#skin-barrier

#skin-barrier

After a season of heavy makeup looks and heavy meals not to mention yo-yoing between icy winds and stuffy heated interiors your skin might look and feel flushed, dry, dull and irritated. After all, late nights, crackling fires and bottomless eggnogs add heat to anyone's cheeks especially those with rosacea or eczema, says consultant dermatologist Dr Randa Akel, making this time of year prime for flare-ups.

I wouldn't say it was rare that the beauty industry invents a whole new product category, but my own willingness to adopt another step certainly is. Ten years ago, I'd have told you not to bother with toner unless you particularly enjoyed using it, which is as good a reason as any in a world on fire. And yet over the past couple of years, the new milky toners have, to me at least, become so functional as to be indispensable.

Autumn is the season for layering up-and that goes for your skincare, too. As temperatures drop and the heating goes on, many of us notice our faces feeling tighter, drier and more easily irritated-a phenomenon dermatologists sometimes call 'autumn face.' Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Derrick Phillips, a consultant dermatologist and spokesperson for The British Skin Foundation, says it all comes down to the health of our skin barrier-the watertight seal that protects the skin's outer layer, the epidermis.