How to Choose the Right Moisturizer For Your Skin Type

Looking for a new moisturizer? There are so many different products out there to choose from that picking just one can be a challenge. However, Lionesse is here to make things a little easier for you…

Rather than being swayed by clever marketing or social media trends, the best way to pick a moisturizer is to find a formula that has been designed to play well with your skin type. Read on to learn how to do just that!

Choosing a Moisturizer For Dry Skin

Dry skin doesn’t produce enough sebum on its own, making a moisturizer so important. This is the best way to compensate for the oils that your skin is lacking. This is why most people with dry skin opt for moisturizers that contain natural oils and butters. These ingredients contain the lipids that your skin needs to feel conditioned and lubricated. They’ll perform a similar role to your sebum, in that they’ll seal off the surface of your skin to prevent moisture from evaporating. 

You’ll find some fantastic ingredients for dry skin in the Lionesse White Pearl Day Moisturizer. This cream contains a blend of shea butter and sunflower seed oil, both of which will leave your skin feeling soft and supple. The addition of vitamin E provides some extra moisturizing power while pearl powder will give your skin a brighter and more luminescent finish. It’s an amazing ingredient for countering the dull look that dry skin often takes on!

Choosing a Moisturizer For Oily Skin

Oily skin is pretty much the opposite of dry skin – it produces more sebum than the skin actually needs. For this reason, many people with oily skin choose to skip the moisturizer. However, this only leaves the skin dehydrated, which has the effect of increasing oil production in the long run.

If you have oily skin, you should still be moisturizing each day, but do so with a lightweight, non-comedogenic moisturizer. This means that it won’t clog up your pores or leave your skin feeling greasy, yet it will still provide a burst of hydration to keep your skin cells looking healthy.

The Lionesse Golden Sapphire Cream would be a great choice. It’s packed with peptides, which have been proven to lower the feeling of inflammation in the skin. With oily skin being prone to acne breakouts, this moisturizer will help to keep your complexion clear and blemish-free. The fact that it also contains vitamins and antioxidant-rich botanicals helps with this too while the licorice root extract will work to lighten the look of any dark spots or acne marks on your skin.

Choosing a Moisturizer For Combination Skin

Combination skin is a mixture of dry and oily. Some parts of the face don’t produce enough sebum while others are overloaded with it, making this one of the trickiest skin types to care for. When it comes to choosing a moisturizer for combination skin, you have a couple of options…

The first is to invest in two moisturizers; one for dry skin and one for oily skin. You can then use each one on the corresponding areas of your face.

Your second option is to find a moisturizer that works well on both oily and dry skin, such as the Lionesse Morganite Reinforcing Cream. Slather a thick layer onto your dry areas and a thinner layer onto the oily parts of your face and you’ll be able to keep both well moisturized!

Choosing a Moisturizer For Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin suffers from a damaged skin barrier, which can happen for a number of reasons. Whatever the cause may be, the fact that your skin barrier is compromised means that it struggles to keep allergens and impurities away. This is why your skin reacts to the environment around it so easily.

Many of the moisturizers out there aren’t suitable for sensitive skin because they contain ingredients that, although fine for other skin types, trigger reactions in skin that’s sensitive. Some of the biggest culprits include fragrances, alcohol, alpha-hydroxy acids, and sulfates. Any moisturizer that you use should be free of these ingredients. 

At the same time, it can also be beneficial to use a moisturizer that contains ingredients that will calm your complexion. Botanicals such as aloe vera, cucumber, and chamomile are great for soothing the appearance, which will counter the feeling of any irritation that your sensitive skin is experiencing.

Choosing a Moisturizer For Normal Skin

If your skin type is normal, then you’re among the lucky minority! Your skin produces just the right amount of sebum and has a healthy skin barrier that doesn’t induce sensitivities. This makes choosing a moisturizer so much easier!

Since you don’t have any major skin concerns to deal with, look for a moisturizer that prioritizes hydration. The more hydrated your skin cells are, the healthier your skin will look and feel. With sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, and sunflower seed oil, the Lionesse Diamond Neck & Face Lift Cream provides some intense hydration, along with a dose of antioxidants from vitamins A and E.

Other Factors to Consider When Choosing a Moisturizer

Although your skin type should be your first consideration when choosing a moisturizer, there are other factors to take into account too:

Area of Application

So far, all of the moisturizers that we’ve featured above have been designed for the face. However, the skin on the body needs a good moisturizer too! Sure, you could go ahead and use your facial moisturizer on your body as well but with the skin on the body being significantly thicker than the skin on the face, those delicate formulas are unlikely to do much. 

Instead, the skin on the body benefits from a cream with a slightly richer and stronger consistency. We created the Lionesse Body Butter specifically for this purpose. Don’t worry, it’s not super thick and greasy – it’s still relatively lightweight! However, it contains a rich blend of ingredients that the tougher skin on the body will definitely appreciate. 

Your Age

Your skin’s requirements gradually change as you age, which is why this is something else that you need to consider when picking a moisturizer. The older you are, the thinner your skin will be. It will also produce less oil, making it prone to dryness. While you could simply go ahead and use a moisturizer designed for dry skin, a formula that has been created for mature skin would be more beneficial. It will contain ingredients that are capable of minimizing and preventing the visible signs of skin aging, therefore keeping your skin looking younger for longer.

That’s exactly what the Lionesse Black Onyx Cream does. It boasts a long list of antioxidant-rich extracts, with antioxidants being key when it comes to firming, smoothing, and tightening the complexion. It’s also brimming with vitamins A, C, and E, all of which are game-changers when it comes to diminishing the look of aging.

Morning vs Night

When searching for a new moisturizer, it can be helpful to consider whether you’re going to be using that product during the day or at night. 

Why does this matter? Because, during the day, your complexion would benefit from a moisturizer that will work to defend it from environmental damage. This means picking a cream that’s crammed with antioxidants. You may also want to go for a moisturizer that contains SPF to save you from having to apply an additional sunscreen over the top of your regular face cream. 

In the evenings, your skin will do best if it’s given a moisturizer that has been designed to keep it feeling supported as it goes about its nightly tasks. This is when your skin is hard at work regenerating its cells and repairing the damage that it has undergone during the day. Moisture loss is also at its highest overnight, so a thicker cream that provides extra hydration can be useful.

If you don’t yet have a dedicated night cream, check out the Lionesse White Pearl Night Cream. It has a slightly thicker consistency than our daytime formula. This will ensure that you wake up to skin that feels supple and smooth. 

Your Visible Skin Concerns

While the main purpose of a moisturizer is to moisturize the skin, many of the creams out there have also been designed to help with other visible skin concerns. One example would be the Black Onyx Cream that we featured earlier. Not only will it moisturize your skin but it will also help to erase the visible signs of skin aging.

Aging aside, you may also want to tackle your other visible skin concerns with your moisturizer. If your skin looks dull, look for a cream that will help to brighten up your complexion. Likewise, if your complexion is dotted with dark spots, find a moisturizer that contains ingredients that can lighten the look of this discoloration. No matter the visible skin concerns you may be dealing with, chances are that there’s a moisturizer out there that can help!

The Time of Year

Last but not least, let’s talk about the seasons. As the seasons change, so do your skin’s needs. In the summer months, the warmer temperatures and higher humidity stimulate the skin to produce more sebum. This occurs with all skin types, which is why it’s always recommended to use a lightweight moisturizer during the warmer months so as not to overload your skin and clog up your pores.

On the other hand, the dry air and frigid temperatures of the winter season cause a decline in sebum production. This is when you’ll need a richer and thicker moisturizer, particularly if your skin is already naturally on the dry side. 

Summary

As you can see, there is so much to consider when choosing a new moisturizer. Your skin type should dictate the initial direction that you take but, after that, it’s important to also make sure that the moisturizer you pick is suitable for everything from the time of day to the time of year. Keep all of the above in mind the next time you’re shopping for a moisturizer and you’ll no doubt be able to pick a formula that’s absolutely perfect for your skin’s needs!

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