Protect Your Summer Skin

As the temperature rises and the sun's rays get stronger, it's time to shake up my daily beauty routine with some new products with ingredients meant to protect against the summer elements and keep my skin looking its best. I rely on bases with higher SPF and skincare with Vitamin C more than ever this time of year! Here's what's in my current lineup:

Clinique Fresh Pressed Vitamin C System
This is a handy 7-day system that I happily recommend to anyone looking to introduce their skin to the wonders of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect your skin from environmental aggressors while improving your skin tone by fading hyperpigmentation. This treatment contains L-Ascorbic Acid, which is the most potent form of Vitamin C. In the kit, you get 7 envelopes containing a daily dose of powder cleanser. Use one envelope each morning by mixing the powder with water and washing your face with the resulting lather. After cleansing, take the small vial of the Clinique Fresh Pressed Daily Booster in the kit and add 2 drops to your daily moisturizer. 

Once you've been mesmerized by the results of doing this system for 7 days, you can opt to purchase more of the Fresh Pressed Daily Booster and continue your road to a brighter complexion. Or you can just buy another 7-day kit like I did - it's the perfect kit to take with you while traveling. The reason the packaging splits the product into smaller doses is to keep the integrity of the active ingredient. Vitamin C, when in its L-Ascorbic Acid form, is extremely volatile and reacts quickly with oxygen becoming less effective over time. Clinique's aim is to maximize freshness by dividing the product in smaller air-tight containers.

Kat Burki Vitamin C Intensive Face Cream
If juggling multiple bits of packaging annoys you and you just want one "do it all" moisturizer for summer mornings, you can opt for something like this luxurious day cream by Kat Burki. My love for Kat Burki skincare is well-known on this blog and this cream is no different. This Vitamin C face cream boasts a more stable derivative of Vitamin C called Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate. This ingredient isn't as volatile as L-Ascorbic Acid, which is why this product is in a glass jar. Some argue that this type of Vitamin C is not as potent as L-Ascorbic Acid, however I can still see great brightening results with it, and I love the texture of the product. It has a rich moisturizing texture that instantly nourishes the skin upon application without leaving any greasy, cloying feeling behind. It sinks into the skin so quickly and leaves a lovely velvety texture behind. It's one of those magical moisturizers that is truly great for all skin types and I would especially recommend it for dryer skin types to use daily in the summer. I used this daily in the fall/winter and in the summer I just use it on days when my skin feels dryer than normal.

Since Vitamin C comes in so many different formulas, it's important to note that the products I am mentioning in this post are the ones I have in my current rotation. I have tried classic L-Ascorbic Acid based formulas like SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic and Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster in the past and there are new, exciting formulas on the horizon as well such as NIOD ELAN (which uses an ethylated form of the active ingredient to increase stability), Drunk Elephant C-Firma and the various Vitamin C derivatives offered by The Ordinary range. Unfortunately I only have one face and I like to thoroughly test what I recommend and for the most part focus on using up products completely before moving on to something new. Keep an eye out for my Empties & New Product videos for the latest purchases and thoughts!

Paula's Choice Resist Clear Skin Hydrator
If you're an oily/combination skin gal with skin that gets clogged pores and blemishes easily, this moisturizer will be your saving grace. It's the one I use most often because it's a workhorse. It contains Vitamin C in its stable Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate form, along with Niacinamide which is a lovely ingredient that helps repair skin that has been damaged by acne, it helps reduce inflammation, improves the appearance of enlarged pores and works to even out your skin tone. The texture of this product isn't as wet or emollient as moisturizing lotions I was used to before, which is why this product is definitely better suited for oily/combination skin people. Nevertheless, it sinks into the skin quickly and you can feel the active ingredients get to work. I use this every morning layered over a hydrating serum, and follow up with sunscreen on top. Speaking of sunscreen...

IPKN BB Cream
IPKN is a Korean skincare brand that has a separate branch operating and catering to the American market. They have an array of colour correcting products available along with this glorious BB Cream, which I love. I have the New York version which is a wonderful light-medium shade with golden/yellow undertones. It has medium coverage and SPF 45, with the help of Zinc Oxide. Zinc Oxide is a physical sunscreen, meaning it blocks damaging UV rays from entering your skin cells and wreaking havoc. It's also the most beneficial sunscreen for acne prone skins. I'm not sure about you but I have tried so many facial sunscreens that broke me out over the years. They felt cloying on the skin and always resulted in congestion. If that is the case with you, look for sunscreen products that contain Zinc Oxide as they tend to be less occlusive. I love the fact that this product combines an easy-to-blend moisturizing texture with a perfect colour match and a physical sunscreen. Best BB Cream I have tried in a long time.

Bioderma Photoderm Compact Mineral SPF50+
This is another physical sunscreen winner. Bioderma's Photoderm range has tons of fantastic options at various SPFs so there's bound to find something to suit your needs. This compact caught my eye because A: it's 100% physical sunscreen (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) and B: it's a tinted cream compact so it's perfect to take along to the beach. It has light/medium coverage and blends into the skin with ease. While I wouldn't wear this to work, it is a perfect weekend base if you're going to be out and about in the sun and don't want to be bare faced. I personally like a bit of coverage even if I'm at the beach or by the pool, and I like that this product is discreet, blendable and buildable enough to touch up with on the go.