The Ultimate Winter Skincare Routine

Discover our essential tips for the best winter skin.

Winter is one of the most relaxing times of the year. You get to throw on a sweater, cosy up by the fire, and treat yourself to some well-deserved self-care. Chilly winter weather, however, can also wreak havoc on your skin—think extra dryness, visible irritation and dullness.

The good news? A few simple changes or additions to your winter skincare routine can make all the difference in achieving the best winter skin. Discover our step by step winter skincare routine and the winter skincare essentials you need to transition your routine.

Why should your skincare routine change in the winter?

As the seasons change, so do our skin’s needs. The dry weather during the chilliest months of the year can have adverse effects on our skin, including:

o Dullness
o Dryness
o Visible Irritation
o Visible Redness
o Tightness
o Dry Lips
o Damaged Skin Barrier

So, just as you transition your wardrobe from sandals and sundresses to boots and sweaters, your skin can also benefit from a seasonal product revamp. Transitioning to a winter skincare routine is essential to ensure your skin stays hydrated, nourished, and glowing even in the coldest months. With Estée Lauder's range of luxurious skincare products, you can achieve a radiant complexion all winter long. Let's delve into the ultimate winter skincare routine to keep your skin healthy and beautiful.

The Best Winter Skincare Routine

Step 1: Use a non-stripping cleanser for your skin type

Let’s start with the first step of your winter skincare routine: cleansing. Opt for an indulgent winter cleanser that can rid skin of makeup, dirt, oils and other impurities, but won’t strip skin of its natural moisture.

advanced night cleansing balm for winter skincare

One of our favorites for winter is Advanced Night Cleansing Balm, a buttery balm that transforms into a delicate cleansing oil. It gently lifts away makeup, sunscreen and other impurities while helping to nourish and replenish skin.

Step 2: Add a treatment lotion to your routine

There’s no better time than winter to invest in this extra care step. Why, you ask? Treatment lotions can penetrate the skin’s surface to deliver benefits your skin might need more of during this time like hydration, softness, suppleness and more.

Find the perfect treatment lotion for your skin type and add it to your routine, morning and night. You’ll love our high-performance formulas, such as Soft Clean Infusion.

Step 3: Target dryness with the best face serum for winter

Incorporate a hydrating serum into your winter skincare routine to provide an extra boost of moisture and target specific skin concerns.

Our Advanced Night Repair Serum, is the best face serum for winter as it’s known for its ability to repair and renew the skin overnight. It also strengthens, adds radiance, provides antioxidant protection, while helping firm, reduce the appearance of lines, even skin tone over time.

Step 4: Swap your lightweight moisturiser for a richer formula

When it comes to finding the best moisturiser for winter, the richer the moisturiser, the better. Lightweight moisturisers get the job done during the humid days of summer, but more emollient formulas are intensely hydrating and can help lock in moisture in dry winter weather.

Our Revitalizing Supreme+Youth Power Creme deeply nourishes and hydrates the skin and has a rich, indulgent texture that all skin types will love. Infused with Moringa Extract, it replenishes moisture levels and defends against environmental stressors, leaving your skin supple and radiant.

Winter Skincare Tips:

1. Nourish skin while you sleep

Our secret to the best winter skin? Overnight hydration. Those 8 hours you spend cosied up in bed (and away from any outdoor elements) can be essential to waking up with hydrated, radiant skin.

You’ll need two items in your nighttime winter skincare routine for dry skin: a hydrating serum and a night cream. Start with our best-selling 7-in 1 Advanced Night Repair Serum, which is formulated with Hyaluronic Acid to deliver 72 hours of hydration.

Allow your serum to absorb into the skin fully before layering on your night cream. Revitalizing Supreme+ Night Creme can leave skin nourished, radiant and significantly reduce the look of fine, dry lines while you sleep.

2. Indulge in a face mask

Layer in another winter skincare essential and give your skin a hydrating mask like the Advanced Night Repair PowerFoil Mask. Apply a mask to your skin twice per week to reap the skincare (and self-care) benefits.

3. Give sensitive skin extra TLC

If you have sensitive skin that’s prone to winter-related skin concerns year round, add a formula to your routine that can help combat visible redness, irritation and dehydration. Our Advanced Night Repair Rescue Solution with 15% Bifidus Ferment works as a powerful daily rescue treatment for irritated, redness-prone or visibly sensitised skin. This formula can help reduce the look of ongoing redness and visible irritation while also strengthening skin’s moisture barrier.

4. Lower your water temperature

There’s nothing like a long hot bath or shower on a cold winter day. Extra hot water, however, can irritate or strip the skin of its natural oils—which is why we recommend turning the temperature down to lukewarm whenever possible.

5. Hydrate your lips

We believe lip care is a necessary part of skincare—and the delicate skin on your lips is extra prone to dryness during the winter months.

Carry Pure Color Crystal Balm with you during the day for a sheer pop of colour with all-day lip plumping hydration. At night, rejuvenate and soften lips before bed with Pure Color Envy Lip Repair Potion.

6. Soften dry skin with hand and body cream

While you’re dialling up your facial care, don’t forget to pay attention to the skin on the rest of your body. Daily rituals, like washing hands in hot water or taking extra hot showers, can leave skin drier than usual in the winter.

Use a hand and body cream in your routine daily to replenish moisture, like AERIN’s Rose Hand & Body Cream.

7. Use SPF year-round

High-level SPF isn’t just for summer. The sun’s damaging rays affect your skin throughout the year—which means those bright winter days also call for sun protection.

Use a formula like DayWear Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant 24H-Moisture Creme SPF 15, which provides broad spectrum protection as well as defending against signs of premature ageing.

With Estée Lauder's range of winter skincare essentials, achieving a radiant and healthy complexion throughout the winter months has never been easier. Incorporate these winter skincare tips and products into your daily routine to keep your skin hydrated, nourished, and glowing all season long.