2 days ago
Switching to Winter Mode: How are you modifying your routine?
Hi skin besties from the far north! ❄️
With the temperatures plunging and indoor heating cranking up here in Scandinavia, I'm officially switching into full winter barrier defense mode.
Climate makes a huge difference: when sub-zero air outside meets parched, air-conditioned/radiator-heated office air inside, the transepidermal water loss is brutal. Here are the core tweaks I make to survive the freeze without barrier burn:
🛡️ Nighttime Heavy Reinforcement: I bring out La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ for bedtime. The combination of 5% panthenol, madecassoside, and zinc/manganese is unbeatable for calming any micro-chapping and prepping the barrier for the following day. If I have to spend hours outside in freezing winds, I’ll even layer it during the day—who cares about looking shiny when your barrier is protected!
👁️ Perioral & Eye Sealing: The thin skin around the eyes and mouth is the first to suffer from winter dryness. In the mornings, I follow my caffeine/peptide eye serum with a panthenol-rich balm (or a dab of Cicaplast) right over the contour to physically seal that delicate skin from moisture loss.
💦 Indoor Tactical Misting: Office heating creates a desert environment. I keep a barrier/soothing mist at my desk to offset the temperature swings without disrupting my morning layers.
Are you already swapping out lighter lotions for richer ceramide creams or balms?
What is your holy grail step when the weather turns harsh?
Comments (12)
😂 So that's why the vikings plundered France. Yes, I am turning over my wardrobe and turning over my skincare. Although today it's in the 80s. 😰 (We're experiencing seventh summer, I believe, though I'm losing count.) The air conditioners are still running at work and in my car, so this is a two-phase transition from mid to heavy hydration and barrier care. 🪜 The Seasonal Step Up Plan (As long as Lobster says so) ☀️ AM ☀️ 💧 Finish ETUDE toner -> Naturie Hatomugi skin conditioner -> AESTURA Cream Essence 🧿 INNBEUTY Project Extreme Eye Cream 💦 Hyaluronic Acid serum 🛡️ AESTURA 365 Lotion (until the sample runs out, then I have ILLYOON Ato lotion) 😎 Finish HHW Black Rice SPF, switch back to K-Secret Seoul 1988 Pine Tree + Ceramide SPF 💋 CremeBalm Fresh Origins Lip Balm 🤗 Wet n Wild Bare Focus Tinted Hydrator Tinted Skin Veil 🌛 PM: 🌜 💧 Finish ETUDE toner -> Naturie Hatomugi skin conditioner -> AESTURA Cream Essence 🧿 INNBEUTY Project Extreme Eye Cream 🦞 Azelaic Acid serum to soothe rosacea flares (if tolerated, otherwise HA serum) 🧴 AESTURA 365 Cream 💋 CremeBalm Fresh Origins Lip Balm 🧴 EXTREMETIES 🧴 💧Use excess product on my face and neck so I can rub leftovers into my hands and fingers 🛡️ 🙌🏼 Prequel Hand Wrap Lotion 🛡️ 🦵🦶🏼 ILLIYOON Ceramide Ato Concentrate Cream 💀 AS NEEDED 💀 🧊 AESTURA Cream Mist 💋 CremeBalm Fresh Origins Lip Balm 🆘 EMERGENCY KIT 🆘 🚨 LPS Cicaplast Baum 🚨 Vaseline 🚨 Avene Thermal Mist 🚨 ILLIYOON Ultra Repair Lotion 🚨 Dieux Recovery Cream 1% Colloidal Oatmeal Skin Protectant 🚨 Dieux 3-in-1 Repair Serum 🚨 Holika Holika + Innisfree Hand and Foot Masks
😂 @hazelmoss 'So that's why the Vikings plundered France' killed me! They definitely sailed south specifically for thermal water and zinc balms! 🥖🛡️ Your line-up is immaculate—I am 100% stealing your habit of wiping face-routine leftovers straight onto hands and knuckles. (My winter hands desperately need that automatic discipline!) Also, having a true Cream Mist (like Aestura) on standby is brilliant for indoor heating; watery mists can evaporate too fast in radiator air, but the micro-lipids in a cream mist actually stay put.
I love how you use emojis to organize the products you mention. It makes it so much easier to read, especially since you know I’m basically the kid sitting behind your desk at school looking over your shoulder copying your answers and writing it down 😂 Thank you
@Mariacasino You know what an immaculate routine means -- 🦞 😅 I'm always poised for the worst possible scenario...and then it's a different scenario.
@Sora I need bullet points to help me scan. The lack of formatting is killing me slowly, lol. You're welcome to copy but maybe not in math class...geometry is the only subject I ever got a D in. I don't even care. I'm just glad I made it out with my life.
@hazelmoss I had a 4.4 in high school and a 4.0 in grad school 🤓 you can copy off of me in math but I’m copying off of you in Skincare 😂
@Mariacasino what caffeine/peptide eye serum do you use?...meanwhile in Texas 🔥🥵
@Gabking1217 Oh Texas heat, stay strong! 🌵🔥 I just started The INKEY List Caffeine Eye Cream! It was easily available locally, and looking closely at the INCI, it's actually much more complete than a basic caffeine serum: Caffeine for morning fluid drainage/vasoconstriction. Albizia Julibrissin Bark Extract + Darutoside (the 'Beautifeye' complex), which helps with capillary leakage and microvascular dark circles. Matrixyl 3000 (Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 & Tetrapeptide-7) for gentle collagen signaling. Squalane + Phospholipids, so it cushions the contour with bio-compatible lipids rather than drying out. It’s light, non-pilling, and easy to seal with a tiny dab of barrier balm when cold weather hits!
My sensitive skin has been so dry this last week I can only tolerate AESTURA and distilled water, so I’m hoping to be able to introduce other products in my winter skincare but for now I’m playing it safe. I’m curious to see what others are using and see if what works for those with skin similar to mine might work for me
AESTURA and distilled water sounds pretty solid for winter skincare too. Are you applying the moisturizer while your skin is damp? My skin got pretty thirsty on the water / vaseline and then water/toner/moisturizer regimen until I added a hyaluronic acid serum with ectoin. That's when my skin turned around the most noticeably. I'm trying to think of what would be readily available with the fewest possible irritants (citric acid seems to be in everything): - The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Hydrating Serum with Ceramides. 1oz is $10 - The Ordinary Amino Acids + B5 Hydration Serum, 1 oz is $10 - Rice Lipids + Ectoin Microemulsion Moisturizer, 2 oz, $13 (recognized by eczema assoc.) - Good Molecules Hyaluronic Acid Serum, 1oz is $6 at Ulta. - Geek & Gorgeous HA 5 Light Hydrating Serum, 5-Form HA, 1 oz, $10 on Amazon (no citric acid)
@Sora And now I see from your Skin Log that. you are using a serum. D'oh! 😅
@hazelmoss I haven’t been applying moisturizer while my skin is damp but maybe I should start. Yes rn I’m use the AESTURA atobarrier365 hydro cera-ha serum which I like bc so far my skin has been tolerating it very well