Prepping your Skin for Summer with Kinvara Skincare

Nourish - Prepping your Skin for Summer with Kinvara Skincare

For today’s post, we’re putting our focus on the marvellous Irish-owned natural and organic skincare company Kinvara Skincare, founded by Joanne Reilly.
Kinvara makes sustainable plant-powered skincare that are 100% recyclable, vegan-friendly and cruelty-free. Plus, they’re free-from SLS, Parabens, Mineral Oils and Alcohol. They also smell absolutely divine and feel sensational on your skin.

Prepping and supporting your skin for summer might seem a little far-fetched given the weather right now, but it’s never a bad idea to be prepared. When that sunshine raises its sunny head, we want to be ready to enjoy every ray we can, and safely. Even if it’s simply sitting in our back garden due to the current virus situation!

The combination of dehydration, sweat, oil and sunscreen generally go hand in hand with summer. That’s why it’s important to get yourself a skincare routine that helps combat their unfortunate side effects. Sunburnt, chapped, flaky, spotty, dry or clogged skin is no fun for anyone.

That’s why I’ve put together a blog post on prepping and supporting your skin for summer.

Prepping and Supporting your Skin for Summer with Kinvara Skincare

No. 1 – Cleansing

Cleansing your face is the most important step in any skincare routine. Removing oil, makeup, sunscreen and any residual dirt from the day with a cleanser is crucial for healthy, glowing skin. This way your skin can renew, refresh and rebalance itself.

How often should I cleanse?

Generally, for most people, cleansing your skin with a cleansing product is only really necessary once, and preferable at night. A quick splash with water in the morning is all you need. Allowing your own natural oils to sit on your skin in the morning actually helps your skin to self regulate.
Once you’re ready for bed, cleanse your face in the evening to remove makeup and general build-up from the day.

Recommended product:

Kinvara Absolute Cleansing Oil is formulated with 100% pure plant oils. It’s very gentle and is suitable for all skin types, even oily and combination skin. In fact, Kinvara Absolute Cleansing Oil is incredibly gentle on your skin and is ideal for skin that is prone to Acne, Psoriasis and Rosacea. Do always try a Patch Test first, however, to ensure that it’s suitable for your skin type.

How does oil cleansing work?

Oil cleansing is a very gentle way to cleanse your skin thoroughly. It doesn’t disrupt the natural Ph level of your skin and doesn’t leave your skin feeling tight and dry. Instead, your skin is left feeling clean, fresh and glowing!

Cleansing with oil helps regulate the skin and controls oil production. Over time your skin will regulate its oil production and clogged pores will be a thing of the past! This is fantastic for anyone suffering from acne or spots.

Additionally, oil cleansing is also great as a make-up remover. It gently dissolves all makeup, including the most stubborn waterproof mascara! What’s more, the oil even gives your lashes some much-needed nourishment – yes please!

But how does it work? Well, like dissolves like, therefore to remove oil, we must use oil. The oils actually lift any ‘bad’ oil away and will over time help balance oil production in your skin.
It may take a couple of weeks for some people for their skin to self regulate, but once it does, you’ll realise why oil cleansing is such a fantastic cleansing option. Don’t panic if you get a few spots at first. That’s just your skin releasing what’s been clogged up.

How to use Kinvara cleansing oil:

Warm 1-2 pumps of oil between your hands and massage onto to a damp face to cleanse and remove make-up, even mascara.
Give your face a gentle massage while you’re gently rubbing the oil in. It helps stimulate circulation in your skin.
Wash-off with a hot facecloth for a gorgeous clean feel.
Follow with a toner, serum and moisturiser as appropriate.

No. 2 – Exfoliate

Exfoliating is an important step in your summer skincare routine. There are numerous benefits for all skin types, especially for dry and more mature skin.

Exfoliating sloughs away old, dead skin cells and promotes the generation of new ones. Dead skin cells can lead to clogged pores and ultimately encourage blemishes, spots or even acne – yikes. A build-up of dead dry skin can also make skin appear dull and dry, so exfoliate to keep your skin radiant and youthful-looking!

Additionally, exfoliating also maximises the effect of follow-on products as there are basically no dead skin cells acting as a barrier. If your skin is flaky and the top layer is dead skin, then whatever you put on your skin is just going to sit on top of it and not penetrate.
After exfoliating, however, your skin is primed to absorb all the additional products, such as sunscreen or antioxidant serum. You may even find that you need less follow-on product, so your products will last longer!

Furthermore, exfoliating gives your skin a deeper, more thorough cleanse. It helps to remove any residual makeup, surface-level dirt and even SPF. These can often be harder to remove just by using a cleanser alone. In turn, this is actually an added bonus for those of you wearing makeup, since exfoliation allows for a more flawless makeup application. Why? Makeup sits better on skin that is smooth and polished.

How often should I exfoliate?

Generally, exfoliating your face once or twice a week with a gentle exfoliator such as Kinvara Elemental Exfoliating Powder will do the trick.
For those of you with drier skin, you may need to exfoliate more often. It’s not recommended to exfoliate daily, so try to judge how often works best for you.

Recommended product:

Kinvara Elemental Exfoliating Powder is a unique and gentle marine-based formula, enriched with beneficial vitamins and marine minerals. This product is formulated to suit most skin types.
This exfoliant is a superfine powder that activates upon contact with water. It washes off completely leaving no annoying grains on your face or in your hair, plus its also microbead free.

It gently removes dulling, dead skin cells to leave your skin feeling fresh and rejuvenated. Kinvara elemental exfoliating powder delivers skin-loving minerals to your face for a cleaner, softer, smoother looking skin.

Tip:

Exfoliating is not just for your face. Your body will also thank you for the extra care and attention. After all, you don’t just get dead skin cells on your face. An all over the face and body exfoliation twice a week using circular motions does your skin the wonder of good. It will keep your skin in tip-top condition and during the summer months, will also prevent sunscreen oil from clogging your pores too. Additionally, you can use a loofah for your body. Another technique is dry skin brushing. This helps to increase blood and lymph circulation. Read my previous blog here for more info by scrolling down to point 7 🙂

No. 3 – Moisturise

Skin takes quite the hit when it’s out in the sun. That’s why it’s important to replenish it with key nutrients and vitamins to keep it looking happy and not dry and parched.

The uppermost area of the skin, the stratum corneum, is made up of approximately 30% water and lipids which are essential for keeping your skin hydrated. Moisturisers lock in moisture, helping to prevent your skin from drying out.

Moisturisers are thicker and creamier than serums and usually contain a higher concentration of oils. They generally work on the surface of the skin to prevent water loss.
If you’re trying to address a difficult skin concern, it’s generally recommended to use both your moisturiser as well as a face serum. In regards to prepping your skin for summer, it’s also highly beneficial for your skin.

If you’ve been out in the sun, moisturising both your face and body is an essential step in your skincare routine to keep your skin nourished, glowing and healthy.

Recommended product:

Kinvara’s award-winning Active Rosehip Day Cream is a nourishing rich cream to help seal moisture into your skin for the day ahead. Enhanced with hyaluronic acid, Kinvara’s anti-ageing natural moisturiser is enriched with Omega rich plant oils, regenerating vitamins, and fragrant oils of lemon & lavender. All of these work to help leave your skin plumped, protected and nourished.

Kinvara Active Rosehip Day Cream contains nature’s wonder ingredient, Hyaluronic Acid. Hyaluronic Acid is really wonderful in cosmetics because it has the amazing ability to bind water, helping your skin retain moisture and stay hydrated. It also means it’s going to help with the reduction of the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, which is always welcome!

This day cream also primes your skin beautifully by giving a velvety, matte finish that’s ideal for makeup and sunscreen.

No. 4 – Serum

When your skin is excessively exposed to ultraviolet rays (UV), these rays can activate free radicals in the skin and cause accelerated ageing, sunburn and may over time lead to skin cancer. That’s why we need to take care of our skin. One way to do that is to nourish the skin with an antioxidant-rich serum.

Serums have a different action to regular moisturiser, where their consistency and formulations allow them to reach the deepest layer of the skin. Serums contain highly-concentrated active ingredients whose molecules are much smaller than those in a cream or lotion. They are designed to provide intensive care to even the most demanding skin and can deliver those high-performance ingredients much further into the skin.

Often, serums are used to help resolve different skin conditions, whether it’s skin prone to dehydration, excess oiliness, redness, rosacea, blemishes or acne.

Recommended product:

Kinvara 24 Hour Rosehip Face Serum. This product is designed to provide intensive care to even the most demanding skin. This concentrated formula is packed with plant extracts, vitamins, antioxidants and calming ingredients.

This serum is incredibly hydrating and is suitable for all skin types. Keeping your skin hydrated is essential to save your skin from being dull, dehydrated and prone to flaking. Keeping your skin smooth and supple will really help not only the health of your skin, but will also help your products stay on better. Especially your SPF.
The rosehip serum is especially useful for dry, dehydrated, irritated or tricky skin. Additionally, it’s great for men after shaving because it helps to calm redness and irritation of the skin.

How do I use a serum?

People often get a bit confused on the order of using products, and understandably so. Let me help you. A serum is a skincare product you can apply to your skin after cleansing but before moisturizing with the intent of delivering powerful ingredients directly into the skin.

First, cleanse your face and then spritz with toner, if using. Then, with dry skin, massage in your serum. Finally, apply your moisturiser.
If you’re using your serum in the morning or during the day for extra skin protection, then as above, wash your face, apply your serum and then add sunscreen.

Try thinking of serums like a multivitamin, but for your face. You’re simply feeding your skin any essential nutrients it may be lacking and supporting it through the rough terrains of sunshine, heat and dehydration.

No. 5 – Use an SPF

This goes without saying really, but using an SPF sunscreen in the sun is a must.
Avoid toxic, chemical-laden sunscreen and choose a natural, preferably organic, option that has a broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) coverage and an SPF of at least 15.

Kinvara Skincare do not make an SPF but we do stock some fantastic ones for both face and body. Check out:

No. 6 – Use a Facemask

Facemasks blanket the skin and deliver higher concentrations of active ingredients by driving the product deeply into the skin.
The right face mask for you can:

help to hydrate the skin
help remove excess oils
pull out impurities
improve the appearance of pores
reduce inflammation, redness and acne.
some even help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Check out my previous blog here on Face Masks: A Beginner’s Guide for Beautiful Skin for more details and products.

And finally…

Naturally, external products are not the only way to prep and support your skin for summer. Eating well, staying hydrated and covering up are additional steps you can take to look after yourself and your skin.

Read my previous blogs covering topics focusing on ways food can enhance your skin health, protect you from UV rays and more here:

Emily Nöth

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*Please note this is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting any new supplement plan or diet if you are taking medication or have a diagnosed condition.