Winter skin care must haves

 

 Aaahh, winter: my favourite season! I know, I'm crazy but....hey, what's new?!

The one thing I don't like about it though is the havoc it wreaks on my face. Cold weather skin care is hard enough to crack as it is, never mind for someone with uber sensitive skin living in a really windy country. 

Central heating, wind, temperature differences, rain, snow, they all contribute to messing up the hydration balance of your skin. What I need to pay particular care to is my face, most other areas seem perfectly fine. 

So here follows a compendium of my winter skin care essentials, some of which I have been including in my routine for a good few years.

La Roche Posay Rosaliac AR intense serum

Aimed at skin types prone to redness, this is for me a God sent! When I use it I don't look too much like a misplaced clown. And my face doesn't hurt so much during the day.

You can read my full review for this product HERE.

L'Erbolario argan oil face moisturiser

 L'Erbolario is one of my all time preferred brands and it has been for years and years. It is an Italian company, completely animal cruelty free and only using natural ingredients.

This is now the third winter I face using this moisturiser and I could not be any happier! One tub is well enough to last me all winter long, providing amazing hydration ALL DAY LONG.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5

You'll find a full review I wrote if you head here.
I apply this mainly in the evening for badly beaten lips, on my nose and chin that get easily dry around central heating (but don;t you just love being able to heat up your house in less than half an hour!). I also use it on the knuckles of my hands and my wrists and sometimes on my cheeks for a bit of recovery if I have been out in the cold all day long.

Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm Pink Sheer Tint SPF15

This is one of those items that has been a constant feature in my bag/beauty regime for about 5 years now. Although I was a slave to the no tint one that got recently discontinued (sob!), I am still finding myself reaching for this every morning when I wake up and before I apply any lip product, and every night before I go to bed. 

This is an all year round saviour for me as it's also very handy and helpful with its SPF during the summer.

 KIKO luxurious lashes waterproof mascara

With winter comes annoying strong, cold winds and with them watery, teary eyes. And when you have eyes that will water just by looking at them(I kid you not!) like me, then your number one priority eye make-up wise is Waterproof mascara.
When I am not sporting lash extensions (not that often recently, they solve a multitude of problems,including runny  mascara with sensitive eyes) this is the only mascara I use, especially in winter.
You can cry and it won't budge, it won't even transfer to your brow bone, which is an issue I tend to have with many mascaras. Also it's not hard to remove wither.
My only one issue with it is that once you open the tube the first time, it goes clumpy more quickly than most drugstore mascaras I have tried before. 
I am ecstatic that they now ship to Ireland and I am looking forward to the day they physically  come back here: PLEASE! 
They are by far my favourite make-up brand, I think they are great quality for the prices they offer, although I can't make use of their foundations, bronzers and blushes, but I wouldn't expect an Italian brand to cater for the really pale amongst us. Maybe they could if they started opening stores/counters more in Northern Europe. And I absolutely love the fact they have small special edition collections all year round! 
I will also admit a slight addiction to their wipes, which are VERY difficult to find when you have really sensitive skin (I know, I know, face wipes are the Devil, so they are! but these are SO damn good!).

 The Body Shop coconut body butter

It does what it says on the tin. Simple as. And it satisfies my coconut scent addiction. If they made the Vanilla Brulé line permanent including a body butter or body milk, I would probably take to eating it! (I bought the shower gel and body mist as my Christmas present to myself and I just wanna lick myself all the time!).

Cocoa Brown chocolate whip body moisturiser

Although I am not a chocolate lover (cue the chorus of "what?! WHY? HOW?!?!") I love the high hydration this product gives me and the fact everyone wants to smell and bite me. It makes for an interesting conversation starter I have to say.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you feel like sharing your own winter must haves, do feel free to leave them in a comment below.

Lil