New year, new... we won't say it.

As everyone gets in their last minute shopping before Monday's festivities, we're also preparing ourselves for the onslaught of food comas, late nights and the odd tipple. Yes, Christmas is a time for celebration, however, all that fun can leave our skin a little worse for wear. From dark circles to dry skin, our complexion is well in need of a treat by the time the new year rolls around. But what are the main steps we should take to return our skin to its former glory and beyond? Well, The Skin Nerd's Jennifer Rock is all about maintaining our skin's health and when it comes to her New Year's resolutions, she's narrowed them down to these five easy tips.  

1. Bin the wipes

"I am always preaching about binning the wipes but sometimes it feels like I’m preaching to the choir. Wipes dehydrate the skin, impair the function of its protective barrier and can cause congestion as they simply move debris, makeup and oils around the face.

"If you are using a wipe as a cleanser, or even in a double-cleanse system, you are not allowing any products used thereafter to sufficiently penetrate into the skin. You can be buying the most sophisticated and innovative of serums and gently massaging them onto the skin every day but they are essentially money wasted if you put them on after “cleansing” with a wipe.

"It is the equivalent of waxing a car before cleaning it - that reference may go over some younger readers’ heads, but the point still stands."

2. Stop picking

"You’ve heard it before and you’re about to hear it again: popping spots and picking at your skin leaves you with marks that you may NEVER fully banish and drives bacteria further into the skin.

"Old habits die hard but now it is time for you to bury the amateur extracting. If you are prone to spots, salicylic acid is a much more effective and skin-friendly way of zapping them zits. Salicylic acid dissolves the dead skin cells that clogs up the pore and it also has anti-bacterial qualities."

3. Eat your skincare

"You have to feed the skin from within but that does not mean you should be drinking your serums.  What it does mean is making small changes to what you’re eating to see big changes with regard to your skin.

"It’s all about them omegas. Omegas reinforce the skin’s barrier function to stop moisture escaping and improve general skin health. You can get them through diet but to get the optimum amount of omegas for your skin, you’d need to be eating about five pieces of fish a day so it’s not the most practical.

"Start taking an omega supplement daily and don’t allow yourself to forget… but do remember to take them directly after eating or you will get the dreaded omega burps."

 

4. Make the switch to mineral makeup

"Switching to mineral makeup may seem terrifying to the person who has lived and breathed by cosmetic makeup their whole life.

"However, it honestly makes a world of difference as mineral makeup sits on the pore, rather than in the pore, so it cannot clog them, and provides antioxidant protection from the free radicals that can cause the skin’s ageing process to accelerate.

"Powder is best as it is purer, but there are plenty of liquid options out there too! As an added bonus, mineral makeup gives the wearer a glow like no other, which is super en vogue for 2018."

5. Get yourself a consult

"If you really and truly want to take your skin and its health seriously, the only way forward is a thorough consult with highly-qualified professionals. There is indeed a wealth of knowledge online when it comes to skincare but each and every skin is different.

"To acquire the type of skincare routine which will encourage real, visible change in the skin, your skin’s past, present and future needs to be assessed and you need to be on a 360˚ skincare routine (i.e. inside with supplements, outside with cosmetic and cosmeceutical skincare and on top with SPF and mineral makeup).

"It is a small thing to do - it takes half an hour for you to essentially have a lifetime of guidance, and an online skin consultation with The Skin Nerd online consultancy can be done anywhere at any time because it is all online. Now you’ve no excuse!"