Destress Your Skin with NEOSTRATA (Win!)

We all know 2020 has been a stressful year and nothing shows stress more than our skin. While we can’t offer a fix for 2020, we decided to chat with NEOSTRATA skin guru Pat Clare about fab products from NEOSTRATA that can help you sort out your skin. —Vita Daily

Hi Pat! How are you doing, to start?

Very well, thank you. With good health under my belt, the rest I will not complain about … besides, if I do complain, even the cat won’t listen anymore and wonders why I am home so much! I am one of the blessed ones who has been able to work from home and keep my job even during very uncertain times. Like many of us, I continue to try to find my way forward in new and creative ways. My new motto is “keep fluid” to all the changes and constantly I am reminding myself to see the good things that can be happening and not just focusing on what is not able to happen. It is fair to say, I reboot my thinking several times a day!

How’s your skin? Have you noticed, like so many of us have, some extra issues related to the events of 2020? 

I would say “extra issues” is the understatement of the year. Stress is a terrible thing on our skin. I have really been fighting dehydration from being in the house so much and definitely have struggled with breakouts from wearing a mask when I am out. The new term “maskne” has taken on whole new adventure on my skin and yet I can be ultra-sensitive at the same time. I just daily try to remind myself to stay on my regime and don’t skip corners. Now is not the time to be lazy about our skin care!

In what ways can/does stress impact our skin?

Stress will show up like a flag person on our skin trying to warn us something is very wrong. Hormones ramp up when we are stressed, and our bodies produce hormones like cortisol, which can add to increased breakouts in more active skin types like an oily complexion. In more sensitive skin, stress is a real speed demon to destruction. Eczema, rosacea and delicate and fragile skin types can take an incredible beating very quickly. Sensitive skin reacts to upset in the skin’s barrier functions that are quickly compromised by both our external environment changing and also our internal upheaval. These skins become rashy, bumpy and very parched and uncomfortable. Lately, I find myself really looking at people’s skin when I am out. It is shocking to see how many people are really struggling with irritation with all the changes that world has been going through, as we internalize it. Skin displays this upset like a big billboard saying, “Help me!”

While we’re working on lowering our stress levels, how can NEOSTRATA help treat our skin topically?

One of the greatest technologies discovered by NEOSTRATA was the innovation of the second generation of hydroxy acids called polyhydroxy acids or PHAs. Where AHAs are amazing exfoliants to dead surface cells for the hardier of skin types, PHAs offer gentle exfoliation, while keeping your skin soft and supple. They are huge antioxidants and do not make your skin sun sensitive, which is a real plus. In our RESTORE collection of products even just adding the PHA CLEANSER into your regime will both clean and soothe and restore the water barrier back to a parched skin. Our PHA EYE CREAM is a fast fave for even the most delicate skin types. Allergy season was brutal this year, so to smooth and hydrate around the eye area is really important. This is great even on the eyelid, even for the most fragile skin. The great thing about PHAs are that they are totally anti-aging while they work. So many skin-care products can soothe a sensitive skin, but that’s really all they do. PHAs are repairing the delicate barrier functions of the skin while they soothe. They are hugely antiaging while they work. Our OVERNIGHT ANTI-POLLUTION TREATMENT is a night cream in our CORRECT collection and we use PHAs to both help the skin recover from the day’s abuse of the environment, both outside and inside aggressors, and it also helps to fortify the skin for the next day. I am using this product most nights now, as it feels like a “comfort coat” you put on your skin to go to bed and, when you get up, your skin feels so soothed and protected to begin again. It is times like we are experiencing now that we need to remember to do some self-care. For a real treat, try our BIONIC OXYGEN RECOVERY FACIAL. This one is a real gift for stressed skin. It uses both PHA technology and molecular oxygen to help soothe your skin and re-energize it at the same time. It feels delightful because it bubbles up and then inverts and the bubbles dissipate, then you wash it off and it leaves your skin feeling so calm and happy at the same time. I love that one! But keep watching, because if you like PHAs just wait to see what October will bring!

Besides great skin-care products, what’s your favourite way to de-stress these days?

If wine tasting is not an appropriate answer … I have to say that for me it is working in my garden. This was my first spring home in over 30 years of travelling for business. Every night after work I find myself putting about in the garden with the cat. Some nights, I am finishing the job in candlelight. It really calms me down, but also reminds me that everything is growing and changing. We, as people, are also, and that is why some days we feel a bit sore from stretching so much. The garden reminds me that nothing stays the same and that it is OK to pull those weeds on occasion when we need to!

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Win! A NEOSTRATA Prize Pack!

We have a winner! Congrats Elender C. of Calgary, who will receive a NEOSTRATA prize pack including an Ultra Brightening Cleanser ($32), Bionic Face Serum ($85), Sheer Hydration ($29), Comprehensive Retinol Eye Cream ($54) and Exfoliating Mask ($50)!