Do you need help finding your Valentine’s Day skin?
If so, we encourage you to take some well-deserved “me-time” to pamper yourself a little bit. You know you feel better about yourself when you look your best, so whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s or not, take advantage of the upcoming holiday to boost your skin radiance and confidence.
We suggest that rather than wait until the actual day, you start taking better care of yourself today. If you follow our seven-day beauty prep below, by the time Valentine’s Day gets here, you’ll be feeling your best and ready to celebrate.
1. To create beautiful, radiant Valentine’s Day skin, start with a clean slate.
If your skin isn’t clean, no serum or moisturizer is going to help much. Start your prep by making sure you have the best cleanser for your skin. If your skin feels tight and dry after cleansing, your cleanser is stripping it of its natural oils. That means you’re damaging your skin by cleansing it, and that’s not what you want.
Instead, your skin should feel soft, smooth, and comfortable after cleansing. Look for formulas that are made without sulfates and that are gentle and pH-balanced. (CV Skinlabs, anyone?) Then try using a skin brush with your favorite formula to be sure you get into all the nooks and crannies, rooting out dirt and grime so your skin can shine.
2. Give your Valentine’s skin a little extra care.
If your skin has been neglected lately, use the upcoming holiday as an excuse to spend a little more time on it. What does it need? If it’s dry, use a moisturizing mask for about 30 minutes before bed. If it’s oily and reactive, try a clay mask or other oil-absorbing mask.
Repeat your mask care at least once more before Valentine’s Day arrives to give yourself every chance of enjoying smooth, radiant skin.
3. Hydration: the Key to Radiant Skin
It’s normal for skin to feel a little dry and dull during the winter. Since Valentine’s Day falls smack in the middle of all that cold, dry weather, your skin is likely struggling to stay hydrated.
Moisture is the key to delaying the appearance of aging, and also helps skin look its radiant best. Make sure your moisturizer is doing its job. If your skin feels dry and looks dull halfway through the day, it could be that your moisturizer doesn’t have the ingredients you need to truly moisturize.
We suggest our Calming Moisture for Face, Neck, and Scalp because it is specially made to calm redness and deeply hydrate while repairing the skin’s outer barrier. With consistent use, you can expect to see a boost in skin radiance as well as a healthy glow.
4. Exfoliate more for radiant Valentine’s Day skin.
Ask yourself: Does my skin look dull? If so, that’s a sign that the dead skin cells are building up on the surface, blocking the younger, fresher cells from emerging underneath.
You can solve this problem by exfoliating your skin. A skin brush will help, but you can accomplish more with a gentle exfoliator that includes fruit acids like salicylic, glycolic, and malic. These acids slough away that dull surface and allow the younger skin to shine through.
Just be careful not to be too harsh. If you have sensitive skin, rough scrubs can cause microscopic tears that lead to acne breakouts. Use a gentle exfoliating product or a gentle peel to accomplish your goal without making your skin worse.
5. Fade dark spots and brighten your skin.
When you’re focused on improving your skin, it’s easy to notice all the flaws, particularly those dark spots and splotches. Even skin tone is something we all want to enjoy, but it gets harder as we get older. Sun damage, acne, age spots, and more can all mar that smooth surface we had when we were younger.
You can’t fade all those spots in one week, but you can take some steps to make your skin look brighter by Valentine’s Day. Start with a vitamin C serum and use it at least once a day—twice if you can. Vitamin C helps brighten the skin while defending it from damaging free radicals.
Next, try a homemade yogurt or buttermilk mask. These contain high amounts of lactic acid, which help lighten and exfoliate the skin. Mix in some honey if you like and let sit on the skin for 20-30 minutes before rinsing off.
You can also try mixing equal parts of apple cider vinegar with water, then apply to the entire face to lighten dark spots. Leave on for 20 minutes and rinse off.
6. Don’t forget your lips!
Though we’ve all been hiding our lips behind masks for the past year, you may want to show yours off on Valentine’s Day, particularly if you’re going to be enjoying some time alone with your sweetheart.
Start by checking the condition of your lips. If they are dry and flaky from all the cold winter weather, start with a gentle lip scrub to get rid of those flakes. Then follow with a super nourishing balm like our award-winning Restorative Skin Balm, which instantly softens severely dry and chapped skin. Apply several times a day as needed.
Repeat these two steps—exfoliating and nourishing—every day throughout the week and your lips will be pucker-proof by Valentine’s Day!
7. Master your makeup for flawless Valentine’s Day skin.
Have you changed up your makeup routine lately? Many of us are still following the same steps we used when we were teens, which can be a mistake if you’re now in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or beyond.
If you have the time, head to your nearest makeup counter and ask the makeup artist for help. It could be that your foundation isn’t the right color, or that a different shade of eye shadow may work better at making your eyes pop.
If you don’t have access to outside help, head over to YouTube to watch a few makeup tutorials. There are a lot of makeup gurus there who can help you no matter what your age.
We also suggest spending extra time on your foundation. This is the most important makeup product you’ll use, as it will either highlight the natural beauty in your skin or make it look worse. Seek out moisturizing formulas that will enhance radiance and then make sure they do their job by checking your skin frequently throughout the day.
How will you prepare your Valentine’s Day skin?
