Your Skin’s Evolving Needs: Simple Tweaks For A Brighter Look

Whatever your skin care routine, the result is designed to be the same: a brighter look with a clear, glowing complexion. Yet despite an abundance of products designed to deliver a dewy appearance, many of us suffer with dull skin at one point or another, largely thanks to dryness or dehydration, slow cell renewal and pigmentation.

In today’s journal entry I have rounded up my best tried and tested ways to tackle these symptoms, sharing my top skin care products and treatments for glowing skin.

Routines For Brighter Skin

Lacklustre skin is largely based on three factors: dryness, sluggish cell turnover and uneven skin tone (or sometimes, all three).

The most crucial consideration when it comes to tackling these symptoms – and delivering brighter skin – is protecting our precious skin barrier.

I recommend the below five-step skin care routine for glowing skin:

Soft-Touch Cleansing: Choose a cleanser that can thoroughly clean without stripping moisture, ideally containing hydrating ingredients such as ceramides, hyaluronic acid, glycerin or squalane. Rinse with lukewarm water to avoid disrupting the skin’s natural oils.
Encourage Cell Turnover: Consider a chemical exfoliant like an AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) or BHA (beta hydroxy acid), or gradually introduce a retinol into your evening routine – all of which stimulate the generation of fresh skin cells.
Prevent Pigmentation: Select a serum that has abundant antioxidants to help support the skin barrier and repair environmental damage – vitamin C and niacinamide are the gold standard of brightening solutions.
Limit Water Loss: Reach for a moisturiser that is rich in highly hydrating ingredients. Again, check the ingredients list for hydrators like hyaluronic acid to minimise loss of moisture from the skin.
Shield From The Sun: As ever, finish with a significant dose of high-factor SPF to prevent UV damage and further disruption to the skin barrier.

It is important that you stick to this routine: results will start to appear after a couple of weeks, but you will see more remarkable effects if you are consistent over the course of 2-3 months. don’t forget to take a ‘before’ picture so you can see evidence of the evolutions of your brighter look.

Treatments For Brighter Skin

Whilst a skin care routine can work wonders for a brighter look, there are a number of in-clinic treatments delivered by experts that can offer more instant and long-lasting effects. Here are my top four skin brightening treatments:

AQUAGOLD® + Skin Booster combines the bespoke brightening and nourishing effects of AQUAGOLD® Fine Touch with the hydrating and collagen promoting properties of skin boosters to improve the appearance of dull skin. This dual approach targets both the superficial and deep dermal layers, improving your skin’s texture and brightness. The results are visible within a week, and last for up to six months.
Moxi™ is a gentle laser that creates micro-coagulation zones to trigger the skin’s natural repair process and enhance collagen and elastin production. Uneven texture, pigmentation, fine lines and pores are all improved, helping to achieve the lustrous look of “glass skin.” Again, you will see a difference within a week and the results are very long-lasting, with effects remaining visible for 1-2 years.
Microneedling is an effective and natural way to amplify collagen and elastin levels, boosting skin tone, clarity, firmness and elasticity. You will see improvement within a week, and the results last between 6-12 months.
Chemical peels can be utilised as a one-off treatment for a freshened and brighter look, using glycolic, lactic, mandelic and salicylic acid to provide gentle resurfacing without harsh abrasion. Once again, you will see the results within one week, but the effects are slightly shorter-lived, lasting around 1-3 months.

How To Get Brighter Body Skin

Once again, the most important elements in achieving a brighter skin on your body are maintaining health, hydration and protection. Here is my go-to routine for a full body glow:

1. As with the face, use a gentle cleanser that won’t strip the skin and prioritises hydrating ingredients (as mentioned above, hyaluronic acid, glycerin and squalane are all superb hydrators).
2. Once or twice weekly, sweep away impurities and dead skin cells to encourage cell renewal with a smoothing body scrub. Make sure the exfoliating element isn’t too harsh as that can damage the surface of the skin. A sugar scrub is a good option to smooth without scraping to reveal a brighter look.
3. If you suffer with bumpy, dry skin on your arms and legs, now is the time to layer in a brightening body serum. Look for one with gentle exfoliating ingredients such as azelaic or shikimic acids.
4. Follow with an intensive moisturiser that is rich in hyaluronic acid or amino acids. These potent, moisturizing components help to retain water in the skin and repair the skin barrier.
5. Finally, indulge in a gua sha massage. A body gua sha not only aids lymphatic drainage, but encourages microcirculation to revitalise the skin, contributing to brighter look.

Products For Brighter Skin

For The Face

Cleanser: La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Cleanser
Exfoliant: Sunday Riley Good Genes Glycolic Acid Treatment
Retinol: SkinCeuticals Retinol 0.3 Cream
Serum: CeraVe Skin Renewing 10% Vitamin C Serum or Paula’s Choice Niacinamide 20% Treatment
Moisturiser: Avene Hydrance Aqua Gel
SPF: Mesoestetic Mesoprotech Melan 130 Pigment Control

For The Body

Cleanser: Joonbyrd MOON SWIM Hydrating Body Wash
Exfoliant: Joonbyrd VIOLET HAZE Polishing Body Scrub
Serum: Joonbyrd KALEIDOSCOPE Smoothing Body Serum
Moisturiser: Joonbyrd SUNDAY SOFA Replenishing Body Body
Body Gua Sha: Joonbyrd HEARTWARMER Body Gua Sha