About skin care

by The Flamingo

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend a beauty course hosted by Estée Lauder. A friend of mine, who is Brand General Manager for Switzerland, organised the whole online experience and it turned out really cool and interesting. The topic was skin care. Although I know a thing or two about this subject, it surprised me to learn a lot of new helpful things. So I decided to share them with my readers, because skin care is not only related to beauty or youth, but also to health. 

The first question we were asked at this course by our teacher was, what is beauty for each of us. Clearly beauty has lots of meanings depending on the person asked and the subjectivity of this is expressed in the simple phrase known by us all: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. But it also got me thinking what beauty means for me personally. I think beauty is related to health, both body and also mental, and to my personal mantra: “always trying to look my best, proper for my age and surroundings”. I don’t have goals to look 10 years younger, but I also don’t want to look like a hag ever in this lifetime either, if possible. So skin care is an ally in this battle I have with time.

The things I’ve learned on this beauty course are really sensible and easy to introduce in one’s care routine:

• Have a routine, every night! This is the most important thing you can do for your skin’s health. Take care of it, at least once a day.
• Use makeup remover that contains oil, it’s more efficient and kind to your skin.
• Cleanse your skin twice after removing your makeup with a cleanser. If you don’t use any makeup then cleansing once is enough. Cleansing twice helps remove all the oil in your skin and helps absorb the cream you apply. If there’s still a trace of oil left, then the cream won’t be absorbed into your skin. The water you use should be lukewarm.
• Toner is only necessary if you have acne or super oily skin, to reduce the pores. You don’t have to use it otherwise, it’s not necessary.
• Use a serum or anti aging cream on the freshly cleansed skin or on a previously hydrated skin. I made the recent discovery of an amazing serum, Advanced Night Repair by Estée Lauder. I can recommend it wholeheartedly, it reduces the traces of aging after using it regularly. I also found out from my friend that it’s the best sold serum in many countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, so that must count for something. 
• Retinol! Retinol is vitamin A and it’s known for reducing wrinkles, helps the skin produce more collagen, improves blood flow and changes the skin colour, also reduces pigmentation. Retinol is supposed to be introduced in your night cream. Be careful in using it, not everybody tolerates it, it has to be used only in the evening, and don’t expose your skin to sun after using it. Also it’s advised to take breaks when using retinol. So before trying it, do some research and see if you are a good candidate for it.
• Use special anti wrinkle cream for the eyes, massaging gently every night using your ring fingers, also including your temples in this routine. 
• Use a massage utensil for your face to reduce puffiness and increase muscle strength and skin elasticity.
• Use a type of mask on your face every week, according to your needs.
• Sun cream is very important, I think everybody knows that. It has to be worn every day, also in winter, although I think the absorption of vitamin D from the sun is also important. Use it with care in the morning, as the last product you put on your face. I’ve also learned the difference between the ultraviolet rays UVB and UVA. The UVB are responsible for producing sunburn and all the skin problems related to health. The UVA are also dangerous to our health, they go deeper into the skin and produce early skin ageing on top of that. So be sure to use a sunblock on your face and body that is against both types of UV-s.
• The last tip is for those of you who live in Switzerland or other countries that have hard water. The hard water dries up the skin and produces early aging. So moisture your body after every shower (provided you have the time). 

I hope you find my article helpful. Time for taking care of us is usually at the bottom of our priority lists, especially for those of us with young children. So if you can spare even a little bit of time and use it on taking care of the health of your skin, it will be worth it. It’s always good to prepare ourselves for the decade to come. So if you are in your thirties, you will prepare for your forties, if you are in your forties you have to prepare ahead for the fifties and so on. Sports, healthy food and skin care will get us there in good shape. Some of these tips can also be applied by gentlemen. After all, not only women should look good and healthy, their partners should extend the same courtesy. 

For more tips and tricks on how to take care of your skin or how to apply makeup, you can follow Estée Lauder’s Facebook page or Instagram for new videos weekly.

Photo from Flamingo‘s archive.