reasons why luxury skincare products come with eye-watering price points. Some are valid, but not all of them are for the good of your skin. Here are the most common reasons you might have to shell out a little bit extra...

1. Fancy Packaging

Packaging is extremely important in the luxury skincare market. Shiny metallic boxes, beautiful glass bottles, gold embossing, they’re all used to create the illusion that what’s inside is of the highest quality and therefore worth paying more for. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. 

2. Clever Marketing

Double page ads in Vogue or huge TV commercials cost money – especially when a brand has bagged a big celebrity name to flaunt its wares. Well, this money needs to comes from somewhere. Guess where? Yes, your pocket.

3. Proprietary Ingredients 

Proprietary ingredients are what set certain skincare products apart. But just because a product contains a unique ingredient this doesn’t necessarily make it more beneficial to your skin. More often than not, it’s the clinically proven ingredients like retinol, vitamin C, glycerin and niacinamide that do all the heavy lifting. 

4. Potency Of Active Ingredients

While affordable skincare products are often formulated with the same ingredients as their pricier cousins, it’s true that sometimes they don’t contain as much. And this can be reflected in the price. Strong retinols, however, can irritate certain skin types, which doesn’t always make higher price points the best option. Working with your skin and using products that are beneficial, but don't sensitize or irritate, is important here.

What REALLY Matters When Buying Skincare

Don’t get us wrong, we’re not here to totally bash luxury skincare. If you can afford an expensive, bells and whistles moisturizer and it makes you feel good while, crucially, benefiting your skin, then no harm done. Oftentimes, even just the ritual of smothering your body in a beautifully expensive body butter makes it worth every cent.

However, if you’re really stretching yourself to buy something just because the latest A-lister told you to do so, but you’re not really seeing visible results, why bother when there are so many results-driven products out there that come at a fraction of the cost?

Instead of focusing on premium price tags, here are some smarter shopping tips for building an effective, affordable skincare routine…

Focus on Science-Backed Ingredients

Ingredients that have been clinically tested to benefit the skin are the single most important factor in any skincare product. Superheroes created scientifically in a lab include retinol, vitamin C, peptides, niacinamide, vitamin E, glycerin, hyaluronic acid and ceramides. Then you have all the natural botanicals that also work wonders on your skin. Think jojoba oil, green tea, aloe vera and tea tree oil to name just a few. Do your research and look out for these big hitters and you’ll know that a product is going to truly get things done. 

Check The Running Order Of The Ingredients List

Skincare products don’t generally offer up the exact concentrations of their ingredients, but the label will give some of the game away. How so? Well, skincare brands are required by the FDA to print their ingredients in order, starting from the highest in concentration, working down to the lowest. When it gets down to 1 percent or less, however, they can be listed in any order. 

All this is good to know because if a vitamin C serum lists its vitamin C way down the ingredients list, hovering around the bottom, this shows that it contains very little and potentially won't be as effective as one that lists vitamin C nearer the top. Make sure the good stuff is in the top half of a product’s ingredients label. It doesn't need to be at the absolute top (some active ingredients are way too powerful for that!), but top half is a good rule to follow.

The vitamin C in our Vitamin C Facial Serum, for example, is third on the list after water and aloe. That’s good stuff, right there – and it won't make your wallet burst into tears, either.

Understand Your Skin Type & Needs

Way more important than buying into fancy beauty brands with eye-watering price tags, is to be aware of your skin type and find products that work for you. Do a bit of homework getting to know your skin, then you can focus on the things you’d like to improve. Research ingredients that are proven to help certain concerns ­– eg. hyaluronic acid is fantastic for hydrating thirsty skin whereas tea tree oil can work wonders on breakouts –  then do even more homework by looking into formulations that include those ingredients (in decent concentrations). This helps target your routine to suit your needs without buying into fluff your skin can seriously do without.

Don’t Be Duped By False Promises

Creams that promise to be ‘better than Botox’ are never to be believed – no matter their price. The truth is that skincare can only do so much. A 24k gold-infused moisturizer that costs you hundreds of bucks, for example, is unlikely to moisturize your skin any better than one that was $20. Because yes, gold is super indulgent but at the end of the day, it doesn’t moisturize your skin. It’s all the other stuff inside (which didn’t cost the manufacturer $$$s) that does all the talking, not the fancy fillers and inflated price.

Our advice? Stick to science-backed ingredients that are proven to benefit your skin. 

Remember, The Right Product For You Is The One You Regularly Use

Doing your research and making informed decisions are extremely important because, while we’re big advocates of effective skincare that doesn’t cost the earth, there are some fantastic, pricey products out there… as well as some not-so-great inexpensive options.

Research, research, research. Trust us, you’ll know when you find ‘the one’ because you’ll look forward to using it. And that means you'll use it consistently and regularly and therefore be rewarded with the best, most visible results.

Serums can truly supercharge your skincare routine – especially if you know how to maximize their effectiveness. Here’s how…

We believe your face serum should be one of your most prized skincare possessions. Of course, daily sunscreen is crucial, and yes, your cleanser provides the foundation to everything that follows. But a face serum is the key to targeting everything you love (and maybe don’t love so much) about your skin. Whether you want to improve hydration, deal with breakouts, soften fine lines or brighten tired skin, the right face serum can help fix the lot.

Speaking of the ‘right’ face serum, finding your perfect fit is vital, but let us ask you this: do you feel like you’ve found the one... yet it’s kind of underperforming? Then it’s probably not the serum that’s the issue. Instead, it’s likely the way you’re using it.

So let’s fix that, shall we?

Your Serum Strategy 101

Think of your face serum as the VIP in your skincare routine. Because yes, it's that special. Plus, it’s likely to have cost more than most of your other products, so it’d be foolish not to fuel yourself with the knowledge of how to use it effectively. 

Here are the face serum rules we follow to the letter…

When To Use Your Face Serum

The correct order in which to apply ALL of your skincare products matters. A lot. And the general rule of thumb is that you should always work with your products from thin to thick; from water to oil. 

This means that cleanser comes first (obvs!), then toner, serum, eye cream and finally moisturizer. If you apply serum after your moisturizer, on the other hand, the rich, slightly heavier nature of moisturizer will block the serum from the surface of your skin. And this will immediately make it less effective. That’s what we call money down the drain.

Serum BEFORE moisturizer, people. Always.

How Much Face Serum Should You Use?

Face serums are super lightweight due to their small molecular structure. This means they’re able to carry a high intensity of concentrated, active ingredients in a relatively thin, slippery formulation. This is crucial because it gives serum the ability to penetrate the skin more effectively than thicker, more viscous formulations like moisturizer and facial oil.

Thanks to their slippery nature, face serums smooth over your skin like a dream – well, a good one does, anyway;). Sure, it’s tempting to smother your face in it because you think your skin will end up reaping more benefits from all those awesome ingredients. But that’s a mistake because, the truth is, your skin can only soak up so much.

A reputable serum will always come with guidelines on how much to use, but a pea-sized amount, or roughly two to three drops, should generally be sufficient for your face and neck. Any more will simply be a waste.

5 Ways To Make Your Face Serum Work Harder

Because it's not just what you apply, but the way in which you apply it...

1. Exfoliate First

If the surface of your skin is clogged up with dead skin cells, your face serum stands no chance of penetrating at a deeper level. And this means it won’t work so well. So make sure you exfoliate regularly to create an easier pathway for your serum to go about its business.

A gentle scrub two or three times a week is a great shout, but if you’re not keen on face scrubs, try a leave-on chemical exfoliant that uses ingredients like glycolic acid and/or salicylic acid to dissolve the ‘glue’ that holds dead skin cells together. 

Try: 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant

2. Nail The Damp Skin Technique

Serums are able to penetrate the skin better if your skin has a bit of moisture present at its surface. Why? Because damp skin is more permeable, easy as that.

The trick is to apply a couple of drops to your hand as quickly as you can after cleansing or toning your skin. Then apply serum all over your face and neck using clean hands and light pressing motions. Not only will your skin be more receptive to all those fabulous ingredients but you’ll also lock in a little extra moisture while you’re at it. Win win.

One word of warning, however. If you have sensitive skin, you might actually be better off applying your serum to dry skin to reduce irritation. But play around, see what works best for you.

3. Understand That Your Skin’s Needs Vary From Morning To Night

Just like your entire body, your skin’s needs are very much governed by time. Cell turnover, for example, is at its peak during the night, while you’re asleep. This means that instead of using a sun protective antioxidant serum before bed, it’s much better to encourage repair and regeneration with ingredients like retinol, peptides and growth factors. Sebum production also slows down at night so it's similarly wise to enlist in some help sealing in hydration.

Meanwhile, your levels of cortisol are at their highest when you wake up, so anti-inflammatory serums that contain ingredients like niacinamide and vitamin E are better as part of your morning routine. Skin brightening and awakening ingredients like caffeine and vitamin C are also more beneficial first thing when you’ll be able to maximize – and actually see! – their revitalizing effects. And obviously antioxidants that help to protect your skin from environmental harm are crucial every morning.

Try: Day Night Duo with Vitamin C and Retinol Facial Serums

4. Wait A Hot Minute Before Applying Moisturizer

While it’s great to apply face serum swiftly after cleansing and/or toning, it’s wise to wait 60 seconds or so between your serum and moisturizer. Most serum formulations will sink in super fast but still, giving the formulation a short while to fully absorb and dry helps it to really settle into your skin.

5. Give Your Face Serum Enough Time To Work

Serums aren’t miracle workers that instantly make wrinkles vanish overnight. On the contrary, for real results, you’ll need to consistently apply yours for at least six to eight weeks before you’ll even begin to see their true effects.

Saying that, don’t rush in without patch testing any new formulation first. Then, if you’re good to go, make sure to introduce it slowly into your routine. This will give your skin time to adjust, thereby reducing your chances of irritation. It’ll also stop you from giving up too soon!

Check out our line-up of awesome serums right here. And if you don’t know which one is right for you, here’s a helpful guide.

Want to crush lit-from-within skin this spring? Then you’d better start your glow-getting routine immediately.

We don’t know about you, but this time of year is when we generally start thinking about getting our skin prepped and primed for spring. After all, brighter sunshine, longer days and warmer temps mean more time spent outside and so we want our skin to reflect the joys of springtime weather – bright, radiant and full of life.

Don’t get us wrong, we’ve done everything we can to keep our skin moisturized and looking good all winter long, but it’s not always easy, especially after the holidays when the focus has been more on wine and cheese than topical antioxidants and deep moisturization.

So what’s on the ‘must do this’ list for getting skin glowing and ready for spring? Follow these pointers and you’ll be well on the way. 

1. Focus On Moisture

Winter is notorious for drying out the skin. You can blame the weather, for sure, because dry, cold air sucks all the hydration from the skin’s uppermost layers. But there are plenty of other things going on that ruin your skin’s moisture mojo. Central heating has to take some responsibility, as must things like hot baths and comfort foods.

If your skin is still feeling somewhat thirsty after battling the elements all winter long, stick with what you’ve likely been doing for the past few months. It’ll pay off eventually – promise. Invest in a humidifier for your bedroom to boost the moisture content in the air as you sleep and make sure your diet includes plenty of water-rich foods like cucumber, watermelon and tomatoes, as well as omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish and seeds.

As for your skincare routine, we love to layer a hydrating, nourishing serum under moisturizer as this supercharges the skin’s levels of moisture, without it needing to rely on super-heavy creams that can weigh it down.

Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum is always a smart choice but you could also try our much-loved but often underestimated Peptide Facial Serum which combines three of the best hydrators we know – aloe, glycerin and panthenol – alongside collagen-enhancing peptides. Apply your serum of choice under moisturizer morning and night and your skin will soon have a brighter pep in its step. Plus, it'll feel downright amazing as an extra bonus.

2. Get Friendly With Exfoliating Acids

Chemical exfoliants are awesome for gifting your skin with a smoother (and therefore brighter) surface. Unlike facial scrubs which use grains like fine sand or salt and require physical motion to work, chemical exfoliants simply sit on your skin and go about their business with no effort at all. They work by breaking down the bonds between dead skin cells so they’re able to slough away quicker and more efficiently. Simple as that. 

Furthermore, if you choose wisely and opt for a kind-to-skin formulation that harmonizes different kinds of chemical exfoliants, you may even be able to use it every day. Take our 6% AHA, BHA and PHA Liquid Exfoliant, for example. This hard-working, but never too hard-on-your-skin toner accelerates cell turnover with a perfectly balanced blend of glycolic acid (AHA), salicylic acid (BHA) and gluconolactone (PHA). And, yes, we know that might sound like a lot of exfoliating acids for one face, but fear not, we made sure to include just the right amount of each to gently exfoliate without leaving your skin feeling stripped or dry.

It’s the perfect product to give your skin the coveted glow you’ve been seeking since September said goodbye.

3. OD On Vitamin C

One of our favorite skin mottos is ‘when in doubt, reach for topical vitamin C.’ And do you know what? It’s never let us down. In fact, vitamin C is what’s known at TruSkin HQ as the ultimate brightening powerhouse. Not only is it one of the most trusted and tested antioxidants (reminder: antioxidants fight free radicals and keep your collagen levels in check) but it’s also thought to inhibit melanin production which means fewer dark spots, less patchy areas and a more glowy, even-looking complexion all round.

Of course, we don’t literally want you to OD on vitamin C. Some forms can be extremely potent and even a little irritating if you use them too much and apply them too often. So you have to tread carefully. Our advice? Introduce new products slowly into your routine, patch test them first, and stick with sodium ascorbyl phosphate (SAP). SAP is a salt form of the pure stuff which makes it more stable and therefore much gentler.

You'll find vitamin C, and more specifically SAP, in a ton of our skincare formulations so you really can pick and choose depending on your skin’s needs and preferences. Serums are the obvious choice, but since you're likely concentrating on hydration with your facial serum right now, how about trying our Vitamin C Brightening Cleanser instead? With a name like that, it would be rude not to.

4. Think Of Bedtime As TLC Time

You might be under the impression that overnight skincare is a bit pointless when you’re tucked up in bed doing nothing but dreaming of the teenage skin you wish you still had. But on the contrary, your skin does its best repair work when you’re asleep. Cell turnover peaks, collagen production revs up, blood flow increases and your body’s natural antioxidants system kicks in to help neutralize any pesky free radicals that may have built up during the day. Leave your makeup on and go to bed with dirty, unmoisturized skin, however, and all this good stuff becomes basically redundant.

To encourage the magic to happen, cleanse your face and neck gently but thoroughly before bed and start a slow-building retinol regime to naturally accelerate cell turnover and collagen synthesis. Our Retinol Facial Serum has your back here as it’s also infused with vitamin E and hyaluronic acid to boost radiance and hydration both in the short- and long-term.

Mimic your morning routine by always following your serum with moisturizer. In this instance try Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream which contains that all-important, glow-getting vitamin C, as well as ‘nature’s beauty mineral,’ MSM which is one of the most underrated but overachieving ingredients for healthy skin. And we don’t say that lightly.

5. Make Massage A Must

We can think of little better for waking up your skin than a morning massage. The benefits of a facial massage are undeniable. For starters, it boosts blood flow and therefore allows more oxygen and nutrients to rush to the surface of your skin. Hello big-time glow! It also improves lymphatic drainage to help remove toxins away from the skin, reducing things like puffiness and inflammation. Not to mention how relaxing and stress-reducing a morning facial massage can be.

Don’t worry, though, we don’t expect you to learn all the tricks of the massage trade just like that. You can actually do this facial massage quickly and easily in mere minutes. You can also do it while cleansing, or applying facial oil – it totally depends on your jam. 

Simply work your chosen product all over your face and neck, using the pads of your fingers, then sweep your fingers down your nose a few times, across your cheeks from the center outwards, then up and around your forehead. After your forehead, take your hands down to the middle of your chin and use sweeping motions to lift the skin up and out towards your ears. Finish with your neck, using the palms of your hands to perform light strokes from the base of your neck up to your jawline. Repeat this as many times as you like, using medium pressure to work the skin and get everything flowing.

Now, how long until March, again?