Sorry to break it to you - but you’ve been moisturising wrong.

By JO ABI

Moisturiser is my absolute favourite skincare product. No matter what I’ve done to my skin due to stress, fatigue, makeup, pimple squeezing or anything else, moisturiser seems to erase all of that.

I know it doesn’t actually erase everything. But it FEELS like it does.

Still, moisturiser has rules. Doesn’t everything? You can’t just slap it on like you’re using concrete to lay bricks or filling holes with putty before a rental inspection.

Sorry to be the one to tell you guys, but you’ve been moisturising wrong.

Here’s how you should be doing it.

1. Do you even use moisturiser?

I didn’t use moisturiser for about a decade because I had such oily and pimply skin that there didn’t seem to be a point. I was so focused on drying my skin out and keeping it less oily that it never occurred to me that moisturiser was actually very important to keeping oil and pimples at bay.

I know, it doesn’t sound like it makes sense, even today, but the truth is that skin is a tricky thing and if you deprive it of moisture it is going to act a little nutty in an attempt to keep hydrated by producing more oil, which is the last thing you want.

So, I avoided moisturiser for years and then I started using a ‘moisturiser’ only to realise years later that the serum I thought was moisturiser wasn’t moisturiser at all. I was missing an entire step.

I was so confused.

So lesson one is to check your products and make sure you have an actual moisturiser in your arsenal, because so many of us don’t.

2. You can’t just choose any old moisturiser.

As soon as I realised I wasn’t actually using a proper moisturiser I raced right out and bought myself some. As I knew very little about moisturiser, I bought the same one I’d seen my mum using for years.

Wrong! So wrong.

My mum’s ancient excuse for a moisturiser was so incredibly heavy on my already oily skin that it felt like I was wearing a layer of Vaseline. It just felt gunky.

There are so many different types of moisturisers out there. Choose the right one and your skin will immediately feel better. Choose the wrong one and your skin will look worse than ever.

So ask someone, anyone, who knows anything about moisturiser to help you decide on the one that is right for you – I found that hyaluronic acid-based products worked for me, because let’s face it, oily skin or not we are all dehydrated. Indeed Labs have a moisturiser in the form of a jelly which is super absorbent and just glides on the skin. It doubles as a great primer too.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Frostbland. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

3. When you moisturise matters.

Look, I’m not saying you can’t moisturise at bedtime. Of course you can. I do. I put a stack of moisturiser on my lizard feet, put socks on and fall asleep knowing I’ll wake up with much softer skin on my hooves.

But I’d be doing a lot more for my skin if I moisturised after my bath or shower.

That’s right folks. Moisturising straight out of the bath or shower is the perfect time to do it because your skin is clean and your pores are open. I know it’s hard to find the time to do it when you are racing around in the morning but you need to make the time. Your skin is begging you to make the time.

At the very least, do your face and your crusty patches like hands, elbows, knees and heels.

4. How you moisturise matters.

Moisturiser is not aftershave. It doesn’t want to be slapped onto your skin. It also isn’t an exfoliant. It doesn’t want to be ground into your skin.

Moisturiser wants to be caressed into your skin, preferably in light, gentle, upward strokes. It wants to be applied properly, not hastily rubbed in like sunblock.

The motion of moisturising is just as beneficial as the moisturiser itself. Haven’t you ever head of skin brushing? When done properly, moisturising doubles as skin brushing and skin brushing invigorates the surface of the skin, forcing the blood to the surface, which is incredibly beneficial.

I’m not sure how or why it’s beneficial but I’ve read it in several magazines so it MUST be true.

So moisturise and skin brush away.

5. Neck? What neck?

The skin on your neck is just as delicate as the skin on your face. Sure, it doesn’t have as many pores and isn’t as prone to acne, but the skin on your neck is just as needy as that on your face.

The skin on your neck ages and it ages badly. So many women I admire have aged so well but it’s the skin on their neck that gives them away with tell-tale signs of aging, neglect and one too many visits to the beach.

Why do you think Hermes became so successful? Scarves, baby.

Instead of spending a fortune on silk scarves, just make sure to include your neck when you moisturise your face and do it in that upward sweeping motion I mentioned a second ago because…gravity.

Have you made any of these moisturising mistakes?

Scroll through for some more skincare tips:

We believe in pushing the boundaries of science and challenging the status quo of beauty standards.

At Indeed Labs™ skin care concerns are addressed with innovation; by targeting optimal, cutting edge ingredients and using only high concentrations of the rarest and most effective actives.

Women are looking for high performance, innovative products.  Products that do what they say.  We at Indeed Labs™ are consumers first and foremost and we are always on the lookout for products that deliver realistic results

More information on the Indeed Labs™ range can be found at : http://indeedlabs.com