We have all heard about the benefits of beauty sleep. It was not just a ruse by our mothers to get the kids to go to bed at a decent hour (although I do find myself sharing this nugget with my young adult daughter). There is real evidence that your skin uses downtime during slumber to heal itself from the day’s damage and re-energise in preparation for the next day.
Skin, like your body, has a circadian rhythm (the natural 24-hour cycle that guides all living creatures). It naturally protects by day and the critical renewal process happens at night and peaks while you sleep. This is why late nights or disrupted sleep shows on your skin.
In its pioneering sleep research, Estée Lauder showed that poor sleep can double the signs of ageing. Sleep-deprived skin can experience a weaker barrier and dryness, loss of firmness, more uneven skin tone and increased lines. At night your skin is also more prone to moisture loss and produces the most collagen, so the products you use at night are really important.
This is what led to the development of the now iconic Advanced Night Repair (from R755 to R3 095) – your beauty sleep in a bottle. It contains an exclusive Night Peptide and seven essential nighttime repair pathways to visibly reduce signs of ageing, strengthen the skin’s barrier, intensely hydrate, and improve the skin’s all-round appearance.
The bottom line however is that a consistent and targeted night-time skincare routine is required to make the most of the regenerating process. It starts with removing make-up and always cleansing before hitting the pillow. (And it goes without saying that a healthy diet, exercise and enough water are crucial.)
To take advantage of the night shift, Estée Lauder recently added some new products to complement their famous hero product. Advanced Night Cleansing Balm Cleanser with Lipid-Rich Oil Infusion (R1 320) has three textures in one – the balm transforms into a cleansing oil as you massage it over your skin and then transforms into a milk when you add water, to remove all impurities from the skin. Then, designed to be applied after your essential Advanced Night Repair which “awakens deep repair”, Revitalizing Supreme+ Night Power Bounce Crème (R2 600) boosts the skin’s natural collagen and protects existing collagen for more firmness. For ‘triple recovery’, follow with Advanced Night Repair Overnight Treatment (R1 680), a deliciously luxurious leave-on overnight facial treatment, that visibly activates age recovery every night.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. In this case, the proof is in how your skin looks each morning. And for me, there is no shadow of a doubt that a dedicated evening routine is essential to maintaining healthy-looking skin. Try it for a week and see the difference…
