They don’t call this time of year the silly season for nothing. With summer just beginning and festive celebrations taking place, there is a lot to celebrate. Those who partake in drinking during these festivities know all too well the feeling of the post-party hangover. It’s not fun. But, it’s a reality that many people experience.
As well as feeling generally under the weather thanks to a lack of hydration in your body and, in most cases, very little sleep, your skin is usually also hating life after a stint on the booze. To help bring your precious skin from the brink of dehydration, skincare queen Zoë Foster Blake has created her very own how-to list with help from her beauty brand Go-To.
“It’s likely you cannot use the same skin care and makeup the morning after you’ve sucked down 14 million drinks and had zero sleep,” Foster Blake wrote on the Go-To blog. “It will not work. Your skin hates you. You need special assistance. Special products. A special routine.”
Foster Blake’s routine begins with two to three large glasses of water, as well as some Powerade if you have it. You need to pump fluids back into your body and that starts now. Next up is to pop a hydrating sheet mask (Foster Blake opts for Go-To’s Transformazing Sheet Mask) in the fridge, so when you put it on your face, it feels cool and life-giving.
While your sheet mask is cooling down in the fridge, you want to wash your face using a cleansing oil to remove all traces of the night before. Or, as Foster Blake puts it, “to remove kohl, makeup, and remnants of 2am kebabs”. Very important.
The next steps on the list include a shower, followed by the use of a gentle chemical exfoliant like the Exfoliating Swipeys (so your other products can better penetrate the skin) and then she recommends popping a few eye drops in your eyes to clear up any redness.
Foster Blake then suggests popping on your cold sheet mask and leaving it for 15 minutes. When the time is up, make sure to pat all of the remaining serum into your face, neck and chest. Then follow it up with a nourishing face oil, which will help give you a glow when you’re feeling the furthest thing from glowy.
The last step in the skincare routine is a rich moisturiser, like Go-To’s Very Useful Face Cream, to replenish the skin, which is necessary because your “selfish organs like the brain and liver are using up all the available water in your system after you decimated your hydration levels with all those negronis,” said Foster Blake.
The goal here is to pump as much hydration into your skin as possible because as mentioned above, your body needs every last bit it can get. Foster Blake follows the skincare routine up with a little makeup, including primer, to avoid your skin sucking up your makeup, blush to add a little life to your face and bronzer to make you look “less dead-like”.
Once you’ve finished your attempt at rehydrating your skin, the last two points are crucial. To finish, Foster Blake recommends applying “some perfume to mask the ethanol emanating from your pores”. Noted.
And finally, it’s time to eat, says Foster Blake. “Head to the nearest cafe for the ultimate hangover cure trifecta: banana smoothie (potassium), a bacon sandwich (grease), and a quadruple-shot espresso (personality).”
While having a hangover is the furthest thing from a good time, we do love having a detailed to-do list when we’re not feeling our best. Following these steps (give or take a few depending on what you’re capable of whilst hungover) will ensure your skin is as hydrated as possible. Thanks Zo!
