Between-Holidays Skin Reset: Firm, Smooth, and Boost Glow
In partnership with our friends at Caudalie
There’s no better season than right now—flitting to boozy cocktail parties and gleefully staying out into the night with friends feeds the spirit in ways we’d all but forgotten about—but our skin undoubtedly suffers. The solution is something of an intensive for skin: Bombard dry, tired, or even abjectly hungover skin with nourishment to leave it noticeably smoother, plumped, and luminous. Turning your attention to your skin can work as a sort of between-the-holidays boot camp, and we promise the gorgeous results are worth it.
Counterintuitively, one of the most powerful skin-care ingredients to renew and refresh skin is found in the very substance that often gets us in trouble at holiday parties: wine. Resveratrol, an antioxidant present in grapes that’s been credited as a major factor in the French paradox of lower heart-disease rates despite a higher-fat diet, has significant effects on skin, too. In its new Resveratrol-Lift line, Caudalie partnered with Harvard University to create a patented complex that combines resveratrol harvested from grapevines in France, other antioxidants, hyaluronic acid, and a vegan collagen booster; the new complex is clinically proven to be twice as effective as retinol in visibly firming skin.* (Note that the products all come in fully recyclable cartons made with lightweight Forest Stewardship Council–certified paper to reduce the carbon footprint by 40 percent.)
This new complex is a bit of a linchpin in our boot camp routine—it appears in several steps (including a smoothing, plumping eye cream and a serum that works miracles on even the dullest skin). Also important: some serious exfoliation, major moisture, and of course, a few fun, nourishing beauty moments for the rest of the body.
1
Sweep away dead skin cells
Every few days
Your skin looks and feels instantly brighter and softer when you smooth away the dead skin, oil, and lingering makeup that’s clogging pores.
Once a week
For the most intense exfoliation, sweep this pad saturated with glycolic acid and fruit extracts over skin—the ingredients go to work while you sleep, retexturizing skin and dissolving impurities, so that you wake up with a glow that lasts all week.
2
Flood skin with antioxidants
This gorgeous oil-free treatment tones, moisturizes, and delivers a subtle lifting effect we just love (it’s got the resveratrol complex mentioned earlier). Massaging it into damp skin feels incredible, helps the ingredients penetrate, and subtly sculpts skin while you breathe in the soothing chamomile and orange blossom scent.
3
Moisturize deeply
Treat yourself to this skin-reviving, lavender-scented night cream before bed and wake up looking brighter and more luminous than ever. Your body and skin go into repair mode when you’re sleeping, and everything you need is in here—plumping hyaluronic acid, dullness-fighting grape-seed oil, and of course the brand’s special resveratrol complex for firm, toned, brilliant skin.
4
Wake up your face with (amazing) eye cream
Pat on this firming, cooling gel-cream—the texture is exquisitely light and rich at once—first thing in the morning on clean skin and you’ll see the benefits all day. Our eyes are the first place to show a hangover, passing years, or sun damage (the skin around the eyes is thin and prone to sagging because it lacks oil glands), and this cream treats dark circles and puffiness with peptides and antioxidants. It lessens the need for concealer altogether, but if you do use concealer, the cream helps it melt in and look beautifully natural.
Bonus: Pamper Everything Else, Too
As you get your skin into shape, treat the rest of your body (and mind) to restorative, soothing goodness.
-
LIPS
The cushiony blend of castor, coconut, and jojoba oils leaves lips beyond supple and encased in a fortress of moisture. The touch of sheer pigment—you get translucent garnet and rose, plus the OG clear balm—is subtle and sexy.
goop Beauty GOOPGENES Clean Nourishing Lip Balm Trio goop, $42SHOP NOW -
HAIR
This mix of fortifying oils works on all hair types to boost shine, tame frizz, moisturize and soften, smooth ragged ends, and give hair the most incredible texture.
goop Beauty GOOPGLOW Restore
+ Shine Hair Serum goop, $48/$44 with subscriptionSHOP NOW -
BODY
The best-ever reset: Pour these valerian-root-and-passionflower-infused salts into a warm bath and step in. Soak for twenty minutes and notice any emotional baggage dissolve.
goop Beauty “The Martini” Emotional Detox Bath Soak goop, $35SHOP NOW
*Based on in vitro testing at the serum concentration.
