By: Sarah Kester
With the return of fall comes many things: brisk weather, pumpkin spice lattes (though we’re partial to PWTs), transitioning your closet from sundresses to cozy knits and, of course, giving your beauty routine a complete overhaul. Because just as the leaves change, so should your skincare routine.
To aid in making those regime tweaks as painless as possible, we turned to two skincare experts for advice, Dr. Sonam Yadav, an aesthetic dermatologist, and Sarah Nicole Payne, a licensed esthetician. It’s time for a routine makeover!
Your Fall Skincare Routine Needs These 5 Products
1. Moisturizer
While you should have slathered on a lightweight moisturizer in the summertime, that same beauty rule doesn’t apply come fall.
Instead, Dr. Yadav tells Lively you need to use a soothing and repairing moisturizer (Payne makes her own Nourishing Cream!).
“This will protect against the changing seasons and pollen, which can trigger allergies in many people,” she says.
When looking for a new moisturizer, Dr. Yadav says to look for one that has any or all of these ingredients: oat extract, cholesterol, zinc and hyaluronic acid.
2. Facial Oil
Whether it’s made from rose hip, marula or coconut oil, facial oils are a luxurious product that delivers a luminous glow to skin. They also help to prevent dryness and dehydration, says Payne.
Whichever kind you use, one thing’s for sure: Using facial oil is the perfect finishing touch when it comes to layering your skincare products like a pro.
Payne says to basically applying your products lightest to heaviest, just as Dr. Yadav has done in her routine below:
“For fall, I like to use a gentle cleanser and soothing green tea facial serum, followed by oilier vitamin C serum to fight pollution and aging. Then moisturizer and finally sunscreen.”
By layering products from lighter to heavier, she explains to Lively that you’re allowing the ingredients to penetrate well into the skin and lock in moisturize.
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3. Collagen
Healthy, revitalized fall skin starts with collagen. Since the body’s natural collagen production starts to decline around the age of 30, we recommend adding our Beauty Collagen™ or Collagen Beauty Glowto your diet. Not only do these products contain collagen, but they also boast skin-saving ingredients to help elevate your beauty routine. Add it to tea, smoothies and more.
4. Cleanser
When the weather changes, so should your cleanser.
“Maybe you’re using a gel cleanser in the summer to help beat congestion and excess oil, but for many this can become pretty drying in fall and into winter,” explains Payne, who adds that there’s a bit of trial-and-error to find your cleanser “sweet spot.”
“You may find moving to a milky or creamy cleanser is the perfect balance for your skin,” she says. “Or you might still need to use your gel cleanser to help keep your skin blemish-free but add a second cleanse with a nourishing facial cleanser to rebalance your skin.”
Her recommendation? La Roche Posay’s Toleraine Hydrating Cleanser.
5. Sunscreen
Just because the bright, sunny days of summer have been replaced by clouds and falling leaves doesn’t mean that you should skip out on using sunscreen.
“SPF protection is still important despite the days being less sunny because the ultraviolet rays of the sun penetrate clouds, rain, hail and fog.” says Dr. Yadav, who recommends using new broad-spectrum sunscreens come fall.
Dr. Yadav suggests looking for “ones that offer protection against blue light that is emitted by all of our tech gadgets. And infra red rays (indoor heating), since all three kinds of radiation (UV, blue, IR) speed up skin aging.”
Follow these fall beauty tips and you might just fall in love all over again with taking care of your skin.