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How to Get Glowing Skin with Simple Holiday Skincare

The holidays are our favorite time of year! Seeing friends and family, indulging in tasty seasonal treats, and enjoying the change of the seasons all make it the most wonderful time of the year. All of the annual pleasures aside, the holidays are often accompanied by a bit of extra stress which can play tricks on your complexion. Taking extra care with your holiday skincare will help keep you looking fabulous and festive, whether you’re waiting under the mistletoe or riding in a one-horse open sleigh.

In today’s post, you’ll learn how to prepare your skin for the holiday season, plus some easy holiday skincare tips that will keep you glowing all winter long.

 

How to Prepare Your Skin for the Holidays

Preparing is the best way to prevent skincare woes this holiday season. Here are some of the best ways to start taking care of your skin before the holidays cause any issues!

Wash and Moisturize Your Face Regularly

Although you may be traveling to visit family or friends this holiday season, that’s no excuse for not following your skincare routine. Make sure to keep your skin clean and moisturized. In the morning, before you apply your foundation, use an oil-free moisturizer, like our Ultra Repairative Complex Creme, to moisturize your skin. After that, you can apply your makeup primer. On its own, a primer won’t give your skin the moisture that it needs.

Before you go to bed at night, you should always remove all of the makeup you are wearing. Then make sure to use a cleanser (we recommend our Gentle Creamy Cleanser!) to ensure your skin is clean and ready for bedtime. It’s also worth spending an extra five minutes to treat your skin with some kind of anti-aging products. You’ll wake up feeling younger than you went to bed!

Exfoliate At Least Once Per Week

You should already be exfoliating once per week using a peel or facial. During the holidays, since we tend to wear more makeup than usual, this is especially important. If you’re one of the many women using a twelve-hour foundation to keep your beautiful holiday look in place through those late-night sleigh rides, exfoliating will prepare your skin for smooth application of foundation and also remove any dead skin cells or other impurities which can cause your skin to break out.

Take Care of Your Body, Too

The holidays can be hard on your body. With all the tasty treats on offer and the extra Christmas cocktails, you need to make sure to drink lots of water. Like, more than you think you need to drink. The holidays tend to be the time people drink more alcohol than at any other time of year.

When you wake up the next day your body is dehydrated from processing all the booze. Dehydration affects your skin just as much as it affects your headache. Try not to drink too much and balance it out by drinking even more than the recommended eight glasses of water a day.

It’s also important to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients! There’s nothing wrong with indulging and enjoying yourself during the holiday season, but remember to add in fruits and vegetables to help take care of your body during this time.

Clean Your Makeup Brushes Consistently

Make sure you keep your makeup brushes extra clean. You should already be cleaning your makeup brushes about once a week to keep them in working condition and to keep your skin healthy too. They’re probably getting a little extra use around the holidays as you strive for (and achieve, of course) the perfect look. Whatever brushes you’re using, whether it’s a foundation brush or beauty blender, put a little extra effort into keeping it clean this holiday season.

3 Bonus Holiday Skincare Tips

Even when you prepare in advance, the holidays are a busy time! Here are some easy ways to keep your complexion glowing with holiday skincare.

Depuff Your Eyes

When your holiday party runs late and the booze is flowing freely, you might wake up with some puffy eyes. Don’t worry about it, we’ve got you covered. Brew yourself up a pot of tea and dip two caffeinated teabags in the hot water for 1-2 minutes. You’ll want to refrigerate the tea bags (overnight for best results, so if you’ve got a wild night coming up it’s a good idea to do this step ahead of time).

Grab those chilled bags and let them sit under your eyes. You’ll be shocked by how quickly the puffiness disappears! Caffeinated teas, and especially black teas, have tannins, which help the skin contract. You can do this trick with cotton pads soaked in tea as well, but tea bags are more effective because the tannins are much more concentrated.

If you’re not big on tea and don’t have any on hand, you can also use an eye gel to ease the puffiness. We recommend our Super Antioxidant Eye Gel! It’s easy to use and super effective.

Focus on Shrinking Your Pores

If your pores are looking large, you may notice that your skin starts to appear more dull and tired than usual. We’re after that perfect holiday skincare glow, so that won’t do. Fortunately, you can make an easy homemade toner that will shrink your pores and get rid of any naughty bacteria that might be lurking.

Mix one part apple cider vinegar (about half a cup) with two parts of water (one cup). Give it a little mix and then dip a cotton pad in the mixture. Simply swab it over your face and watch your pores shrink before your eyes. You’ll see the difference immediately.

Use Highlighter to Keep Your Skin Glowy

Obviously, we all wear makeup during the holidays, but the key to this trick is knowing how to use it to bring out and showcase your best features. All you need is your favorite highlighter. This is probably the easiest tip on our list!

If you want to slim your nose down a little bit, all you have to do is run a streak of highlighter down the center of your nose. Easy, right? Want to make your eyes look bigger and brighter? Just dab a little bit of highlighter at the inner corner of your eyes. You’ll look more awake, even if you spent the night finding your way onto the naughty list. If you want fuller, more mistletoe ready lips, just apply some highlighter right on your cupids bow.


Just because you’re having a merry time this holiday season, doesn’t mean you should forget to take care of your skin! In fact, establishing a holiday skincare routine will help you get through this winter without sacrificing your complexion. These tips and tricks will keep your skin healthy and glowing as you enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

What are your favorite holiday skincare tricks?