Love your skin and it’ll love you back…right? Fashion Week is the toughest time for a models skin as they’re juggling the stress of busy schedule, long days, and constant makeup applications. As you can imagine, this leaves a model wide open for an array of troublesome skin concerns. So what’s a girl to do when you’ve got skin problems today and a casting tomorrow? Our friends at Decléor and Secret Spa treated M1 to in-house facials which were so amazing, we thought, who better to get expert beauty advice from? We hit Decléor’s Fiona Brackenbury with a slew of questions on breakouts and daily routines.

 

M1: What are great ways to treat tired skin?

Fiona: Skin is so easily effected by lack of sleep and exhaustion apart from lots of makeup tricks, exfoliation and sheet masks are the easiest, quickest way to turbo charge and energise your skin.

M1: How should your skincare routine transition from the winter to the spring?

Fiona: During the winter the skin goes through the most amount of stress, a different type of stress to the summer months. Every time to step outside and go from hot to cold this causes inflammation and stress to the skin inside and out. If you can’t increase your moisture levels daily through moisturisers and serums, look for intensive night treatments that can repair the skin whilst you sleep.

M1: Dewy skin was the trend in 2017, what skincare trends should we be looking at in 2018?

Fiona: Barefaced beauty still continues to be a huge trend for 2018, for this looks it requires lots of TLC for the skin.

M1: What effects will oil based products have on naturally oily skin?

Fiona: The misconception is if you use an oil on an oily skin it’s going to cause breakouts and block pores. If you use oils that are designed for oily skin they can slow down the oil flow, refine the skin texture and reduce the appearance of open pores. It’s a known fact that if you continue to strip the oil from the skin it will signal to the skin to produce more oil.

 

 

 

 

M1: Any tips for prepping your face prior to applying makeup?

Fiona: Layering skincare delivers amazing results but can cause some challenges when you put your makeup on. As you layer allow at least 30 seconds in between each product for your skin to absorb the active ingredients, particularly when you’re building the perfect base with serums, moisturisers and primers. Look out for liquid moisturisers if you find your foundation doesn’t sit well with your skincare. Decléor Hydra Floral Anti-Pollution Fluid is great at flooding the skin with moisture and protecting from pollution and urban aggressors.

M1: What’s the best way to remove heavy eye makeup?

Fiona: Micellar Cleansing Oils melt away make up, even waterproof mascara and long wear eyeliners, thanks to the brilliant combination of oils and micelle technology that’s acts like a magnet to pull and breakdown the make-up.

M1: How can you effectively and quickly deal with a breakout?

Fiona: Decléor Aurabsolu Mist contains a powerful combination of essential oils in a hydrating face mist, which balances the skin whilst the essential oils have anti-bacterial benefits which destroy all the bad bacteria that surround the spot that is causing the blockage and the breakout

M1: What 3 products should you always carry in your handbag?

Fiona: A lip balm, particularly in the winter and especially if you wear drying, matte lipsticks. Decléor Lip Balm is a handbag saviour for on the go hydration. An eye cream to top up the moisture levels around the eyes. The tissue around the eye has no functioning oils glands and therefore the skin can really dehydrate and makeup can sit in lines and wrinkles and make you look tired. Popping an eye cream on during the day blurs the appearance of the lines and can make you look instantly awake. The third item is a spray on SPF that can be sprayed over make up. We are now very aware the sun will contribute to 80% of ageing so you want to do the best to protect your skin.

 

 

M1: When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you should do for you skin?

Fiona: Drink water.

Always take water to bed, so you can instantly hydrate after sleep. When we sleep for 6-8 hours no liquid

enters our bodies, so it is essential to start the day with plenty of water to keep skin hydrated.

M1: Before bed, what’s the last thing you should do for your skin?

Fiona: It’s important to focus on your skincare routine at night time. Your skin is in the most receptive at night time with cell renewal 3 x times faster than in the day, so it’s important to take full advantage of this. Peels and exfoliation before bed are brilliant and then you should focus on feeding the skin straight afterwards. If your main concern are wrinkles, don’t forget hydration! If the collagen making cells become dehydrated they become stressed and they don’t make as much collagen. Always make sure your night time routine includes hydration.

M1: Are there any home skin remedies you recommend e.g. toothpaste on spots – or should they be avoided?

Fiona: Ice cubes are brilliant for puffiness, tightening, invigorating the skin and have a vasoconstriction effect of the skin. Wrap the ice cube in a muslin cloth and glide out from the middle of the face drawing lines with the ice cube out to the hairline, temples, ears and jawline.

 

 

 

M1: What foods can help brighten the skin and keep it clear?

Fiona: Foods that are brightly coloured contain a lot of antioxidants definitely look at this particularly if you’re working or living in a city where pollution is high. Pollution can cause the skin to look grey, tired and dehydrated.

M1: Any ingredients to avoid if you have sensitive skin?

Fiona: Retinol, high levels of acids and exfoliator’s with grains.

M1: Under-eye bags and dark circles – can they really be treated (non-surgically)?

Fiona: This really depends on if they are hereditary as sadly it’s difficult to fight your genes

M1: Best anti-aging tips

Fiona: Use an SPF every day. The SPF in your foundation isn’t enough as we don’t apply a thick enough layer to give skin full protection.

Introduce hyaluronic acid if you have thirsty, dehydrated skin as this ingredient holds a 1000 times its own weight in moisture and delivers instant plumping to lines and wrinkles.

Use peels with salicylic acid or AHA’S to increase cell renewal and refine skin texture.

Facial oils can deliver the biggest skin transformation but ensure they include essentials oils and not just plant oils as they are not as effective or as powerful.

M1: What are some of your favourite Decleor products?

Fiona: Hydra Floral White Petal Skin Perfecting Concentrate: I adore this serum, the combination of salicylic acid to refine the skin texture, reduce open pores and blur imperfections and hyaluronic acid to plump lines and wrinkles is great at perfecting the skin.

• Aromessence Neroli Amara this facial oil is a skin saviour for dehydrated, thirsty skin. It turbo charges my moisturiser and feeds my skin on all levels.