Beauty Bit, Exfoliation

Illustrated by Jacqueline Davis Moranti

Every season we update our closets to match the season, from Spring dresses, to Summer linen and Fall jackets to Winter sweaters. We tend to think more about updating our wardrobes over anything else, because it's the first thing people will notice, right? I think not! Our skin also needs a revamp, especially during the colder months. Winter can be brutal, it can dry out your skin and give you a dull look. Exfoliation is key for a successful, skin brightening look. To exfoliate is to slough off dead skin cells in an effective way that simply washing can't do. A major plus to exfoliating, your serums and moisturizers will penetrate your skin much better! I've compiled a list of my current favorites to share with you just how I prepare my skin for Winter's harsh weather! 

pictured here: Fresh Lip Polish, Derma E Microdermabrasion, Borghese Mud Mask, Tocca Corpo Esfoliante

First step to amazing skin? You must wash your makeup off and whatever havoc that the day has brought upon you! There are many and plenty of one-for-all exfoliating products, but I use one specifically for my face and another for my body, a girl can't have too many skincare products! For my face, I've been using derma e Microdermabrasion scrub. After washing my face, while its damp I'll apply the scrub gently in circular motions, never around the eyes and always upward. What I like about this product besides the many obvious reasons is that the granules aren't too abrasive and its delicate enough to give me great skin! 

Exfoliating the body is slightly different than how you would do it for your face, rather than using water with the scrub to create a paste, you would start with the scrub, water comes second. For my body exfoliator, I use Tocca's Nourishing Body Scrub. This is definitely my favoring body scrub to date, I never need lotion on the days that I utilize it because of how moisturizing this product is. This body scrub also smells great, so great it'll have you dreaming of long walks through cobble stoned streets in a historical, European city!

We can't forget our lips! The skin on our lips is the most vulnerable to the harsh Winter weather, it's much thinner than the skin on the rest of our face which means it's susceptible to drying out and chapping. Not the look you were going for, right?! I combat this by using a lip scrub by Fresh, Sugar Lip Polish. It combines real brown sugar crystals and jojoba oils to buff away the dead skin revealing beautiful puckers. After I use this, I swear I don't need lip balm for the rest of the day, major plus!

I like to exfoliate much more frequently throughout the Winter months, once a week rather than once a month throughout the warmer months. Of course the amount of frequency depends on your skin type or changing hormone levels. This Winter I want to keep my Summer glow and dewy skin, the way to achieve it is by keeping a proper exfoliation routine, which I plan to utilize! Dear readers, how do you feel about exfoliating, is it something of importance to your skincare routine?