Season’s greetings, girls! As the winter finally descends upon Northern California (while it has presumably covered the rest of the world in a cold and windblown blanket), I am reminded that my skin HATES winter. If you’re like me, you’re wishing for a sunny Christmas, just so your skin won’t flake and your lips won’t crack in front of company.

I somehow forget each year what happens to winter skin. It dries up (we drink less water, and more hot cocoa and coffee), it flakes (we don’t exfoliate nearly as much as in summer, when our skin receives maximum exposure – not to mention the fact that shaving often takes a holiday, too, and taking a razor to your legs is a great exfoliant in itself), and it forms disgusting little bumps on the backs of our arms and thighs. Eww. Winter skin is not sexy.

UNLESS you decide to do something different this year. Instead of ignoring the plight of your skin, and burying it under petroleum based lotions (don’t do it!) and long winter underwear, what if you treated your skin to a delicious, luxurious, gift?

Slough it off. Just strip it down, all the flakes, the bumps, the weird patches of dryness. Last week my skin (my face, my arms and legs) was in the WORST condition it’s been in for a year. This week, it is in the BEST. I am the laziest girl you’ll ever meet, and yet, I saved my skin just in time for Christmas.

1. I use 100% Pure Cherry Honey Scrub to gently slough my face in the shower. The little round jojoba beads rest on the top of the jar, and the thick honey bit is below; I use a finger to scoop up both (like a Mexican bean dip) and smear and rub the mixture all over my face and decollete. As I wash it off, the water runs down my face, and the honey covers my lips. At this point, I LICK THEM!!! It tastes soooo good! How many scrubs on the market are you actually willing to EAT?!

Ingredients: Honey, Jojoba Beads, Cherry Concentrate, Vitamins C (ascorbyl palmitate) and E (a-tocopherol), extracts of Strawberry, Blackberry, Grapefruit Seed, blueberry, Raspberry, Cranberry and Pomegranate.

2. After the slough, I nourish my face with Answers From Nature Age Defying Moisture Cream. This stuff performed a miracle. My actual face was flaking off, it hurt, and I looked used up. Within three days, I was looking and feeling fabulous. Bonus: it smells like orange sherbet, and contains MSM as well as DMAE. I adore this thick creme. I use it morning and night. My face looks plump and juicy, and my pores are less visible. I’m in love!

Ingredients: Deionized Water, MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), Alpha Lipoic Acid, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sorbitol, Shea Butter, Glyceryl Stearate, Rose Hip Seed Oil, Hypericum Extract, Calendula Extract, Chamomile Extract, Orange Flower Extract, Kelp Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Grape Seed Extract, Aloe Vera Gel, Algae Extract, Locust Bean Gum, Co-Enzyme Q10, Tocopheryl Linoleate, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Allantoin, Lecithin, Tocopherol Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid, Amla, Grapefruit Seed Extract, DMAE Complex, Essential Oils

3. To slough my arms and legs, I use 100% Pure Organic Chocolate Mocha Body Scrub. This stuff is a HARD CORE body scrub made from dark Belgian chocolate and fabulous Hawaiian coffee beans. A humdrum shower becomes decadent and delicious. The caffeine stimulates the skin, the ground beans work hard to slough off the dead cells, and the chocolate makes you delirious with pleasure.

Ingredients: Dark Belgian Chocolate, Organic Hawaiian Kona Coffee Beans, Organic Grapeseed Oil, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Vitamin C (calcium ascorbate), Organic Blackcurrant Oil, Extracts of Pure Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla Beans, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Grapefruit Seed, Golden Seal and Cinnamon

4. After the slough, I nourish my legs with 100% Pure Blood Orange Shea Body Butter or Honey Almond Milk Body Creme. 100% Pure has a plethora of nice of lotions and potions. I prefer the heavy stuff, and the cremes and butters work well for my purposes.

Ingredients: Organic Unrefined Butters of Shea, Mango and Cocoa, Organic, Unrefined Oils of Virgin Coconut, Mango, Cabernet Wine Grape Seed and Black Currant, Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Extracts of Lemon, Rosemary, Grapefruit Seed, Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry and Raspberry, Organic Essential Oils of Blood Orange and Sweet Orange

Ingredients: Organic White Tea, Organic Rose Hydrosol, Organic Cocoa and Avocado Butters, Organic Cabernet Grapeseed, Blackcurrant, and Rose Hip Seed Oils, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Lavender Honey wax, Pure Almond Aroma, Extracts of Cherry, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Blackberry, Almond and Grapefruit Seed, Natural Food Preservatives from Cranberries and Salts (less than 0.1% of Sodium Benzoate & Potassium Sorbate)

This holiday season, treat your favorite organ right, and it will glow with appreciation. I expect all of you to recover before the New Year. Slough off the old, ring in the new!!