Brrrrrrr! The weather outside is freezing and your skin feels awful. Take heart – you don’t have to spend all winter hiding under a scarf.

Here are our prescriptions for your most common cold weather beauty woes.

Five Steps to Beating the Winter Blahs
1. Self tanner
2. Intensive moisturiser
3. Creamy concealer and foundation
4. Cream blush
5. Lip gloss

Flaky Patches: Be gentle and use a product with alpha-hydroxy acids to help encourage cell turnover and remove dead cells accumulating on your skin’s surface. Use manual exfoliators (scrubs with beads or grains) less frequently. After cleansing, moisturise with a super-rich face cream. To reap the biggest benefits from your moisturiser, apply it while your skin is still slightly damp. Creamy makeup formulas are a dry skin’s best friend because they are moisture-based. Look for moisturising foundations, tinted creams and cream blush (in a stick or compact). Use powder sparingly or skip it; when cream formulas are applied over powder they don’t spread evenly and can end up looking cakey.

Sallow Skin: If your skin has taken on a Kermit-like tinge, counteract it with bronzer or self-tanner (for the most natural effect, don’t forget to apply self-tanner to your ears and neck). The reddish-brown tones in these products will neutralise the yellow-green tones you see in your skin and give it a healthy, warm tint. Skip orangey-yellow shades of blush and go for shades of pink and rose, which will help brighten and perk up your skin.

Rosy cheeks: Use a hydrating facemask to help calm red, blustery skin. Ingredients to look for are cucumber, chamomile or calendula, which are naturally soothing. To neutralise the redness and high colouring, use a yellow-toned (not pink!) tinted moisturiser or foundation. Your usual blush may now make you look a little like Bozo The Clown, so switch to a softer blush shade, such as sandy pink.

Eye Blues: Under-eye circles tend to look darker and purple-green this time of year, especially against pale skin. Use a combination of two shades of concealer to correct this. Apply a layer of pink-toned concealer, blend it and layer a yellow-toned concealer over it.

Lasting Liner: Use waterproof mascara and avoid raccoon eyes altogether. If you want to line your eyes, line the upper lash line with a long-lasting gel liner or a pencil liner with dark powder shadow on top. Skip liner on the lower lash line to eliminate the chances of makeup creeping or running downwards when you wipe away at teary eyes.