![Spring is in the air!](http://gatineau.com/cdn/shop/articles/Nicola-Banner_7cce59d3-5021-4313-b1b2-672c833a38bc_20x8_crop_center.jpg?v=1613993655)
After months of snow, slush, and freezing cold temperatures, spring is finally on the horizon. YAY!!!
I, for one get quite excited about packing away the Winter woolies….Gone are the sheepskin boots, fur-lined hoods, and loading up my skin with thick creams and serums to help fight off the wicked winter weather. With the season slowly turning, the skins needs to recover from the ravages of the awful cold and drying temperatures, so it’s a temporary goodbye to the heavy formulations, the nourishing “comfort blankets” of winter and hello to the lighter, fresher and more luminous complexion …which I’m sure is lurking somewhere under all that dull skin that has built up over winter??
So first things first….. Step 1 to achieving beautiful, hydrated and radiant skin is to remove all of the dead skin that has built up in the last few months of cold weather. Start scrubbing!! Well not scrubbing exactly, but exfoliating! And at Gatineau we are the masters of exfoliation… let’s face it, you don’t win a Gold Industry awards for having the BEST FACIAL Exfoliator for nothing!
Enter Pro Radiance Anti-Ageing Gommage… my “go to”, my “desert island product” (I have done a full blog about this product alone, read here) the one item of my skin care routine that I simply CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT and is THE best product for instant skin transformation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always important to exfoliate but there’s no time more necessary to slough away the dull, parched skin than after the winter. Quite simply, if you’re not exfoliating, your skin just isn’t as healthy as it could be.
As we age, the process of cell regeneration slows down. This means that the body is slower to shed skin cells and generate new ones. When the old skin cells start to pile up on the surface of the skin, it can leave skin looking dull, rough, and dry. Furthermore, the build-up of dead skin cells can result in excess oil and clogged pores, leading to blemishes and acne. When your skins blocked it can’t breathe, it can’t absorb nutrients and it certainly struggles to stay hydrated as the water cant filter down to the skin cells. There’s no way of looking fresh faced, and getting ”Spring Clean” if you don’t start with exfoliation!
Once we lift the lid off the skin (so to speak) we can get serious with the deep clean…. Think about it as a “Reboot” for the skin. A way of removing the toxins and debris of winter and flooding the skin with micro nutrients to transform and boost its energy levels. The skin needs a little TLC after a season of overindulging and using heavier products, plus we know that air particle pollution is at an all-time high. All of these factors leads to an accumulation of toxins and ultimately the skin needs a complete detox at least once a year. The benefits of doing this are amazing!
The Renew 7 Detox serum is a hugely impressive product. A little bottle of skin perfection, and a sure fire way to bring your skin back to optimum wellness. This treatment provides an intense detoxifying action by flushing out damaging pollutants and deeply cleansing the skin to reveal a fresh, glowing complexion. Packed with vitamin C and pearl extract, this serum also provides a gentle surface micro-peeling effect, reducing minor skin imperfections and flaws, creating a smooth canvas and almost glass like finish to my complexion. As we transition our skin from winter to spring, a serum like this will help to repair and refresh the appearance of the skin, boosting the circulation and defending the skin against free radical and pollution damage, essential to our skins overall health and wellness.
The next step in the glow game is swapping your winter moisturizer for something a little lighter. Luminosity is key!
As we age the skin finds it harder to retain the moisture in the uppermost layers and therefore the fresh, “just out the shower” look is no longer as easy to achieve. Pick up any magazine, check out every red carpet event and somehow, everyone has that almost “Lit from within” radiance. How?????
Well, with the right products it’s actually quite easy to achieve that delicately dewy finish, and is a perfect look for spring and summer. I have found that the combination of the Perfection Ultime Complexion Cream SPF 30 (medium for me right now, but dark when heading into the summer) mixed with Perfection Ultime Radiance Perfecting Drops gives me an instant pick me up and the exact effortless, minimal make up look I’m after in Spring!
Mixed together they make the most glorious Illuminating skin Perfecter. This combination is my new secret to subtly radiant skin. Both products have strong skin protection properties, and helps build resilience and strength in the skin’s protective barrier. Toxin-free skin equates to youthful and healthy skin! The products of course can be used separately but when mixed they create something special… a perfect partnership!!
The result?....a gorgeous luminous primer that gives an instant “Soft-Focus” effect to the skin. The light / medium coverage from our SPF 30 CC cream disguises and evens- out a maybe not so perfect skin, giving a very natural make up finish. Blend this with the Perfecting Drops, that deliver their ultra-fine light diffusing particles creating a pearlescent veil over the skin to instantly illuminate and the blurring microspheres smooth over wrinkles and any imperfections create an optical illusion of a flawless and pore less complexion.
Skin immediately looks plumped, radiant and youthful, lines are blurred and it immediately brightens a dull complexion. Now who doesn’t want that??!!
I’ve now just opened my 3rd bottle of these drops (I’ve become quite obsessed)… I use them on my face, my décolleté (It’s an epic way to hydrate, blur imperfections, and bask in a healthy décolletage dew) and I’ve now found that mixed into AHA body lotion it creates the most amazing sheen down the front of the shins and the legs …. These really are a fundamental new addition to my skin care repertoire and will most definitely stay a permanent part of my routine!
Spring Skin Care sorted…. bring on the sunshine!!
Nicola xxx