StyleNest team up with Nausheen Qureshi, founder of luxury skincare brand Elethea.
A pioneering science-led skincare line, Elethea products are packed with powerful natural ingredients. Integral to each product within the range is the Rift Valley Complex, a unique active rich in proteins, including all 8 Amino Acids, B-vitamins, Essential Fatty Acids, Beta-Carotene, Bio-active Enzymes and Minerals.
A Kenyan-born biochemist and cosmetic scientist, skincare expert Nausheen brings us her top tips for healthy skin.
Tip 1. Reapply your SPF throughout the day
It’s all part of the daily skincare drill to protect yourself from UV rays, and therefore premature ageing, we must use sun protective skincare but rarely do people reapply sunscreen during the day. Yes, it’s a chore and it messes up your make-up, however sweat, touching your face, putting on or taking off clothes, not using the right amount of sunscreen in the first place all contribute to why it is absolutely imperative to reapply sunscreen every few hours, even on a dull and cloudy day. I recommend using sunscreens in the form of well-formulated SPF fluids, like Elethea’s Revitalising High Protection Fluid SPF30, as these are lighter than creams and mean you aren’t giving your skin the high volume of oil that creams have. Also don’t rely on SPF in make-up, this just isn’t effective because you don’t apply anywhere near the amount of make-up that would equal sufficient SPF coverage.
Tip 2. Tailor your skincare routine
Indulged in a bit too much sugar yesterday? Use an anti-inflammatory toner. Try Elethea’s Complete Replenishing Oil (launching January), it’s not greasy and is good for any skin type. Make sure you really massage this in to promote circulation. No two days are ever the same within your body, and diet, hormones, stress, exercise and environment all contribute to these changes. Listen to your skin and be aware of how all these factors affect it. Remember to always layer products on your face from lightest consistency to heaviest consistency (e.g. water-based serums first followed by oil heavy moisturisers).
Tip 3. Regularly hydrate and moisturise
Healthy skin is hydrated skin. In addition to drinking plenty of water, use skincare with hyaluronic acid or, even better, tamarind seed extract used in our Elethea skincare range. These ingredients attract water molecules to themselves and this helps plump and smooth the skin. Additionally, ensure skin is well moisturised with good quality oils in your daily moisturiser and you are protecting your skin from damage by looking for antioxidants like olive extract or green tea extract. Elethea’s Intense Hydrating Cream contains many of these ingredients and is an all-rounder for keeping skin healthy and hydrated, lasting the whole day.
Tip 4. Pay special attention to the eyes
The skin around the eyes differs to the rest of the facial skin: it is more delicate, thinner, and doesn’t have big sweat glands or hair follicles. A good eye cream needs carefully balanced concentrations of richly moisturising oils, humectants, antioxidants and a few peptides to signal to the cells to start building collagen. Elethea’s Eye Architecture Cream has all of these and has been clinically proven to decrease fine lines and wrinkles in 28 days. Be gentle in applying eye cream: dab the product across the lids and under the eye in tiny U-shaped motions, like you’re drawing a cloud around your eyes. If any product is leftover, I add a few drops of Elethea’s Complete Replenishing Oil (launching January) and use for the neck and décolletage. Also make sure you get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible to maximise cell regeneration. The result will be fewer fine lines and more plump skin around the eye area.
Tip 5. Know when and what to cleanse with
I’m not a fan of oil-based cleansers – I know what goes into them and they won’t be as effective at removing dirt and debris as a foaming cleanser. If you insist on using one, please always follow with a foaming cleanser. Many oil cleansers use sugar-based ingredients these will compete for cell receptors in your skin with important actives in your skin cream like Vitamin C. A good foaming cleanser, like Elethea’s Pure Balancing Cleanser (launching January), will be formulated to be pH5 so will not cause skin to be irritated or dry because it will be the same pH as the skin. Also, in the winter, I usually recommend cleansing once a day so as to minimise moisture loss in the skin.