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Beauty
Prolonged stress and anxieties are wreaking havoc on our skin, making it look dull and fatigued. Here’s how to re-energise your complexion
‘How are you?’ It’s something we’re asked countless times a day by friends, family and colleagues, and the resounding response is usually along the lines of, ‘I feel tired.’ One of the many outcomes of the upheavals of the past year and the uncertainty of the months ahead is a feeling of perpetual tiredness—and that fatigue is written all over our faces as dullness, dark circles and angry, misbehaving skin.
“This ongoing situation is having numerous indirect effects on our skin,” says Dr Anjali Mahto, a consultant dermatologist at Skin55 in London. “Many of us are suffering from increased levels of stress and anxiety, which means that not only are we feeling mentally tired, but levels of baseline chronic stress are affecting sleep patterns, resulting in physical tiredness and impacting the stress hormone, cortisol, aggravating any pre-existing skin conditions.”
It is the effects of stress that Noella Gabriel, co-founder and global president of Elemis, argues that we are noticing in our skin. “We need to understand that stress is not just something we go through, but something our skin has to contend with on a daily basis,” she says. “Our skin faces external stressors every single day, a fact that is then exacerbated by our own emotional stresses.”
So, even if we are sleeping well, the constant hum of stress that many of us are experiencing right now is causing us to feel tired and making our skin look fatigued in the process. Here’s what you can do about it, according to the experts.
“Around 9pm, as the day closes, the body prepares for sleep by producing melatonin, a powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant,” explains Gabriel. “Melatonin helps to balance the circadian rhythm and counteract inflammation and oxidative stress, which are key players in ageing. If this process is interfered with by broken sleep, anxiety or stress, the body produces cortisol, which in turn prevents your skin from producing hyaluronic acid, its natural hydrator.” What all this means is, poor sleep can result in dry and dehydrated skin, leading to dullness and an impaired skin barrier.
With many of us working from home now and foregoing makeup, it’s tempting to skip an evening skincare routine, but if you do, you are missing out on an opportunity to support your skin’s repair mechanisms while you sleep. In terms of the best products out there, Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair takes advantage of your circadian rhythm and helps to even out skin tone and boost glow, while Elemis Ultra Smart Pro-Collagen Night Genius is clinically proven to help strengthen the skin’s protective barrier, so it can hold on to its own moisture better and minimise sensitivity. It has also been shown to hydrate skin over 72 hours. Both help to make you look more rested than you may feel.
“When my patients tell me they think they look tired, what they are often referring to are changes in the upper third of their face, especially around their eyes,” says Dr Mahto. “Their concerns can range from pigmentation or dark circles to fine or deep wrinkles, to hollowing due to volume loss and subsequent tear troughs.”
According to Dr Mahto, hydration is key to looking more sprightly. “Ensuring the eye area is well hydrated and using a good moisturising eye cream with caffeine or peptides can temporarily improve the appearance of fine lines by smoothing out the skin’s surface. Additionally, products containing Vitamins A and C can help brighten dark circles to some degree.”
Honest Beauty Depuff Eye Gel is an excellent day option for your under-eye area because its light texture sits well underneath makeup. It contains caffeine and soothing camomile. If lines are more your concern, La Roche-Posay Redermic Retinol Eye Cream contains non-irritating retinol that addresses signs of fatigue. Boosting your skin’s hydration levels is the easiest and most effective way to improve the appearance of your skin quickly. Dr Dennis Gross B³Adaptive SuperFoods Stress Repair Face Cream helps to strengthen the skin barrier with niacinamide, while avocado, kiwi and kakadu plum top up moisture, brighten and boost the skin’s ability to cope with stress.
You might think that if you haven’t left the house all day that you don’t need to cleanse your skin before bed, but the air inside your home can also be polluted and it’s important to remove the oils and dead skin that accumulate throughout the day. Gabriel even recommends a double cleanse. “For me, the foundation of great skin is cleansing,” she says. “Start your double cleanse with an oil-based cleanser such as Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm for a deep clean and to help lift impurities and dissolve makeup.” Follow your first cleanse with a formula that targets your skin concerns such as dehydration or breakouts. “When you have doubled cleansed, you are creating a blank canvas for oils and serums to work at their maximum efficacy.”
Often when we think we look tired, it’s the dullness and lack of glow in our skin that has caught our attention. “Using gentle chemical exfoliators can help remove the upper layer of dead skin cells and reveal a brighter skin tone and complexion,” says Dr Mahto.
Suffering from sensitive skin? “Try using a polyhydroxy acid (PHA) toner in the winter months — it will exfoliate without overly stripping or drying your skin.” Zelens PHA + Bio-Peel Resurfacing Facial Pads is a treatment that you sweep over cleansed skin every evening before applying moisturiser. It contains PHA, which gently exfoliates, making it an ideal choice for anyone with sensitive skin.
For a weekly treat, Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial contains a 25 per cent AHA and 2 per cent BHA blend to smooth skin. If your skin feels particularly dry, use a Biossance Squalane + Glycolic Renewal Mask; it’s intensely hydrating as well as exfoliating. Or, if you prefer to use an exfoliating mask while you sleep, apply SkinCeuticals Glycolic 10 Renew Overnight; it drastically improves skin clarity by sloughing away dead skin and supporting cell turnover.
Perhaps the easiest option of the lot, Gabriel recommends a round of deep breaths. “I am a big fan of deep breathing to help relax and soften the skin,” she says. “Because many of us spend our days hunched over a desk, working all hours, our breathing is quite shallow. Breathing — really breathing—is key to our bodies functioning properly.
“From digestion to detoxification, without oxygen, our cells just can’t do their job to the best of their ability, and that includes our skin cells. When we breathe deeply, the diaphragm lowers into the belly, allowing the lungs to expand and fill. In the lungs, oxygen is replaced in deoxygenated blood, which is then redistributed throughout the body, supporting all our vital processes. This is what our skin needs right now.”
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