Winter can be a tough season — not only are we preparing for the holidays while also staying on top of work and social obligations, we’re doing it in some pretty unforgiving weather. We all know how easy it is to get stressed out during this time of year, and the last place you want to see the effects of that is on your face.

My skin requires a lot of extra TLC during the winter months. If you’re tired of dealing with a dull complexion or irritation caused by dryness, here are some of my best tips for what to include in your routine to ensure that your skin is prepped for all the upcoming family photos and NYE Instagram stories!

 

Retinol

Since you’re not subjected to as much sun exposure in the winter, now is a good time to begin using retinol. It’s an incredibly powerful ingredient in skincare, but unfortunately can make you very sensitive in sunlight. Retinol penetrates to the deepest layers of the skin to stimulate collagen and elastin production, which results in more resilient and youthful looking skin. Always remember to wear SPF when using retinol! 

 

Strengthening Serums

In addition to retinoic acid, winter is a good time to include a strengthening and fortifying serum into your routine. Focusing on building up your skin barrier in the winter months can ensure that by the time summer rolls around again, your skin is better equipped to fight off the irritation and sensitivities caused by heat and pollution. Look for products that contain niacinamide, lipids, or antioxidants.

 

Vitamin C

We love vitamin C year round, but its brightening effects become an absolute necessity during the long, dull months of winter. By alternating your nightly retinol and strengthening serum with a day time application of vitamin C, you’ll notice a more natural glow and even tone after a few weeks. Incorporate your vitamin C slowly if you have sensitive skin or active breakouts. Start by applying every 2-3 days.

 

Chemical Exfoliation

If colder weather makes your skin dry and itchy, incorporating a chemical exfoliant into your routine can be very beneficial to ward off the patchiness or discomfort. Chemical exfoliators helps remove dead skin without scratching or causing irritation the way scrubs can. If you opt for a AHA/BHA solution over a serum, it’s best to use them as a part of your morning routine right after cleansing your face. If instead you’d prefer an exfoliating serum, alternate it with your retinol — don’t use them at the same time.

 

Milky Cleansers

As much as I love double cleansing, sometimes my water-based cleansers can feel a little too striping in the winter (when my skin is already susceptible to drying out or redness). I typically switch to a really gentle creamy cleanser to follow up my oil-based cleanse so that my skin doesn’t get too stressed out.

 

Lip Masks

Split and cracking lips are the bane of my existence during the winter, and I’ve never learned how to not pick at them. Lip masks have become an absolute necessity to avoid inflamed cuts and discomfort.

 

Protective Balms

Cold weather brings with it sniffles, sneezing, and congestion. When you’re constantly wiping away the evidence of winter allergies, you can end up with some pretty unsightly redness and uncomfortable tenderness around your nose and eyes. Skin cannot heal unless it’s adequately moisturized, so keep a thick, petroleum-type balm on hand to seal in skincare and encourage damaged skin to rebuild overnight (or applied lightly throughout the day). 

 

Facial Oils

While facial oils alone aren’t the greatest moisturizers in skincare, they do help seal in other skincare and allow for skin to successfully regenerate overnight. Oils are beneficial to all skin types, not just dry skin, because they help balance out the overproduction of oil caused by environmental dryness.

 

Sleeping Masks

In addition to the other hydrating layers of skin care, sleeping masks worn overnight can help calm down irritated skin that is desperate for deeper hydration. Once or twice a week, layer on a sleeping mask over all of your other skincare (including an oil if you’re using one) and allow your skin to soak in the goodness while you rest. Always be sure to double cleanse the morning after using a sleeping mask to effectively remove the sweat and oil that you will produce overnight. If you don’t effectively cleanse off a rich mask, they can stay on your skin and lead to clogged pores and breakouts.

 

SPF

The most important skincare product (no matter what season) becomes even more important in the winter if you live in an area that gets a lot of cloud coverage. Snow reflects UV rays, so essentially the sun is coming at you from all angles throughout the day if you live in a snowy area. While clouds might feel like they’re blocking the sun, 87 percent of UV rays still penetrate through them.

The post 10 Beauty Products I Love to Use in the Winter appeared first on The Everygirl.

Every blonde girl knows that maintaining blonde locks can feel like a part-time job — it takes time, money, and a lot of effort. You come out of the salon looking like Elle Woods, and a month later, your hair is dull, faded, and brassy. It can feel pointless to be dying it (“why am I spending all this money to only have good hair for a few weeks!?”). But fear not — here at The Everygirl, us blondes have finally mastered a routine that keeps our hair beautiful, brass-free, and maintained until our next appointment.

Enter: Redken’s Color Extend Blondage Purple Shampoo and Conditioner. Purple products neutralizes warm tones in hair by depositing violet pigment throughout, canceling out any orange, red, or yellow undertones that naturally appear in light hair colors, keeping your color looking ashy and light (aka the of-the-moment, rich kind of blonde). Think of it as an at-home toner — it can work to keep your blonde bright without needing to run to your stylist for a professional touch-up. Purple shampoo and conditioner can save you time, money, and bad hair days.

 

You can use it every wash if your prefer your strands ashy, or once or twice a week if you prefer it more neutral or golden — either way, you can kiss brass goodbye once and for all.

 

The three blondes of our office embarked on a journey over the past few weeks to see just how much purple shampoo could help maintain our color. We all headed to our salons for fresh color, and consistently used Redken Color Extend Blondage Shampoo and Conditioner to see if it could keep our color looking just-dyed.

 

 

I’m a card-carrying member of the Blonde For Life Club (not a real club… but wouldn’t that be cool??) — I have (or at least used to have) naturally blonde hair, and I can’t imagine ever changing the color for good. Ever since my mom would let me, I’ve been adding a little extra help — I’ve gotten highlights for as long as I can remember , and I pretty recently went the full-head, super-cool-tones route via balayage.

I’ve dreamt of having the hair of Serena van der Woodsen ever since I first saw her grace my television — but to keep up with that level of blonde-ness has always meant using damaging products (and therefore sacrificing length — how does Serena do it!?).

My hair is finally at a length I’m excited about, and I definitely want to keep up the growth — but I also love the cool tones I worked so hard to perfect. I’ve used many different kinds of shampoo before, that have all been drying or damaging to my strands. Redken Color Extend Blondage is truly the first system that gave me the freedom to both control the tone of my blonde AND keep my hair healthy — something I’ve never before experienced, and never again want to go without.

I’ve been using the shampoo 2-3 times a week, and (wait for it), I’ve been using the conditioner every single time I wash my hair. My color is the exact shade and tone I want — and it’s honestly never been healthier.

 

 

As a lifelong brunette, I never even considered that purple shampoo would ever be in my beauty arsenal, unless I pulled a full on Kim Kardashian and went bleached blonde. My distaste for the smell of bleach and inability to dedicate a lot of time to beauty upkeep made that unlikely, so purple shampoo (and conditioner!) was always far out of sight and out of mind. That is, until the day my stylist recommended it to me as the secret to all my hair woes.

You see, I’ve been obsessed with subtle balayage and lightening up my hair since ombre became popular years ago. I love being a brunette (whether or not blondes have more fun is TBD), but I’ve always wanted the gorgeous, effortless, sun-kissed Gisele-level locks that look like I’ve been on a permanent tropical vacation (even when I’ve spent the past 4 months in the dead winter of Chicago). Balayage was the answer from the hair Gods, and it was the perfect way to work in pretty, subtle highlights and depth into my monotoned brunette hair.

However, the blonde would fade and turn into brassy strips throughout my hair after a mere month, and sometimes even weeks–so not Gisele-level! I was tired of the brassiness, tired of paying for so much upkeep, and tired of how the blonde highlights just never stayed for long, no matter how good my hair stylist was (and she was good!). Should highlights that are meant to look effortless really be that hard!?

My hard hair journey finally came to an end when my stylist recommended purple shampoo and conditioner–groundbreaking. Turns out, the pretty violet stuff is not just for blondes, it’s for all people with blonde highlights, even if the highlights are subtle! So I tried Redken Color Extend Blondage purple shampoo and conditioner, which, in my opinion, is the very best because not only does it have violet tones to keep brassiness away, but it has protein to make hair stronger, which means shinier, thicker, and all over better.

And let me tell you–one month after I got my highlights, my blonde has never looked better! The shampoo and conditioner worked to keep the blonde looking ashy and cool, and even gave it more tint than it originally had. Blonde aside–I love using the shampoo and conditioner because my hair just looks better after I do–fuller, thicker, shinier, something is going right. And it smells SO. GOOD.

My hair may not be Gisele-level (and probably never will…), but I have finally achieved the secret to the sun-kissed color I’ve always wanted, without the price and time of consistent salon visits. Redken has saved my sad brunette hair, and I could not be more grateful! Looks like blondes do have more fun–as long as they’re upkeeping with purple shampoo.

 

 

I’ve been lightening my hair since the dawn of time. What started out as Sun In in the summer turned into my mom finally letting me get a few highlights, then a lot of highlights, then ombre, and now balayage — long story short, my hair has been through a lot, and I’ve experimented with just about every blonde trend in existence.

I used to always wonder why my hair didn’t hold blonde as well as others. It looked gorgeous when I first got it done, then by the time I needed a touch up, it would be faded, dull, and quite frankly, orange. I thought my naturally light brown hair just was refusing to cooperate with what I wanted, but I was wrong. I was missing out on the most integral part of a blonde haircare routine: purple shampoo.

I’ve never loved super ashy blonde tones on myself, so I never thought purple shampoo was for me — this. is. so. wrong. I’ve started using it a couple of times a week, and it keeps my neutral-toned hair neutral without it ever turning brassy, and helps it to not fade. I’ve also always been a little afraid of it, because it tends to be super drying to hair. But, Redken Color Extend Blondage Purple Shampoo and Conditioner (I know, purple conditioner — I was mind-blown, too), actually has been making my hair feel softer.

True story: I usually get my hair toned every six weeks to help maintain the color between dyes, and at my appointment this weekend, my hair stylist decided I didn’t need it — my color was still perfectly intact from my last dye. Purple shampoo for the win. (I also recommend finding a colorist you love and who understands what you want — it makes all the difference!).

 

 

How to Maintain Your Blonde

Blonde highlights fade for many reasons–hard water, heat styling, chlorine, sun, and time. The healthier your hair, the brighter the color, and the better it keeps blonde highlights. To extend your color and keep hair vibrant and healthy, heat protection is a must. Keep heat tools down to the minimum temperature (never over 375 degrees), and always use a heat protecting product. We love Redken’s Pillow Proof Primer Spray because it leaves hair stronger and healthier by protecting against any breakage caused by heat (not to mention it cuts down on blow-dry time!).

Giving hair the proper nutrients it needs is also crucial to maintaining gorgeous blonde, but also making your hair as healthy, thick, and luscious as it can be. There’s tons of products on the market promising a variety of nutrients, but really, the main nutrient your hair needs is protein–that’s right, the nutrient responsible for building strong muscles also builds strong hair. We’re especially obsessed with Redken Color Extend Blondage because it contains some major protein (Triple Acid Protein complex, to be exact!), which truly makes hair feel thicker and softer after every wash, because it is that much healthier.

Purple shampoo and conditioner is crucial for blonde highlights because they work to correct against all the factors that damage hair and cannot be protected against (like time). Your color looks fresher for longer, extending time between salon visits. It’s like a salon-level treatment in the comfort of your own shower! Do your blonde a favor and get yourself some purple shampoo.

 

 

 

This post is sponsored by Redken, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board.

The post We Tried Purple Shampoo to See If It Can Really Extend Your Color—Here’s the Result appeared first on The Everygirl.

IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! Nope, not Christmas just yet. It’s Black Friday, b*tches.

As much as we love Thanksgiving, we’ve been waiting for this day for a while. We’ve been hoarding every ad, stalking BlackFriday.com, and checking our e-mail newsletters non-stop. This year, we’re doing our shopping tucked in our beds, away from all the crazy crowds, and we’re making Black Friday even easier for you by sharing all the best deals. Whether you’re buying gifts for your loved ones or yourself (you deserve it, girl!), here’s to getting the best deal. May the odds be ever in your favor!

 

 

40% off J.Crew

use code TOGETHER

 

25% off Madewell

use code DEALWITHIT

 

Lowes

 

up to 30% off West Elm

use code SAVEMORE

 

50% off Abercrombie + Free Shipping

discount applied automatically at checkout

 

25% off T3

use code FRIDAY18

 

40% off Ann Taylor

use code THANKFUL

40% – 50% off Bernardo Outerwear

no code necessary

 

40% off Levis

use code INDIGO

 

up to 30% off Kendra Scott

no code necessary

 

Buy 1, Get 1 50% off at Urban Outfitters

no code necessary

 

The post The Best Black Friday Sales to Shop appeared first on The Everygirl.