These Are the Products I’ve Used to Help My Skin Recover From a Season of Holiday Parties

‘Tis the season for holiday parties…and breakouts, and dark circles, and dry skin, and sensitivities. Read on to learn how the editor of The Klog is taking care of her complexion from now until New Year’s Day.

It may be the most wonderful time of year for my social life, but for my skin? Not so much. The consistent late nights, a change in diet and hydration habits, and increased stress levels, not to mention the fact that I’ve been wearing more makeup and spending less time diligently going through my skin care routine, are really starting to show on my complexion.

Since I’ve got a sneaking suspicion I’m not the only one doing damage control after a month of back to back fêtes, I’m sharing the six products that I’m using to revitalize my holiday party-ed out skin.

A Cleanser With Tea Tree Leaf Water

My breakouts from over-indulging in things like alcohol, sugar, and cheese plates upon cheese plates manifest themselves in inflamed red bumps. To treat them, I love to use tea tree leaf because the ingredient is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and less drying than salicylic acid. The Benton Tea Tree Cleansing Water contains 70% tea tree leaf water and because I can just swipe it on without rinsing, it’s perfect for late nights when I just want to collapse into bed. When I have the energy, I use a nourishing cleansing balm first like this one from Then I Met You.

Exfoliating Pads That Are Also Soothing

Is your skin dry and flaky, breaking out, and generally just angry right now? Because mine definitely is. I like to call the Neogen Dermatology Real Cica Pads my”fix everything” pads since they work really well at alleviating the three issues mentioned above.

The pads are soaked in an essence that contains superstar soothing ingredient centella asiatica extract, hydrating hyaluronic acid, and the PHA (a more gentle form of exfoliant than AHAs) lactobionic acid. They help keep my skin calm and smooth, and because they’re so gentle, they can be used every day.

A Charcoal Sheet Mask

I am often too lazy (are you sensing a theme here?) to use wash-off clay masks, plus they can be too drying for my skin during the winter. That’s why I was so excited to try the Mediheal W.H.P Brightening & Hydrating Charcoal Sheet Masks for another Klog article earlier this year and they did not disappoint.

The masks contain charcoal powder to purify pores, plus niacinamide – one of my favorite ingredients for a glowing complexion – and lots of hydrators.

A Snail Mucin-Packed Serum

Snail mucin has a laundry list of skin benefits (which you can read about in full here), one of them being regenerative properties. Whenever my skin needs to be revived from say, a season of holiday parties, I reach for the Dewytree Ultra Vitalizing Snail Serum. The formula contains 78% of the stuff (yet is somehow not sticky!). It makes my skin look plump and dewy and gives it the extra boost it needs.

A Brightening Eye Cream

I have hereditary dark circles that make me look tired pretty much all the time so you can imagine the effect when I’m truly sleep-deprived. The only product that has helped make any noticeable improvements in this department is the Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Eye Creme. The formula contains vitamin C to brighten plus pigments to color-correct. Because I’m often testing new eye creams I don’t always use the Banana Bright formula consistently, but this time of year, it has a permanent place in my routine.

A CBD-Infused Face Oil

I was introduced to CBD skin care in early 2019 and while there’s still research that needs to be done on the validity of the purported benefits (like that it’s anti-inflammatory and curbs sebum production), I personally feel that the ingredient has made a difference in my skin. The June CBD Facial Oil is one of my favorite formulas I’ve tried. It evens out my complexion (I often have random patches of redness, especially when my skin is dry) and skin texture and I swear that when I use it I break out less.