The other day, my son came into my bedroom to wake me up, and when I rolled over to say good morning to him he scrunched up his eyes. “Mom?” he asked, “Why is your face so red?”
Excellent question, my love. The answer could be one of a thousand things, from the fact that I drank too much coffee yesterday to the fact that I forgot to use my hydrating moisturizer before bed or the fact that I woke up to retrieve wayward stuffed bunnies and water cups six times last night. “Sensitive” doesn’t even cut it as a description for my skin; it reacts in a major way to everything from pollution to stress and fatigue. And during the transitional parts of the year, as it adjusts to warmer or cooler weather, keeping it calm becomes an even trickier prospect.
I am not one of those people who can just use any old thing on their face: over the years I’ve found that I really do have to use products that are specifically tailored to sensitive skin, and that focus on soothing, strengthening, and hydrating. To smooth the transition into winter (historically the hands-down most troublesome season for my super-dry, sensitive skin), I’ve been cleansing and moisturizing with products by Vichy: a French skincare brand that incorporates mineralizing thermal water rich in 15 minerals from the French volcanoes (!) into every product.
It’s the top-selling anti-aging brand in European pharmacies, and one I’ve been dying to try for a while now. So, in pursuit of calm and healthy skin (hence the title of this post, which may or may not be French for “Calm and Healthy,” depending on how good Google Translate is at its job), I switched over to a new daily regimen to see how it helps the sensitive skin on my face handle the annual disaster that is the arrival of cold weather:
- Cleansing with Purete Thermale Micellar Solution ($14.50), a 3-in-1 product that removes face and eye makeup, and pollution, while keeping skin hydrated.
- Prepping face for moisturizer with Mineralizing Thermal Spa Water ($9.50 for 50g). What this fine spray technically does is fortify the skin against pollutants and prepare it for moisturizer…but that’s kind of beside the point to me, because it feels amazing and it seems to be a staple in French skincare routines.
- Moisturizing with Aqualia Thermal ($31) hydrating moisturizer, which contains 10% mineralizing thermal water. (I’m using the mineral gel formula right now, because it’s still warm, but I’ll be switching over to the rich formula in a couple of weeks.)
So far, so good: over the past couple of weeks, since I’ve been using the products, I’ve experienced no breakouts and significantly reduced dryness and irritation (and have gotten to feel all French and luxurious as a nice side-bonus). If you’d like to try the French skincare brand out for yourself, you can use code SAVE20FS (now until 11:59pm PST 10/31/16) to get 20% off all orders + free shipping.
Only one promotion code can be used per order. Promotion code valid only at www.vichyusa.com on items in stock. We reserve the right to cancel any order due to unauthorized, altered or ineligible use of offer and to modify or cancel this promotion due to system error or unforeseen problems.
Photos by Sue Hudelson.
