Year-Round Beauty Checklist

Stick to this season-by-season guide―compliments of REAL SIMPLE. REAL LIFE. beauty expert Ashlee Barnes―to stay groomed and gorgeous.

Fall

  • Visit your stylist to have your hair cut, colored, and de-summerized. To help repair your hair from too much fun in the sun, consider getting a glaze, a deep-conditioning treatment, or low lights.
  • Update your make-up bag. Weed out the products you won’t be needing for awhile, like deep bronzers and darker foundations, and add ones in cooler-weather hues such as pinkish-brown. (Warm, rich shades look better on paler skin, which you’re about to have.)
  • Buy a creamy face cleanser. Bar soap can be especially drying for your skin in the cooler months.

Winter

  • Have your hair trimmed. Even if you’re growing it out, dead-ends and fried strands need to be snipped every two to three months.
  • Beef up your moisturizing routine. To combat winter’s drying effects, switch to thicker, richer creams for your face and body. Once a week, apply a nourishing mask to your face. And don’t leave home without lip balm!
  • Schedule a facial to deep clean your pores and ditch dead skin cells. With the holidays—and their many photo-ops—approaching, you’ll want to be ready for your close-up.
  • Get your yearly dermatologist exam. You should have a full-body skin cancer scan once a year (or every six months, if you’ve had issues in the past). Now is also a good time to have broken blood vessels or spots zapped, since lasers work best on paler skin. If you’re not using a prescription-strength retinol like Retin-A already, start one in the winter—the anti-aging treatment makes your skin more sensitive to sunlight.

Spring

  • Stock up on sunscreen. Though you need to use an SPF year-round, you’ll want to have more formulas (say, sweat- and waterproof) on hand as you head back to the great outdoors.
  • Ask your hairstylist to give you a sassy warm-weather style. Consider a shorter, easy-care cut or highlights around your face where the sun hits it most.
  • Get a pedicure. Chances are, your feet have taken a beating over the winter, and scrubbing, buffing, and moisturizing are in order before exposing them to the world.
  • Switch to a warm-weather skincare routine. Opt for lighter, oil-free moisturizers and foundations that won’t clog pores in toastier climes.
  • Indulge in a massage. Your poor shoulders have been hunched up over a computer—and your body’s likely been stuck inside—for months, so muscles are aching for a pro to work out the kinks.

Summer

  • Exfoliate your body with a salt or sugar scrub. Slough off pesky dead skin cells on the elbows, knees, and feet.
  • Give your hair some TLC. Sun, salt, and chlorine are punishing at this time of year, so use hair masks and deep-conditioning treatments regularly. (And don’t forget that trim!)
  • Have a bikini wax. Ouch-factor aside, this hair-removal method outlasts shaving (think typically four to six weeks between appointments).
  • Deep-clean your feet. Wearing sandals and flip-flops regularly can stain the bottoms of your feet, and even regular pedicures may not do the trick. Dip your feet in a basin filled with equal parts water and hydrogen peroxide, then scrub away the discoloration with a brush or a pumice stone.

Did we forget anything on this checklist? What would you add?

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