Intelligent Beauty

Spare your blushes with these treats for sensitive skin types

If your skin’s overwrought or offends easily, today’s class is about counselling sensitive, stressed-out complexions! A lesson in how to bring calm where there’s chaos, reach for these soothing and redness-reducing essentials for petal-esque cells that are quick to take umbrage. So whether you’re a sufferer of acne, eczema, rosacea or psoriasis, or you’re simply fed up with your face feeling angry, browse our regime that will fortify delicate tissue…

With legions of die-hard A-list devotees – the {Delevingne sisters}, the ever-glowing Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Watson and blonde bombshell Rosie H-W – not to mention the whole of Cult Beauty HQ (you’d have to prise the {Soothing & Protective Moisturiser} from Jennifer’s cold, dead hands), {MV Organic Skincare’s} edit of skin saviours is supercharged and ultra-gentle.

Formulated with the finest organic plant oils and brimming with essential minerals, this range is literally good enough to eat. Deeply penetrative, the stunning elixirs and nourishing creams deliver their conditioning ingredients to your skin’s lowest levels – replenishing and strengthening stressed, mixed-up complexions.

Two pumps of the ultra-mild, non-stripping {Gentle Cream Cleanser} are all that’s required to melt daily dirt without leaving your face felling tight, vulnerable or over-exposed. Massage into face and neck then hold a steaming {muslin cloth} over your skin until it cools. The heat helps to release the oils which in turn, loosen dulling dead cells to reveal super-smooth, glowing skin.

Follow up with a second-step cleanse using DCL’s {Ultra-Comfort Cleanser} – a mild, milky formula which boasts a cocktail of balancing oils and extracts to respect and enhance your skin’s barrier function – bolstering its natural defences so it’s better placed to battle all the irritants it comes across.

Antimicrobial, aromatherapeutic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, rose is a fixture of sensitive skin care routines so choose Pixi’s mild, calming and nourishing {Rose Tonic} – a pretty pink elixir – to replenish your cells ahead of serum and day cream.

Another range created specially for easily-offended faces, Pai Skincare’s founder, Sarah Brown, sought ways to calm her irritated skin. Suddenly (and inexplicably!) exceptionally sensitive, Sarah set about creating blends to help her seize control of her complexion – developing a range of soothing cleansers, creams and oils using the finest, supernatural ingredients. Bringing instant relief when your face is rebelling, {Pai Skincare} helps to bring calm where there’s chaos – you’ll practically hear stressed-out skin cells exhale…

Packed with essential fatty acids, Pai’s {Echium & Argan Gentle Eye Cream} is a rich, conditioning crème-balm that works to strengthen fragile skin and combat dehydration. A great way to minimise crêpey-ness, this rich and replenishing formula helps to eliminate scales and eradicate flakes – keeping the delicate area supple and ‘stretchy’ while shielding from ageing aggressors.

And for those who’re prone to redness or whose skin is constantly inflamed, Pai’s {Instant Calm Anti-Redness Serum} boasts extracts of sea astor and wild oats to quickly ‘take down’ heightened colour and support skin’s lipid function, training your complexion to increase its tolerance. Alternatively, try REN’s {Anti-Redness Serum} – part of their {Evercalm} edit – which gentle respects your reactive complexion.

The final steps are moisturiser and an oil to ‘seal’ the goodness in and create a ‘force field’ between complexion and the elements. LIXIRSKIN’s {Universal Emulsion} is the perfect suits-all moisturiser – a rich but silky cream that sinks in quickly to boost ‘bounce’ and make dry, irritated skin feel comfortably cocooned.

Follow with a few drops of MV Organic Skincare’s {Pure Jojoba}, warmed between palms and then pressed into skin to create a lightweight but deflective blanket that keeps ‘bad stuff’ (pollutants and toxins) at bay. Jojoba is near-identical to skin’s own sebum, which is why its ideal for all those whose complexions react easily – ‘feeding’ and balancing skin that’s too-easily upset.

SHOP SENSITIVE SKIN >>



Verity Douglas

Verity Douglas

Content Editor

Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...