
Our Best Hydrating Serums for Dry Skin
Our Best Serums For Dry Skin
Dry skin is not just confined to winter, it’s something we can experience at any season thanks to various factors. Hormonal changes can lead to drier skin, alongside overexposure to environmental factors such as the sun and even water that’s too hot. Dry skin can be uncomfortable and come with a side order of redness and irritation, not to mention flaky areas. Adding a hydrating serum to your skincare routine can quickly improve dry skin. Serums are powerful, packed with active ingredients and quick to target dry areas.
SHOP HYDRATING SERUMS FOR YOUR SKIN
Dryness vs Dehydration
Dry and dehydrated skin may look and feel the same, but their causes are different. While dehydrated skin lacks water, dry skin lacks lipids (or natural oils). Dry skin is also a skin type you may have been born with (it can also change with age and the seasons) rather than a skin condition like dehydration that all skin types can experience.
To tell dehydrated skin from dry skin, you can try a simple pinch test. If you pinch the skin on the back of your hand or cheek for a few sections and it snaps back instantly, your skin is probably not dehydrated. Dry skin and dehydrated skin can also present in different ways. Dehydration is usually linked to dullness, darker under-eye circles and premature signs of ageing, such as wrinkles and fine lines, whereas dry skin can often appear flaky, red, and irritated.
Common causes of dry skin
Dry skin occurs due to a lack of natural oils, whether this is due to health conditions or external factors. Natural fat loss can also occur with age, as well as dietary factors. The changing seasons are often a cause of dry skin, particularly during harsh winter months when cold temperatures and bitter winds strip skin of its natural oils. The sun can have similar effects in summer, with UVA and UVB rays damaging skin at the cellular level and leading to dryness.
Lifestyle factors that can cause dry skin include taking frequent hot showers, using skin products containing allergens or detergents, or simply not getting enough healthy fats in your diet.
Benefits of using a hydrating serum
Applying a hydrating serum before your daily moisturiser can make all the difference in quenching parched skin. Their lightweight formulas can penetrate deeper and more quickly, delivering their potent concentration of active ingredients and deep hydration to where they're needed and giving noticeable results faster. Whereas your moisturiser locks in hydration to the outermost layers of the skin, a facial serum targets skin health on a cellular level.
Deep hydration: how serums penetrate deeper layers of the skin
A water-based serum for the face can penetrate more deeply into your skin at the molecular level to deliver a targeted dose of active ingredients. By contrast, a thicker cream or moisturiser only works at the surface layers.
Enhanced absorption: benefits of lightweight, fast-absorbing formulas
Serums are designed for rapid absorption, penetrating the skin without leaving a residue or clogging pores. A concentrated formula means they work quickly, saving you time on busy mornings with visible results.
Improved skin texture: how hydration leads to smoother, plumper skin
Dry skin can look dull, patchy and uneven. Hydrating serums fill in the gaps, plumping up skin cells with a targeted dose of hydration and smoothing skin tone. Humectant formulas act like a sponge that encourage your skin to attract and retain moisture for all-day hydration.
Protection and repair: serums’ role in repairing the skin barrier and preventing moisture loss
Serums contain active ingredients including antioxidants such as vitamin C and niacinamide which work to protect the skin from damaging free radicals. They can also repair and strengthen the skin barrier by stimulating collagen and elastin production, preventing future moisture loss. A vitamin C for face serum leaves your skin looking firmer, more youthful, and radiant.
Hydrating serums: What to look for?
We're big fans of humectants, which are designed to act like a sponge and attract and retain moisture, to help keep your skin hydrated. When choosing your next hydrating serum, humectant hyaluronic acid should top the list of ingredients to look out for. Antioxidant-rich serums, such as vitamin C serums, can also help to strengthen your skin and protect it from environmental aggressors like pollution and UV rays, which can damage your skin barrier and balance, making it prone to dryness and irritation.
Our best dry skin serums
Génifique Ultimate Serum
Over twenty years of research and the new star ingredient in skincare, beta glucan-cm, make Génifique Ultimate Serum an incredibly powerful and hydrating hyaluronic serum. Suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin and combination skin, it is enriched with prebiotic and probiotic-derived extracts plus hyaluronic acid to help flood drier skin with moisture and aid the skin's natural barrier recovery. The result, when applied morning and night in long gliding stokes working from the centre of the face outwards, is a healthy, happy, and younger-looking complexion.
*At 11 September 2024
Advanced Génifique Serum
Old price €165.00 New price €132.00
Advanced Génifique Sensitive serum
The Advanced Génifique Sensitive serum uses the same Génifique expertise to calm and soothe reactive and sensitive skin, which can be caused by environmental aggressors, the changing seasons or stresses of modern life. The unique combination of prebiotic and probiotic derived extracts helps to strengthen the skin’s natural barrier, which protects against moisture loss and unwanted flaky skin. For best results, apply this hydrating face serum morning and night following with a daily dose of your favourite moisturiser for sensitive skin, to lock in moisture and active ingredients and keep thirsty skin nourished.
Rénergie H.C.F Triple Serum
Rénergie H.C.F Triple Serum brings together four powerhouse ingredients and beauty editor favourites – hyaluronic acid, vitamin C+ niacinamide, and ferulic acid – in one supercharged, daily moisturising serum. Apply to your face and neck, morning, and night, to help strengthen the skin barrier and neutralise free radical damage, all while plumping and smoothing skin to help reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and dark spots.
Rénergie H.C.F. Triple Serum
Old price €127.00 New price €101.60