To me winter skincare has a sound track (something like Sidney Bechet playing Si Tu Vois Ma Mere or George Winston, Winter ) and the quietess of snow falling. The scent too is that of some unbearably beautiful silence that gives a kind of serene that only a night snowfall is. Just to begin with the intention of extraordinary is absolutely the way.
In everything I do I start with lighting a Red Flower candle - it is the simplest way to shift the feeling in any space. For winter, I love Wanderlust - it is full of the northern forest. It feels like being among tall trees and white skies.
Who is our muse? The products themselves? Nature?
I have thought long about this and believe that - the way a Red Flower product experience makes you feel - that is our muse. Knowing deeply that the delight of the lightness of cloud milk cream layered over the captured rose gold of illuminating rose serum is a once in a lifetime sensation every time.
I think a lot about guides and guidance with specific details of skin functionality and impact of certain ingredients and believe that knowledge is power when it comes to taking care of yourself but I also think there is something deeper, more essential which is to trust your instincts on what is good by the way its smells and feels and to simply release yourself into the pleasure of a great practice - it is intuitive that when the weather is cold you need to protect, nourish and moisturize the skin.
To capture heat into the body, begin the day with a hot bath filled with Hinoki Mint Mineral Bath Soak - in Japan, the best mineral hot springs are in the western Snow Country watching watery steam rise into the icy air. This induces blood flow to full circulation that lasts throughout the day keeping the chill at bay. Step out of the bath into the warm embrace of a body and face oil made specifically for the resilience needed at this time of year, Essential Omega Fresh Berry Oil, rich in nature’s hardiest offerings - cranberries, raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry, cloudberry and juniper berry - are captured sunlight. Apply to damp skin from the forehead, behind the ears, all the way down to the tips of the toes and then wrap the body into a warm towel. Over the body apply Arctic Berry Cloud Milk Cream, the original and true cloud cream. When I apply it, I can feel my skin just drinking in every drop of this deeply replenishing, number-one best-selling Red Flower moisturizer. For the face I like to take a few other special touches - I apply Illuminating Rose Serum always over my cheeks, under eye area, lips, earlobes, scalp, neck and décolleté - I swear I feel like I grow an inch closer to the sun upon application its glow and vibrant pleasure are so immediate. I love it, it is no wonder people take it everywhere, all year long. There is no other Red Flower treasure as important to my sense of well-being.
I love the cloud cream in the extended Nature collection, The 10000 - Cloud Cream Regenerating Facial Hydrator is an intense but light moisture treatment and combined with the Rose Serum it is all my face needs to feel radiant in the coldest climates.
Rose Lip Balm took years to perfect and it smells and tastes like chocolate and roses because of the high content of cocoa butter and rose essential oil, to me that says everything about how it feels to apply and what it does to keep the lips plump and protected. I also apply a touch on my cheek bones to create an extra wind barrier if I plan to be out in my favorite tundra with my tundra-loving German Shepard, Nev, on a long walk. Note to skiers, hikers, snow lovers at large - this small glass container of Rose Lip Balm will last months - it is a compact but a highly concentrated gift to moisture.
An outdoors and all-day moisture replenishment boost solution is the singular Red Flower remedy balm, Night Flower Butter Balm. This pocket-ready salve made with lavender and neroli in a shea butter and coconut blend works as a barrier to cold and wind and an intensive restorative repair to chapped skin. So far with this recent launch, feedback has been ranging from a cuticle cure to a handcare treatment, to a whole body and face dry and cracked skin soother. Unlike other repair balms, it applies with a luxurious glide and smells like a wish come true.
For nighttime hibernation, winter has everything to offer and there is no better time of year to create a nightly ritual. February is when the excitement of early nights starts to fade so the effort to enjoy the last months of winter’s best takes a shift in mindset and nothing helps more than an invitation to smell good.
Showering is in my heart - hot water beating energy back into the body - try the Active Organic Milk Forest Purifier made with oat-derived lactic acid to provide the most gentle cleanse and exfoliation to help remove dry skin cells with a non-drying, soap-free lather. While still in the shower I apply a quarter size amount of Bioactive Berry White Peat Exfoliant from head to toe, in gentle, circular, upward movements. The warming enzymes of ancient white peat and superfine grains of sea salt are all at once invigorating and soothing.
Same as in the morning, apply Essential Omega Fresh Berry Oil Serum over damp skin and wrap up in a warm towel. For a nightly moisture surge apply a thick layer of Lymphatic Phytopower Sea Cleanser and Masque over the whole body - organic reishi and maitake mushrooms are the key to this one-of-a-kind healer. Let it stay on the skin until it absorbs (about 5 minutes) and follow with a head-to-toe application of Arctic Berry Cloud Milk Cream.
At night I apply the cloud cream first and then the Illuminating Rose Serum - with the cream first the oil takes longer to penetrate so its like a slow-drip, all-night moisture replenishment.
To amplify the sensation of night, aromatherapeutic Midnight Oil is a pulse-point attar that perfumes the quiet and to me, induces a state of pleasant relaxation. A ritual of moonlit moisture begins with a quick face mist of Ionizing Vita Flower Mist, followed by an under eye application of warm cotton pads infused with Essential Omega Fresh Berry Oil (I submerge my bottle of oil in heated water for a few minutes before infusing) - applying the Berry Oil to this most sensitive skin helps reduce puffiness and dark circles before applying Omega Eye Cream with fingertips in a tapping style to be gentle and circulation inducing. Rose Lip Balm is the finishing touch and I keep the jar bedside next to my Midnight Oil and Night Butter Balm to apply as a packed with sensorial beauty goodnight prayer.