9

Jul

2019

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

Whether you are a bride or a groom, looking good on your wedding day is one of the most important parts of the wedding planing. You may have chosen your outfit, your hairstyle, your shoes even, but what about your skin care? Glowing skin is a sought after addition to any wedding day. Looking healthy and glowing can accessories any dress or suit like nothing else. So, how do you get that all important glowing skin? Today I have invited Pippa Harman from SkinLyst onto the blog to pass on her expert skin care knowledge. SkinLyst is a totally independent skincare consulting website. Pippa, using years of experience as a cosmetic chemist, has created a site that will offer you advice on the products you should be using by building up your own personal skincare profile, taking your skin type and budget. I did my own assessment and it gave me a variety of products ranging from £6 to £35. It was easy to use and my report came back within a matter of minutes. Pippa is going to share with us her top tips for glowing skin, I hope you find it useful.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

I’ll pass you over to Pippa

I originally trained as a cosmetic formulation chemist and have been working in skin care product development for nearly 10 years. I started o share my ingredient and product knowledge to help people find the right skin care regime for them.
One of the most common things I hear is people wanting to achieve glowing skin, so whilst I don’t usually offer general advice (as we are all so different), here are some steps that apply to most of us.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

 

What are the best tips for glowing skin?

 

Glowing skin requires regular exfoliation, a healthy skin barrier and adequate hydration. In terms of products there are a few steps I would recommend for every skin type:

  1. Choose a balancing cleanser

I think most skin types work better with oil, cream, or non-foaming gel cleansers, which work by dissolving sebum/makeup etc from the skin without disrupting the natural lipid barrier of the skin (which certain foaming cleansing agents can). If you disrupt the lipid barrier, this can dry out the skin, or cause it to over-produce oil, which throws skin off balance.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst
  1. Add a hydrating serum

Ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin and butylene glycol are known as humectants, meaning they can draw water molecules to them, an in turn hydrating and plumping the skin.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst
  1. Exfoliate regularly

Regular removal of dead, dull cells from the surface of the skin is important to achieve that glow. I prefer chemical exfoliants for this, as they are less abrasive and easier to create an even result. The most common form of chemical exfoliants are acids – alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), beta-hydroxy acids (BHAs) or poly-hydroxy acids (PHAs). They work by breaking down the keratin that binds the dead cells together, removing them and revealing the healthier, brighter skin cells underneath.

  • For oily or congested skin, salicylic acid (a BHA) is the best option as it is oil-soluble so can penetrate into the pore to remove any build-up of dead skin cells which can block the pore and lead to breakouts.
  • For combination and normal skin types, glycolic acid is often the best route. It’s the smallest molecular size of all the acids which means it can penetrate the skin furthest & fastest, which means it gives the quickest results, but can also be more drying and sensitizing than other acids, so is not suitable for ultra dry or more reactive skin types.
  • For drier or sensitive skin types, I would recommend a PHA such as gluconolactone, which works in the same way as the others, but has a much larger molecular size so will take a bit longer to show effects, but is also a hydrating molecule so should not cause any dryness or sensitivity.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

  1. Support the skin barrier

Our skin barrier is our first defense against UV, pollution and infection, and it’s vital for healthy skin functioning.

If the skin is dry, or has been exposed to certain irritants, tiny cracks can form between the skin cells, which results in a damaged barrier (and dull-looking skin). This leads to more water evaporating from the skin through trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) which leads to skin becoming further dehydrated.

 

There are a few ingredients to look out for which support the natural skin barrier:

Squalane – This is an oil which is very close in structure to our skin’s natural sebum, This means it doesn’t block pores, but acts as a nature-mimicking oil in drier skin that is not producing enough sebum of its own. Using this will help create a lipid layer on the skin, preventing excess water being lost through the skin barrier. Use CBD Cream to massage your skin.

Ceramides – these make up the ‘glue’ that bind our skin cells together. If we can add ceramides into our regime, this can help to seal any cracks between skin cells and prevent further water loss, helping to keep moisture in. There are also other skincare ingredients, such as niacinamide, that encourage our skin’s own natural production of ceramides for the same sealing effect.

Natural Moisturising Factor (NMF) – This is a composition produced naturally by the skin, to coat our skin cells to keep moisture inside the epidermis. The NMF is made up of urea, lactate, amino acids & sodium pca. You can look for these ingredients in skincare products to support this natural moisturising mechanism.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

How long does it take to start seeing results from a new skincare regime?

Usually it takes around 28 days to start seeing results from a new skincare regime, which is the time is takes for the epidermis (the outer part of the skin) to completely renew itself. With a regime such as the above, where you are working on the outer layers of the epidermis, you should start to see results sooner.

For routines with anti-ageing actives which need to target the deeper layers of the epidermis, it may take around 12 weeks to start really seeing the difference. Ingredients like retinol for example take around 3 months to start noticing an effect, then the results are cumulative the longer you keep using it.

If you are preparing your skin for your big day and want to start a new regime, I would allow at least 3 months to achieve best results.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

How do I know what products are right for me?

There is a lot of information on the market and it’s not always easy to know what products are going to work. That’s why I set up SkinLyst – I offer a free skin analysis service, and create a custom regime to fit your skin goals, budget & lifestyle.

Ask The Experts: Top Tips for Glowing Skin with SkinLyst

 

For more information on SkinLyst go to

www.skinlyst.com / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM 

 

 

 

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