4 ways to keep your dry skin hydrated

Nothing ruins your makeup quite like dry skin. Here are some skin-saving tips that will solve your dry winter skin woes and keep your makeup looking flawless all day long.

The first thing you can do to ensure your makeup looks great all day is to solve your dry skin problems. Especially true in during the winter, you should exfoliate a minimum of two to three times per week, and as often as once a day in the case of severely dry skin.

• Exfoliation helps remove the dried out, dead skin cells on the outer layer of the skin, which flake off and ruin your makeup. Regular exfoliation will keep dry fragments at bay by removing them before they get the chance to crack.
• Because the skin on your face is much more sensitive than the rest of your body, try to stick to a gentle scrub cream with grains that aren’t too coarse. Exfoliation doesn’t have to be harsh to be effective. In fact, a gentler exfoliation will yield the best results.

Before applying a stitch of makeup to your skin, make sure you've applied your daily moisturizer.

• Regular use of both day and night moisturizers will give your skin the lasting hydration it needs to keep your makeup in place all day long.
• For optimal results, look for creams containing products like Shea butter and vitamin E, which are natural ingredients that deeply penetrate and hydrate the skin.
• Also, be sure to select the moisturizer designed for your needs. The bottle always identifies the product's suited skin type, so stay away from creams for normal to combination skin and stick to those for dry and severely dry skin.

Foundation is the one makeup product most likely to dry out on your skin as the day progresses.

• If you can’t seem to find one that's hydrating enough for your skin type, add a dollop of cream to your foundation, mix between your fingers, and apply as usual.
• It won’t affect the covering power of your makeup and will keep your skin from flaking out — even during winter’s harsh environmental conditions.

Dry skin usually means even drier lips and nothing looks worse than a rosy pout with cracking lip colour.

• Especially when wearing bold lipstick, hydrated lips are a must.
• Try to stick to Shea butter-based tinted lip balms, or apply an ultra-thin layer of petroleum jelly or lip balm underneath your lipstick. This will keep your dry lips looking and feeling smooth and fresh, and won’t ruin the glamorous effect of your bold red pout.