Bland is best: Gentle products for weathered skin

Bland is best. This may not always be true of your dinner, but it is often true of your skincare. I’m as drawn in by elaborate, complicated products as everyone else but there is a soft, fuzzy place in my heart for the plainest and most boring skincare products.

They aren’t really boring – they just aren’t working to seduce you with colour, sophisticated textures, fragrance and expensive marketing. What bland products really are is restorative and soothing. Our skin is often as overworked as we are. It will always respond well to a gentle, functional product that is designed to comfort and sustain it.

What does bland mean? It refers to mild, generally unscented products that are unerringly gentle on the skin. Bland products work everywhere, but the face, feet and hands are the areas that suffer most from temperature fluctuations at this time of year, which can result in stressed or angry skin.

Feet tend to be neglected during the colder months, leading to a necessity for what might be thought of as a “come to Jesus” pedicure in spring. You don’t want to pay someone to peel your feet like a head of old corn, and it can be prevented with regular care through winter. CeraVe SA Renewing foot cream (€9.99, pharmacies nationwide) is fragrance-free, thick and non-irritating despite the highly effective salicylic acid content.

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I still haven’t found an affordable hand cream to beat Eucerin Urea Repair Plus 5% (€10.50, pharmacies nationwide). It’s rich but not smothering, soothing but not slimy, and it instantly comforts hands compromised by cold weather or the desiccating effects of hand sanitisers.

Thirsty skin

The face is generally more sensitive than other areas and will get on well with gentle products. For an Irish product that understands the benefits of bland, seek no further than Elave’s Skin Hydrating Kit (€24.60, gardinerfamilyapothecary.com). This is best for dry skin, as the Hydrating Cream Cleanser and Sensitive Intense Moisture Surge both have rich textures that will instantly cocoon thirsty skin but could feel heavy on oilier skin types.

If you think blander products prevent you from exfoliating, think again. Alex Steinherr for Primark Maximum Moisture Milky Softening Lotion (€6, Penneys stores nationwide) contains gentle exfoliating lactic acid but has a cooling, plumping, peptide-rich formula that leaves skin feeling wonderful. Like many of the products in that range, you will not find anything comparable for the price.

While bland has its benefits, if it’s a heavy texture it is incompatible with make-up and won’t work for daytime. Ultraceuticals Ultra UV Protective daily moisturiser (€49, ultraceuticals.com) is sort of magic. It feels rich and hard-working as you massage it in, but then sinks into the skin leaving just enough slip for make-up and decent SPF protection for winter – without heavily coating the skin. I love it and its mild, faintly-medicinal scent.