Autumn Skincare Favourites

Autumn has to be my favourite time of year. I love dark romantic evenings where you can stroll huddled up together and see the stars, I love the colour of leaves as they lay on the ground and I love nothing more than sitting next to a warm fire drinking mulled cider and thinking about Christmas. The only thing about Autumn that I don't like is dry, blotchy skin from the sudden change in weather. I admit, I'm quite lucky when it comes to skin. I never suffer from spots and most of the year my skin is in pretty good shape, but when the weather gets colder I always get dry skin on my nose, chin, elbows, hands and feet. It happens every year without fail.

As I've got older skincare has become an important part of my daily routine and over the years I have managed to preempt the effects cold weather by investing in quality skincare products and using them as soon as the weather starts to turn. This year for me is all about organic beauty products. The older I get the less chemicals I want on my skin. One of my favourite all over body products at the moment is the [M]Botanicals* Uplifting Sugar Body Balm. The body balm promises to gently exfoliate the body and remove dead cells leaving your skin feeling moisturised, renewed and glowing and it does exactly what it says on the tin. I find this product really refreshing and my skin feels superb after use. The scent of Bergamot, Geranium and Frankincense lingers on my skin for hours after the scrub and it makes my skin feel rejuvenated - exactly what you need after a day in the cold, autumn weather.

Another beauty product I'm currently in love with is the Harpers Bazaar Beauty Awards Winner Antipodes Hosanna H20 Intensive Skin-Pumping Serum. The team over at Antipodes kindly sent me a few of their products to check out and I cannot get enough of this serum. I'm not usually a serum type of girl as I find them a bit sticky and I've never really seen the point of using them. However, the Antipodes skin pumping serum has completely changed my mind. I suffer from a lot of dehydration in the face from being ill and on a lot of medication and the Antipodes serum has made my skin look visibly smoother and brighter. The serum is really easy to blend in and feels like a second skin, like no product has been used. It's a miracle in a tiny bottle and one of those beauty products I would buy again and again.

They say that some of the best things come in small packages and another one of my favourite products is this small travel sized hand recovery kit from Crabtree & Evelyn, known as the '60 Second Fix for Hands'. The kit comes with a hand recovery treatment and an ultra-moisturising hand therapy lotion. I was recently given a complimentary hand treatment in the York branch after purchasing one of the nail polishes and fell in love with this duo. I couldn't stop stroking my hands for hours, they felt so soft. The hand recovery treatment is recommended every fortnight and is similar to a body scrub but just for hands. The two step treatment is really quick and easy and leaves your hands feeling super soft at the end of it. When I was told it was only £8, I couldn't buy this product fast enough. I would recommend this product to anyone that suffers regularly with dry hands like myself, it has really made a difference.

What are you Autumn skincare essentials?