Surviving the Winter Sniffles and Still Looking (Mostly) Good

Hi peeps — my apologies for being AWOL. I have had a cold lately and have been trying to sleep as much as possible. Sick days are not an option currently so every day I put my face on and go to work. The crazy part is that people keep telling me I don’t look sick — and i don’t even wear that much makeup. That got me thinking — when we feel sick, we feel like we don’t look good. So if we feel like we look good, then maybe being sick won’t be as miserable?

Either way, here are my tips to still have good skin and not look (as) sick:

(Obviously) Start treatment early — the sooner you get the decongestants and the tylenol in your system, the less hard you will be hit.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate — it’s so easy to get dehydrated when you have a cold and you know that means dehydrated, unhappy skin on which powder/foundation/concealer will cake. So drink as much water as possible and hydrate from within. Not only will it help with your winter cold, but it will also make your skin look better. This applies to your body as well as your face!

Feed your skin — I swear by Weleda’s Skin Food. Hydrating from the outside is just as important as hydrating from within. Weleda’s Skin Food is rich without clogging your pores. Even when my skin is oilier, I reach for the Skin Food because it rebalances my skin while hydrating it.

Protect your nose — so you don’t want to look like Rudolph and have a red nose, right? And that’s without mentioning the discomfort of the peeling skin etc. Yes, use the gentlest Puffs tissues out there, but here’s another tip – jala neti. Use a neti pot as soon as as you start feeling awful. And yes, it’s a teapot. When my husband brought one home last year, I believe my exact words were “I won’ t put a teapot up my nose” — but then I did some reading and found out it’s been used by yoga practitioners for centuries. I have been practicing yoga since January 2002 and have noticed by now that if a practice has yoga-related roots, it usually works for me (well, except being vegetarian or vegan, but that’s just me). Anyways, back to the neti pot concept. It does a better job at unclogging my nose than anything else I have tried, and because i have to blow my nose less, my nose does not peel and the redness is minimal.

Don’t cake on the makeup — it is tempting when feeling sick to try to camouflage as much as possible. But remember, if you are hydrating, you don’t need that much makeup because you skin won’t be doing as badly as you will think it is. I stay away from oil-free foundation because I need all the hydration I can get. Lately I have just been using my trusty Bobbi Brown tinted moisturizer (which is nice and hydrating) and a touch of transluscent powder topped with one of my many Bobbi shimmerbricks. I like using a shimmerbrick instead of blush because it’s softer and gives my skin a diffused glow, further drawing attention away from a heavier blush.

Use a creamy lipstick — I am more of a lip gloss gal, but when I am sick is when I break out my Clinique Buttershines — particularly Apple Brandy, which brightens my face and keeps my lips hydrated.

Take a sick day — if your job allows you to take sicks days (as opposed ot having sicks days but frowning on you taking them) take your sick days off. Sleeping lots and lots will do more for your skin while sick than anything else.

May you not catch whatever I have!!!