Surrey Homes | SH97 | February 2023 | Education Supplement inside

leeping
eauty
Josephine Fairley reveals night treatments that really do work
It’s not called ‘beauty sleep’ for
nothing. Now, you might have
thought that while you snuggle
down beneath your sheets at night,
relaxing and restoring energy was all
that was going on. But scientists have
now pinpointed that at around 1am,
your body is at its most resourceful
– helping to repair and renew skin,
as well as other body cells, while you
slumber sweetly. So it’s official – beauty
sleep really is that, which is why it’s so
vital to make sure you get your zzzs.
But more than that, the right
products let you take advantage of the
body’s repairing power, harnessing your
natural circadian rhythms to wake up
not only rested, but more radiant. In
fact, there’s now a raft of products which
are specifically designed as ‘sleep-in’
treatments, specifically to take advantage
of this – variously referred to as ‘sleep-in
creams’, ‘sleeping creams’ or ‘sleeping
masks’. How are they different from the
night creams most of us already have in
our skincare arsenal? Well, this relatively
new category has been influenced by
the multi-step, multi-product regimes
of women in Korea. Frankly, just
reading about the effort involved and
the many different products ‘required’
for a Korean woman to look gorgeous
generally makes me want to have a
lie-down – but in my experience, this
particular step in the Korean process
really does deliver benefits when used
a couple of times a week as a ‘booster’,
with these sleeping masks tending to
offer a jolt of specifically face-waking
ingredients. Sort of in line with
what a regular face mask offers, but
working their magic as we slumber,
and left on the skin till morning.
I’m certainly a fan. A couple of nights
a week, in place of my regular facial
oil or night cream, I now slather on
a ‘sleeping mask’ – on my dry skin,
more is always more – and definitely
wake up looking more rested
and glow-y. But as with
everything in beauty,
not all products are
created equal – so
here are some
favourites.
(And I’m
also
going
to
share some of my favourite sleepbeckoning
products at the end,
too – because when it comes to
slumber, more is also more, and
after listening to Johann Hari’s
book Stolen Focus on Audible, I’m
more convinced of the importance
of good, quality sleep than ever.)
Jane Scrivner Overnight Recharge
Balm, £54 for 50ml. A balm that
morphs into an oil when applied to
skin – and only a tiny bit is required
for a recharged look; it works to
restore the complexion’s barrier
function with Indian neem oil and
a blend that includes an alphabet of
vitamins (A, B, C, D, E, F and K).
L’OCCITANE Immortelle Precious
Overnight Mask, £55 for 50ml. I reach
for this at least twice a week – more
often if I feel my skin’s looking dull.
Luscious, pillowy in texture, it’s powered
by immortelle – one of L’Occitane’s
signature ingredients, harvested in
Corsica, and rich in antioxidants.
Smells divine: a little
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