Ladies - it's now time to start the autumn beauty routines

Had you a good summer? I enjoyed mine.

I had a few jobs I needed to get ahead of in my house that I’d been putting off. I’m a doer and don’t do lazy or sitting around - life’s too short for that - so I availed of the nice weather and I painted all the ceilings in my house myself.

Oh, my shoulders and neck felt that one, but they are all so white and bright now.

Then my clinic needed painting inside and out so I tackled that too.

It’s fair to say I don’t want to see a paint brush or roller now for another while.

Everyone is now back in the routine after the summer. My clients who have young kids say they do love the summer as it’s a break from the rat race of school runs, traffic, and the fast pace of life we live in today.

But I dunno about you, but I love routine, I need its as it’s structure to my day. That said, Sunday is my favourite day of the week because I’m not running to the clock - even I need that change in pace weekly.

As clients return now to their facials and beauty treatments, I’m seeing first hand the effects of the summer quite literally on their faces, and the drive is on now to tackle all that neglect, dead skin and sun damage that has been building for months.

As a beauty doctor and skin specialist, my job is to educate and inform clients on how best to clean and care for their skin.

With so many actively abusing their skin with invasive beauty treatments and sun worshipping, we, the skin experts, are working so hard to get the awareness out, to educate people on what skin health is and what skin abuse is.

This week, I want to give my tips on how best to get back into your skin routine and get your skin winter ready. You can get more of my tips in my weekly beauty videos up on our Emerald Beauty Clinic Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok pages.

REMOVING SUN DAMAGE

Well, it’s very obvious for those of us trained in skin to see the effects of a summer and the sun on faces.

All my clients know I’m all about the education and the science, and these tell us that the sun is the most ageing thing for all our skin.

This summer was a good one, and the signs of sun damage are very clear to see. Some women appear to have aged 20 years this summer due to the amount of exposure they endured over the past few months, that’s quite scary to see.

And while I’m sure many of them applied SPF once a day, they certainly were not reapplying it every two hours, as we skin experts advise.

It is easy to see by the mountains of dead skin visible on their faces that they have not done a facial in a very long time either.

The best way to remove this sun damage and all the build up is with facials, preferably deep cleansing ones. I do these all day in Emerald Beauty Clinic and many now coming back post-summer need a course of three, one a week for three weeks, to get all the summer dead skin and sun damage lifted.

No home exfoliation is ever going to address that.

DEHYDRATION

Would you believe I actually treat more dry skin in September on clients than I ever do in winter?

The reason being that more wine is consumed by some than water over the summer months, and diets tend not to be as good in warm months.

Also, people are not reapplying their moisturiser doing serums and masks like they do more of in winter.

All this cumulative neglect adds up and the skin gets dehydrated, forming fine lines which then turn into wrinkles.

Far too many do not even know that moisturisers only last 4-6 weeks, and being sparing with it is exactly why you are so dehydrated, because you simply use too little.

This month, I’m prescribing our best-selling Guinot Cellular Hydration Serum, €129, an advanced serum used twice a day that will clear up dehydration of the skin in three weeks.

IGNORE THE INFLUENCERS

I am often horrified to see these so- called influencers on social media advocating skin abuse. Many are not trained to offer any advice on skin and beauty care.

Sadly, many vulnerable impressionable young people then copy them and damage their own skin.

This is extremely worrying for those of us working in the skin and beauty industry.

Another issue is the fact that so many women today have plastic fake faces, there is nothing naturally beautiful about that in my book. But most alarming is the damage they are doing to their skin, which in ten years or less will be in a bad state.

My message is simply do not do what the influencers are doing to their skin on social media. Come and speak to us, the trained skin experts, who will educate you to know how to clean and care for your skin safely with no long term damage.

DIET AND WATER

Lots of people gain weight over the course of the summer months, we all know it. The barbecues, the ice creams, not to mind the alcohol, all add up. This is why so many are back trying to get into healthy eating and daily exercise, to remove the summer weight gain.

The best foods for our skin and body are fruit and vegetables, plus more fish, less red meat, and cutting back the sugary treats.

Drinking water will help flush out toxins stored in the body, and this is excellent for anyone trying to lose weight, as not only will the water fill you up but you get your extra steps in too running to the loo more!

I feel many have over-complicated diets today and really the simplicity of a good diet is all we need.

I have very basic dinners at home, and try to limit treats to the weekend. It’s simply not a treat if it’s every day now, is it?

SET SOME GOALS

I love goal-setting, I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years of age, and I divide my yearly goals up now to every few months.

So I had my summer goals, and now I set new goals for the winter to finish out 2025.

I’d encourage everyone regardless of your age to do this because it’s a fantastic satisfaction to set yourself some goals and complete them.

Stop putting things off because tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

I see older clients coming in now exhausted from minding grandchildren all summer, lots of others are lacking motivation or education to know that self-care is the new health care, and with those who do invest time, care and effort into themselves, it shows.

We all need to put the effort in, but those who are smart know the value in working with us beauty experts - all I’d ask is, what are you waiting for?

SPECIAL OFFER: All next week, our award-winning Power Cleanse Dermalogica Facial is eeduced from €125 to €95, includes a full skin analysis, eyebrow shape, samples and treats, appointments necessary, to book call Emerald Beauty Clinic, 021 4365949. Free parking.

• Emer O’Callaghan is a beauty doctor, and skin specialist who won Irish Beauty Therapist of the year and works at Emerald Organic Beauty Products Ltd, trading as Emerald Beauty Clinic, 021 4365949. A Multi Award Winning Gold Standard Clinic 2008-2025, www.emeraldbeautyclinic.ie