As spring and summer come into Sydney, the calendar fills up with exciting events like Spring Carnival, weddings, and Christmas and New Years’ parties. If you want to show up looking your best with a refreshed and brilliant complexion, here’s what you can do, and how you should time it.
At-Home Skin Care
Margarita, our Product Specialist and in-house Skincare Guru, says that it takes 28 days for your cells to turn over, so you should begin your skincare routine 8 weeks in advance if you don’t already have one; “this will give you two fresh cycles of new cells, and the benefits of the second cycle will build on the benefits of the first,” she says.
If you’re using active ingredients for the first time, or adding new active ingredients to your routine, there’s also a chance that your skin will go through a gentle purge. You may be a bit flaky or notice a few red bumps. This is just your skin renewing itself. As you exfoliate the dead cells, softer, more renewed skin will come through, and a purge will normally only last two weeks.
There are 4 steps to every good skincare routine;
• Cleansing and exfoliating
• Application of active ingredients to repair the skin (this might involve more than one serum)
• Moisturising
• Protection from UV rays
Cleansing should also involve exfoliation to remove dead skin cells and prevent them from building up and blocking pores. This is especially true if you’re using active ingredients, such as Vitamin A, which promote cell turnover and growth of healthy new cells.
The active ingredients in your serums should include vitamins like A, B and C. They each have complex benefits, but in a nutshell; Vitamin A is known for stimulating collagen (the fibres that keep your skin young and prevent wrinkles), Vitamin B can help soothe redness and inflammation, Vitamin C can help promote collagen but also brighten your skin tone.
You can also use a serum with antioxidants to prevent damage to the skin, and collagen peptides to help boost the collagen fibres within your skin. Hyaluronic acid is another popular ingredient which occurs naturally in your skin and holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water. “It has a nice plumping and hydrating effect” Margarita explains.
If you have unevenness in your skin tone, it might be caused by pigmentation and sun damage. There are pigment inhibiting serums that can help reduce its appearance, which you can add to your routine as well.
Everyone’s skin is unique and we all have our own journey, so you may need to adjust your routine to your needs, but these are the basic principles.
If you’re looking a bit tired in the days before your event, Margarita recommends using an eye serum to soothe the delicate skin and help reduce the appearance of puffiness.
On the day of your event, you can use a good mineral sunscreen (i.e. one that contains Zinc and Titanium Dioxide) as a primer underneath your makeup. “My favourite is the Duo Shield which also has a nice reflective look to help highlight your cheekbones,” Margarita says. Duo Shield by RejuvAus is currently available in-clinic.
According to Margarita, dedication to your daily application is the key to success. “Give it some passion and enjoy the transformation. You can also get a professional treatment like a Deep Rejuvenation to help amplify the effects of your products,” she says.
Professional skincare treatments
Rachael, a Senior Dermal Clinician, agrees that skincare should be used in conjunction with professional treatments because they work together to support and maintain results. She’ll often perform facials and peels for patients who have an event, and even get one herself before going to something important, just to bring out that nice, clean glow.
Peels are basically facials that use clinical strength active ingredients to brighten, exfoliate and treat the skin, Rachael explains. “There’s a misconception about peels that I want to banish,” she says, “your skin will not necessarily peel. It depends on what type of peel you have. A lot of the peels we use are effective yet gentle enough to give you exfoliation and renewal without any downtime.”
She might use a different peel to treat different skin concerns, for example, a BHA – based peel for someone with acne, or a peel with some hydrating lactic acids for someone more prone to dryness. “We have a wide variety of peels, so we can tailor and customise treatments to suit different skin conditions and needs,” Rachael explains.
She recommends getting a peel within 1-2 weeks depending on the peel, before your big event because you want the effects to still be showing. One of Rachael’s favourite pre-event facial peels is the Societé Oxygen Peel followed by the Blueberry Smoothie from Cosmedix, she recommends having these treatments 2-3 days before an event.
The Oxygen Peel really helps to brighten and clarify your skin while the Blueberry Smoothie has a lactic acid that hydrates and exfoliates at the same time. The Blueberry Smoothie is also full of antioxidants to protect the skin “plus, it has exfoliating beads to give you a gentle, polishing massage while it removes dead skin cells,” she says.
Injectables
Anti-wrinkle injections and lip fillers are two of the most popular treatments before big events, but you may have to get them done earlier than you think.
Nurse Kellie, our expert cosmetic injector, recommends anti-wrinkle injections at least 2 weeks before your event, preferably even 3. “You need two weeks to get to the full effect,” she says, “and then another week just to be safe, in case you need a slight touch up or a tweak.” Nurse Kellie believes that it’s best practice to use as little as possible for a natural look, and then add just a little more if needed, rather than going straight for that frozen look.
If you’re interested in dermal fillers for your face or lips, Nurse Kellie recommends getting them done two weeks before your event to give the product enough time to really settle and take on a natural look.
Another point that you need to consider is how much filler you want in your lips. As a safety procedure, we don’t inject more than 1ml of filler into the lips at a time. You can administer more than 1ml at a time to other parts of the face, but lip anatomy is different. If you want large voluminous lips, we recommend that you enlarge them slowly and wait two weeks in between each treatment. “I suggest two weeks as a minimum so that you can get used to the amount you have and feel confident about the look that you want,” Nurse Kellie advises.
Conclusion
To get you started and help with your planning, you can always come in for a free consultation to discuss treatments and skincare products that might be right for you.
