My Favorite Ways to Transition from Fall to Winter

It’s that time of year… it is definitely no longer warm, which means that we should all be well into our annual fall to winter beauty transition. This means a lot of changes to my beauty routine every year. I change almost everything, making product swap outs left and right! Here’s a peek at what I’m changing out, and why. What are your favorite changes to make to your routine?

1. Add Moisture
The cold weather seems to be particularly dry where I live in Michigan, and I swear I can practically feel the the hydration leaving my body! Upping my water intake a little helps but isn’t enough to make a huge difference. We do have a whole house humidifier, if you don’t have one I recommend buying a cool mist humidifier (this fancy one from Dyson (1) is on its way to my house now). Upping the humidity of the air in your home does help quite a bit!

A. Body
First, I change my body wash to a more hydrating formulation. Gone are the fun summer scents of body wash that I can see through. As a general rule, any body wash that is opaque is more hydrating, they have more hydrating ingredients. In the shower I speed things up a bit and take slightly cooler showers, those long and hot showers can dehydrate your skin. I pat off in the shower and quickly apply a thick moisturizer.

My Favorites:
• 2. Olay Ultra Moisture Body Wash (at Amazon or Target)
• 3. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream (from ULTA, Amazon or Target)
• 4. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration (at Sephora or First Aid Beauty)

B. Face
I don’t change my “usual” every day moisturizers or treatment products at all, but I do pay a lot of attention to my skin and if it starts to look dry at all I’ll respond quickly! If it’s night, I’ll add a few drops of Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery underneath my regular night cream (the L’Oreal is a good lower priced substitute). In the AM, their new Daily Reviving Concentrate is great under moisturizer but light enough that it won’t mess up my makeup. If I want some pampering, I grab a hydrating mask, there are a few great ones that I’m loving now!

My Favorites:
• 5. Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate (from Kiehl’s or Nordstrom), my Midnight Recovery Concentrate review
• 6. Kiehl’s Daily Reviving Concentrate (from Kiehl’s or Nordstrom), my Daily Reviving Concentrate review
• L’Oreal Age Perfect Glow Renewal Facial Oil (at Target, ULTA or Amazon)
• 7. Origins Drink Up Intensive (at Origins or Sephora)
• 8. Eve Lom Moisture Mask (at Nordstrom, Sephora or Neiman Marcus)

C. Hair
If I stick with my usual routine of swapping out my conditioner for a more hydrating mask once every 7-10 days, in the winter I can have issues. I notice that my hair is drier, harder to style and I get a lot more fly aways. So, I try to swap out for the deeper conditioning products every 5-7 days instead, and when things get worse I’ll grab a more intensive treatment. That’s where the Darshana comes in. I just ran out, I’m about to reorder!

My Favorites:
• 9. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Moist Deep Conditioning Treatment (from Target, Amazon, or Drugstore.com)
• 10. Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense (from Kérastase)
• Joico K-Pak Intense Hydrator (at ULTA)
• Darshana Hair Oil (buy it from Darshana, here’s my Darshana Review)

Also check out:
• The 10 Best Hair Masks To Repair and Hydrate Your Hair
• 5 Deep Conditioners That Need Under 5 Minutes
• 9 Best Intensive Hair Masks

2. Lightweight SPF
Just because it isn’t “sunny” outside doesn’t mean that the sun isn’t reaching you! There’s still a lot of sunlight coming through the clouds (a lot more than you think, actually) and if you’re in a snowy area than the effect is even worse. The sunlight is bouncing off of the sun to come up and hit your face, instead of being absorbed by the grass. So, you may have even more sun exposure than during the summer! Even if your skin isn’t getting burned, the exposure is harming your skin and contributing to sun damage (and early aging).

I recommend using a sunscreen with at least SPF 30 every day. Relying upon your makeup for UV protection isn’t enough, it is very unlikely that you’re applying enough foundation to reach the SPF value, and you aren’t applying it uniformly to your face and neck. Instead, reach for a lotion with sunscreen that you’re applying liberally on your entire face and neck or use a separate light weight sunscreen.

My Favorites:
• 11. Kate Somerville Daily Deflector Waterlight Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ (buy it at Sephora or Nordstrom)
• Rodan and Fields Soothe Mineral Sunscreen (from R+F)

Also check out:
• 9 Full Spectrum Sunscreens

3. Use an Oil
In the winter it’s a great idea to swap out your regular face wash for a gentle one, if you haven’t already. Even a small amount of irritation can become a much bigger issue if your skin is already fighting cold temperatures, wind and low humidity. This year I’ve been loving oil cleansers, which gently clean my skin without stripping it of moisture. They also leave a little oil behind, which does help with hydrating my skin!

My Favorites:
• 12. Garnier Clean + Nourishing Cleansing Oil (buy it at Target or ULTA)
• Neutrogena Ultra Light Cleansing Oil (buy it at Amazon, ULTA or Target)

Also check out:
• 15 Cleansing Oils Your Skin Will Love!

4. Stretch Your Pedicure
Since my toes aren’t on display every day (let’s face it, they’re hiding in socks inside of my shoes or boots), my pedicures seem to last quite a bit longer! I’ve been splurging on visits to the nail salon all summer, with weekly polish changes at home as well. During the winter I tend to leave on my polish a bit longer (usually about 2-3 weeks), and instead of visiting the salon I’ll just keep my feet feeling soft at home.

My Favorites:
• 13. Alessandro Pedix One Minute Pedicure Exfoliating Foot Scrub (from Beauty.com)

What have I missed? What are your favorite ways to transition from fall to winter?

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