Beauty notes: a skincare upgrade from the neck down

They say that great summer skin is made in the depths of winter, so we are all perfectly placed to get some rituals and routines in place for those cosy nights at home and rainy days. And skincare needn’t stop at the neck either – what happens below is equally deserving of a little love. We spend so much time and thought choosing the perfect products for our face—why don’t we do the same for our body? Give your outlook an update and seek hard-working formulas that will change the feel and appearance of your skin in an instant, delivering serious skincare results for all over your bod.

EXFOLIATE

Get your scrub on to reveal baby-smooth skin that takes on the strength of the hydrators to follow like never before. Crucial all year round (in summer to buff away SPF and fake tan, and in winter to banish dry, flaky skin), body exfoliators make an instant difference to skin condition and prep it perfectly for any actives that are applied post-scrub. A classic from MECCA is Frank Body’s iconic coffee scrub, which is inexpensive and super effective. Easily as good as many versions at much higher price points, it’s also the perfect caffeine hit in the shower before you’ve even grabbed that first cuppa joe.

LEG WORK

Sisley White Ginger Contouring Oil is a premium, high performance product from the global brand that offers a solution for those with legs that might be feeling a little heavy and sluggish. Combined with a specific massage technique, it offers highly targeted actions that help with fatigue, tone and texture of legs for your best pins ever. Immediately after application, sensations of discomfort are soothed. Skin is softer, smoother and more toned. Day after day, legs feel lighter, and the satiny veil it leaves on the skin is just gorgeous.

HEAVENLY HANDS

The Chemistry Brand is famous for its highly effective, no nonsense formulas for the bod, including a couple of great options for hands that may be worn dry by corona-panic. Their original Hand Chemistry is a concentrated, multi-functional hand cream targets an amazing eight signs of ‘hand ageing’ simultaneously. The extraordinary 19.5% active complex concentration improves the looks of firmness, elasticity, density, evenness, brightness, texture, smoothness and hydration, and delivers  visible results in a very impressive 11 days.

The other option -  the only hand cream that has made a dent in the state of my eczema-prone paws of late – is the brand’s  HA3 Hand Hydrator. Unlike traditional creams that offer merely surface hydration, this triple-function hydrator offers multi-depth hydration while forming an invisible protection "glove" to help prevent moisture loss. The formula contains both low- and high-molecular-weight forms of nature-like hyaluronic acid for instant and longer-term hydration in a base of liquid mango butter, Brazilian Açaí and Inca Inchi oil. Heaven in a tube.

BEST FOOT FORWARD

Also from The Chemistry Brand but designed for your feet, Heel Chemistry is quite unlike any other foot treatment-type product I’ve tried. Unlike traditional heel creams which focus on removing the hard skin, it has an 19.5% active complex that has been designed to hydrate cracked skin topically whilst supporting below surface hydration to avoid the traditional hard skin cycle. It contains a marine complex clinically proven to improve visible skin texture and hydration, while counteracting extreme dryness without the need for urea or acids. Lather it on and pop on a pair of socks before bed – your feet will thank you for it and then some.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

This is where the whole bod comes into focus, and for lovers of luxe, Sisleÿa L'Intégral Anti-Âge Concentrated Firming Body Cream is a truly sublime experience. For those that love premium, it provides a complete solution to sagging skin, loss of firmness and loss of tone affecting the body. Aiming to literally “re-sculpt” the body over time, it combines the power of an anti-aging serum with the comfort of a cream, for visibly firmer and smoother skin. With age, the essential components of the dermis lose their structure: when young, they are resistant and elastic, but with time, their production decreases and skin begins to lose firmness. That’s why this clever formula includes three plant-based active ingredients - Soy fibre, Dill, and Padina pavonica extracts - that have been specially selected by Sisley Research to strengthen the dermal structure and visibly reduce skin that has lost its firmness. When applied, this beauty forms a natural, elastic mesh on the surface of the skin, providing an immediate lifting effect without leaving an oily film.

The Chemistry Brand’s Hyaluronic Concentrate is another major prize winner in this category, and is literally the next best thing to jumping into a pool of one of the beauty world’s most buzzed about ingredients. The famed wonder ingredient Hyaluronic Acid continues to remain a buzz word in the beauty industry after so many years, thanks to its incredible hydrating properties. Unlike the 90 per cent purity of most products on the market, the Chemistry Brand’s Hyaluronic Concentrate contains a seriously impressive  99.5 per cent pure Hyaluronic Acid. High levels of pure, nature-like HA assist the delivery of actives in supplementary skincare, meaning that any lotions and potions applied on top of this concentrated gel treatment will be working to their full potential. With continued use, The Chemistry Brand’s Hyaluronic Concentrate will promote skin to retain its own moisture, minimising the need for any additional surface hydrating products. Impressed? I was, and now it’s a product I can’t do without (the pump is an added bonus - great no mess, no fuss approach).

THE GOOD OIL

Anyone that checks in here regularly will know that I’m a huge fan of oils - body oils, hair oils and facials oils - and love the fact that nine times out of ten, they are brilliant multitaskers and can be used on the whole family. They are perfect for soothing the bod when the temperature drops, and Dermalogica’s Phyto Replenish Body Oil is a formula I fell in love with from the first time I used it. Delicately-scented, it’s a featherweight but super effective formula designed to replenish, calm and moisturise using some of nature’s best ingredients like French Plum Seed Oil, Avocado Oil and Sunflower Seed Oil help protect skin’s lipid barrier.

RAWKANVAS Remedy Calming Hemp Body Oil is another great pick from the shelfie friendly, natural brand that feels incredible on the skin. It’s the perfect solution if your skin feel stight after showering, and for those who suffer from redness, irritation or psoriasis and need to hydrate and calm body, mind and soul. Active ingredients in there include Hemp Seed Oil, Camellia Oil and Hemp Flower Oil, making it an absolute treat for the skin.

 Main image: Ava Sol on Unsplash