3 Irish Herbal Skincare Brands To Try If Winter’s Making A Mess Of Your Skin

Air-conditioning, gale force winds and constant hot-to-cold transitions: winter weather is your skin’s ultimate nightmare.

Unless you’re diligent enough to already have a specific winter beauty regime in place, you’ve no doubt noticed your lips getting chapped, your skin feeling tight and irritated, and a general feeling of dryness that seems to persevere no matter how much hydrating moisturiser you slap on each night. As the temperatures drop and we start turning up the heating indoors, our skin ends up thirsty for moisture, and a normal day cream or night cream just doesn’t cut it.

When switching up your skincare routine for winter, focus on gentle, soothing products that hydrate your skin without irritating it. Yes, that hyaluronic cleanser might leave you free of blemishes, but at this time of year it’ll also leave your skin feeling drier and tighter too.

This winter we’re all about herbal skincare, and luckily there are a heap of homegrown brands out there to choose from. Natural skincare products get something of a bad rap for focusing too much on the provenance of their ingredients and not enough on how effective those ingredients actually are, but these three Irish brands haven’t left anything to chance.

Check these out if your bathroom cabinet needs a boost…

1.  Dublin Herbalists
Claire Gardiner’s all-natural homemade moisturisers were such a hit with family and friends that she took the leap to make her hobby a business back in 2013. Three years on, the Dublin Herbalists collection features over twenty products, each made from Claire’s original recipes and using a range of traceable natural ingredients.

Our pick: The Exfoliating Cleansing Gel (€18.95) changes to a milky texture when mixed with water, meaning it won’t leave your skin feeling tight like many gel products. The exfoliant element comes from the bamboo and cupacau, and it’s gritty without being abrasive.

2. Kinvara Skincare
Based in the Galway town of the same name, Kinvara is the brainchild of Joanne Reilly, who found her “tricky skin” didn’t respond well to most mainstream products out. She didn’t have the “time or money” to experiment with different products and improvised at home instead, leading to the birth of her organic skincare line.

Our pick: The 24 Hour Rosehip Face Serum (€32.95), an intensive healing serum which is perfect for nightly use during the colder months. Use it under your normal night cream to keep skin hydrated overnight. Go easy though, as a little goes a long way: too much and you’ll be left feeling a tad too oily.

3. Modern Botany
This one’s a newbie to the skincare market, but in terms of timing it’s totally on point. Pharmacists Simon Jackson and John Murray are keeping things simple with their initial launch, releasing just one product: a natural facial oil, made in West Cork, designed to moisturise and hydrate with a matte finish.

Our pick: For now the only Modern Botany product is the Modern Botany Oil (€35). Even if you’ve been turned off in the past by facial oils that are too greasy, too drying or too messy, we’d suggest giving this one a go: it leaves skin hydrated with surprisingly little residue. The flaxseed oil base makes this gentle enough to use on blemishes and cuts, too.

• skincare
• winter
• winter sos