Top Ten Summer Skin Care Tips & Favorite Product List:
With summer in fully swing and temperatures in the 100s, now is the time to get serious about your summer skin care routine. What products you use on summer skin can make a huge difference in skin’s overall health, wellness and glow. Here are a few of my favorite products & tips to enhance skin health during the dog days of summer in the desert:
- Combat dry desert air by investing in a good humidifier and running it every single night. Skin repairs itself during the night so running a humidifier while you sleep is an excellent way to boost the skin’s innate ability to heal while locking in moisture.
- Lighten up your skin care routine by switching from a heavy foundation to a tinted SPF lotion. Summer is the time to think sheer and natural and to let your glow shine.
Favorite tinted SPF is Intellishade by Revision Skincare. Intellishade is an award-winning, self-adjusting (yes it will automatically self adjust to all skin tones), tinted moisturizer that gives skin a touch of sheer, healthy color. Intellishade is formulated with a blend of three anti-aging peptides and broad-spectrum SPF 45 UVA & UVB protection.
- Amp up with Vitamin C Antioxidants. Antioxidants are key in summer and play a critical role to help in combating and reversing skin damaging free radicals that form during UV exposure. Vitamin C can help reverse sun damage and aids in brightening skin.
Favorite Vitamin C Serum: Vitamin C lotion 30% by Revision Skincare. Revision’s 30% Vitamin C lotion contains the most advanced form of vitamin C for healthy, radiant skin and is one of the strongest concentrations of vitamin C available. It contains THD Ascorbate, a highly stabilized, very powerful form of vitamin C, which brightens dull skin and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
- Treat sun spots and hyperpigmentation. It is important to pay special attention to the dark patches that appear on the forehead, cheeks and upper lip during the summer months. If this happens to you, there is a good chance you have something called melasma. Melasma is often stimulated by sun exposure and the reason why it is often at its worst during the summer months. To help treat and prevent melasma from surfacing, be sure to apply a lightening cream every evening.
Favorite Lightening Cream: Lytera 2.0 Pigment Correcting Serum by SkinMedica. Lytera 2.0 is a newly reformulated correcting serum that addresses even the most stubborn discoloration, regardless of skin type or genetic makeup. Improvement is seen in as early as 2 weeks with progressively dramatic results at 12 weeks and beyond. It is a non-hydroquinone, retinol-free, paraben-free, fragrance-free, non-comedogenic formulation.
- Pay special attention to the eyes. Strong sun & heat can wreak havoc on the delicate skin around the eyes. It is critical to pay special attention to this area in the summer and be sure to apply a highly moisturizing eye cream two times per day to ensure optimal skin health.
Favorite eye cream: Rejuvenate Eye Smoothing Daily Treatment Cream by Skin Better Science. Daily Treatment Cream Eye is a revolutionary eye cream formulated with a cocktail of potent ingredients to recharge the delicate eye area. It features an InterFuse patented transport system that allows the delivery of large sized skincare ingredients to penetrate faster and deeper with pinpoint precision. This formula will diminish the appearance of crow’s feet, puffiness, dehydration, firmness, bags and under-eye darkness.
- Pump up hydration with Hyaluronic Acid. Hyaluronic acid is a sugar molecule that naturally occurs in the skin’s structure that keeps skin moisturized and plump. Hyaluronic acid has the ability to retain close to 1000 times its weight in water thus helping skin to stay moisturized.
Favorite Hyaluronic Acid Product: Lines Smoothing Intensive Treatment by Skin Better Science. Lines is the first of its kind no-needle solution to wrinkles. This topical hyaluronic acid smoother is formulated with the same InterFuse technology as their eye cream and is the only formula to contain injectable-grade hyaluronic acid particles to minimize the appearance of deep wrinkles and to boost moisture in the skin.
- Protect your Pout. It is especially important to pay attention to your lips during the summer months. Just like the rest of your skin, lips need to be protected from the sun and moisture needs to be replenished daily. Always be sure to apply a lip balm that contains SPF when spending time outdoors.
Favorite Summer Lip Treatment: Perk Lip Treatment. Perk is the only hybrid system that combines an in-office procedure with a take home product. Treat your lips to this quick 10 minute in office procedure and receive a 30 day supply of a take home maintenance product. With Perk Lip, lips are smoothed, moisturized and perfectly primed. Lip Revitalizing Serum uses key ingredients such as peppermint oil and peony extract to gently exfoliate, hydrate, and lightly plump lips. You take home ½ of the Lip Revitalizing Serum to apply on your lips twice daily plus, you receive a SPF Hydrating Lip Balm to lock in moisture.
- Take a cold shower. Hot water will further dry out sensitive summer skin. A cool shower helps calm inflamed skin, helps keep skin unoccluded and decreases acne breakouts. Stick with cooler shower temperatures during the hot summer months.
- Wear a wide brimmed hat. A baseball cap isn’t enough in the summer and cannot protect your face fully from the sun’s damaging rays. To protect your face fully, opt for a hat with a large brim. Better yet, find one that has special SPF protection built right in. You can find a good SPF hat from Solumbra. Solumbra offers 100+ SPF protection in their Sun Precautions clothing line.
- Exfoliate dry skin. Be sure to include exfoliating scrubs 1-2 times per week to help encourage cellular turnover and to help shed dead, dry skin cells. Use skin scrubs on dry skin before you shower.
Favorite Facial Scrub: Finishing Touch Microdermabrasion Scrub by Revision Skincare. Finishing Touch is a serious facial exfoliation scrub that removes dead, dehydrated surface cells from the skin for an immediate soft, smooth appearance. It contains Polynesian Volcanic Black Sand, ultra-fine pumice and freshwater silt to help fight impurities, brighten dull skin, and leaves a moist, clean feel.
- Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate. I can’t stress this enough. Dehydration in the desert is not only bad for your skin, it is also a serious health risk. Make a conscious effort to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. You can do this by carrying a water bottle with you everywhere you go and making sure that you drink at least one ounce of water every 30 minutes throughout the day. Not only will this help prevent dehydration, staying hydrated also aids in detoxification of the body by flushing out damaging toxins.