As Cooler Weather Arrives, Here Are the Essentials for Keeping the Glow on Your Skin

When long summer nights begin to transition into crisp autumn evenings, it’s time to shake up your skincare routine. Aromatherapeutic oils are at the top of Zen + Ether owner Shandale Forbes’ list. Here, she gives us her top tips for a glowing complexion all season long. zenandether.com

What are your top four tips for fall skincare?

One, change your skincare products. During the summer, [products] like your cleanser or moisturizer might be a little lighter. During the fall when it starts to get cool and dry, you tend to want to use heavier oils. Two, incorporate facial oil. There’s a misconception that, if you have oily skin, you should not use facial oils, and this isn’t true. Three, don’t forget to exfoliate. When the weather becomes cold and dry, your skin dries out, and you end up having a lot of dead skin. You should also exfoliate your lips. Personally, I like sugar-based lip scrubs, but try some that also have shea butter in them. Four, exfoliate your body as well. I like to do this during the fall and winter. Again, when your skin is dry, there’s a tendency to just pack it with more moisturizer. And yes, you need this, but you don’t usually need the amount that you’re packing on. You likely have a lot of dead skin, so your skin isn’t absorbing the moisturizer.

As we move into the colder weather, what’s your advice for beating the dreaded ‘maskne’ during COVID?

With the whole maskne thing, what’s happening is that masks get dirty pretty easily. People sometimes don’t change their masks very often, and if it’s a dark-colored cotton mask, people will think it’s clean even though it’s not. If you look at a disposable mask throughout the day, you’ll see all of the bacteria that’s making contact with your skin. [Because of this], it’s so important to even do a twice-a-week face mask. It could be any clay-based mask. Also, wash your face often.

What are some of your holy grail products right now?

My holy grail comes from my personal care line, and that’s my face mask and my cleanser. This is because the face mask is a powder mask—which you can customize. Someone just did a review on the face mask, and she used rose water. And for the summer, that’s nice, but in the fall when things are cooler, you can mix the powder mask with some oil or a hydrosol. As for the cleanser, it’s gel- based and is very gentle. It also has hydrating oils in it. So, it’s light enough that you can use it in the summer, but it’s still good enough going into the fall. I’ve had so many people try out the gel cleanser, and they say they were scared because they haven’t had luck with them. And it’s usually because gel cleansers have an alcohol base, but ours is aloe vera.