What Your Face Does When You're Not Looking

Day 10: Defend & Restore Night Creme

As I thought about going to bed tonight, I wasn't super excited to wash my face or brush my teeth because I was so tired (I find it's usually a few late nights leading up to Christmas, don't you?). But then I took out my toothpaste & noticed something sitting beside it on the shelf. Something that turned my entire attitude around so that suddenly, I couldn't wait to finish brushing my teeth, take my makeup off, and wash my face. What on earth could inspire such a quick turn-around, you ask? My night creme, of course! (I mean what else sits beside your toothpaste that you get excited about???)

Now for those of you who have been loyal so far, you're probably thinking that I've really gone off the deep end. Even more so than sharing about my love of being sanitary and bathing daily (when I heard power outages were likely coming to all over Ontario because of then winter weather, I'm not going to lie I panicked at the thought of no hot water. Forget about the fact that our furnace also requires electricity and the house would be as cold inside as outside, I just wanted to shower every day!). The truth is that even though my face is oily and putting day creme on is something I dread every morning, I look forward to the moment when my skin gets the relief of some much-needed intense moisture that's packed into my night creme. 

Because of the oiliness, I use the BC Spa Facial Defend & Restore Night Creme. A lot of friends and clients have asked me what is the point of a night creme? Many ordinary drugstore brand skincare lines have a cleanser, tonic, and moisturizer. Sometimes they will have an exfoliant. For an eye creme, sunscreen, or night creme, they will have to shop elsewhere in the store. For starters, the fact that some women believe it's necessary is a good indicator that there's a good reason to use it. Some people only believe in washing their face with the same bar of soap that they use for their body (ugh I can't believe I actually just wrote that!) but obviously don't agree with them, since you are buying face wash for yourself. You know something more than them, so maybe the people looking elsewhere for the extra products know something more than you?

Probably. I mean a lot of people know way more than me. Why do you listen to me again??? Never mind for now, you can decide later. The truth is that our daytime moisturizer has SPF 20 in it. I don't know about you, but I don't sleep under the sun. No matter what time zone I happen to be in. Even when flying forward and backward in time (it's a special trick I do every once in a while. Huge time jumps not recommended though, they're a bit rough. Hint: if it requires you to start on one side of an ocean and land on the other, that's a big one!), I still don't usually sleep in the sun. Ergo, no SPF 20 required for sleepy time creme. 

Another thing to know is that actually your skin does strange things while you sleep. Like rest (wow, I know!), and heal. I know a lot of health and fitness people always tell you how important sleep is (please ignore that I am writing this after midnight - maybe pretend we're on opposite sides of the ocean and I actually rested for 8 hours last night), because it gives you energy and helps you digest and whatever other reason. But actually, while you're sleeping your skin is trying to restore itself to the best way that it remembers to be. If you don't get enough sleep, you can be short-changing yourself by not giving your skin enough time to heal. You, not time, are your worst skin enemy! 

Since your skin's busy being all work-a-holic-y overnight, it's actually able to process/absorb WAY more moisture than it can during the day (when it's busy hating you for all of the toxins, UV, sweat, sports equipment, makeup, people, and borderline-OCD face touching that you expose it to. Stop. Touching. Your. Face.). So, the smart people who make your night creme put exactly what your face asked for: more intense moisture, less sunny stuff, and more loveliness in the morning. I'm sure there's a more technical way to say all of that, but you didn't choose to read a technical blog. You chose to read me. Technical people, you can keep on googling.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to lay back, relax, and enjoy the feeling of my skin soaking up all of this moisture, without any added oil, while nobody else is awake to judge how shiny my face may or may not be. Probably the only thing I love more than showering is sleeping, especially on days that I haven't left my night creme in the car too!

What's your favourite reason for using night creme? Leave your comments below!