Traveling, shopping, eating, drinking, cooking, and cleaning: Welcome to the full plate of the holiday season — less sleep and non-stop partying can ultimately give you the holiday skin blues. This is the time of year when you want your skin to look fresh and sparkly, but right when you need it at its best, your skin can just give up on you — manifesting dark circles, dull cheerless complexion, puffy swollen eyes and zits when you least expect them!

The Glad Tidings: Not only are there steps that you can take in advance to ensure your angelic “glow” during the festal season, but there are plenty of cosmetic tricks and tips to keep your holiday afterglow going clear into the New Year.

First Crack: Some preventative skincare can help you sail smoothly through the festive season’s snowed daily grind. If you think you’re going to be partying a lot, start ahead of time to make your skin look healthier. Laser and radiofrequency treatments can help do that, and so can the topical creams, particularly serums containing vitamin C or retinol. The better shape your skin is in as the holiday season starts, the better you will look throughout the season.

Moisturize: Increasing the moisture level in your skin during holiday season pays off well in preserving the shine and luminosity of skin. Lack of moisture in skin can lead to dark circles and dull lusterless complexion.

If your skin type is oily, stick to oil-free skin hydrating serums and gels if your skin is normal to dry switch to a richer creamier formula. Check ingredient list and look for ceramides, hyaluronic acid and amino acids which are hero molecules when it comes to trapping water below the skin’s surface and plumping the lines and wrinkles that become more noticeable when skin is dry and dehydrated. If you’re sensitive or acne-prone, look for products that contain amino acids and grape seed oil or extract—it has moisturizing, anti-flammatory and firming properties.

Zit Patrol: For many women, the biggest holiday skin problem is not dryness but breakouts, even if they don’t normally suffer from acne. The most common reason for acne breakouts during holiday season is stress, which causes women to produce more of male hormone testosterone, and these surges give you the holiday zits. If you are prone to acne it can get worse, but even if you have great skin, holiday stress — or any stress — can cause your skin to break out.

To keep acne under check you can use Differin Gel regularly at night, especially focusing on the T-zone. And if a juicy red zit rears its ugly head you can make it disappear faster by applying Benzyl Peroxide or 2% Salicylic Acid on the spot. Another failsafe way to subdue any angry looking pimple in a pinch is applying green tea frozen as ice cubes multiple times a day. Visine Eye Drops — yes, the stuff that “get the red out” of burning eyes can also get the red out of your blemish and tame the fiery zit.

As a precaution to avoid holiday breakouts exfoliate your skin regularly and use an alcohol-free toner to totally remove all traces of make-up and keep pores open. And NEVER EVER EVER go to bed with your makeup on!

Bloated Puffy Look: Sugar, drinks, combined with richer, usually saltier foods, plus a lot less sleep, can come together to give you a bloated, puffy look, particularly the day after a night of holiday cheer. When it comes to puffiness, particularly puffy eyes — cold is the remedy you can depend on. Keep Gel Filled Cold Packs in your subzero (refrigerated Tea Bags work amazingly well too), apply and reap instant relief, you only need 5 to 7 minutes to see the results!

Focusing around your eyes swap your emollient eye cream with a gel to avoid more water retention in the eye areas and keep your eye gel in the fridge it’d work more effectively.

For a quick do-it-yourself face de-bloating, soak a washcloth in equal parts of whole milk and water, then lay the cloth on your face for 10 to 15 minutes and voila — perked up visage in a jiffy. Lactic acid in the milk soothes the skin while drawing out all extra water from under your skin making you look fresh and awake instantaneously.

Haggard Panda Eyes: Besides puffiness, a simple lack of sleep can cause holiday eyes to develop dark circles, those bluish or sometimes brownish patches that not only give away your secret nightlife, but also your age — and sometimes even add on a few years! AminoGenesis Quadrafill Wrinkle Filling System works wonders to fill in the fine lines and wrinkles while giving the eye a gentle, colorless boost of radiance to reduce the dark circles.

To achieve that bright, “I-never-stay-out-all-night” glow, bypass heavy makeup and eye shadows and choose a light peach or champagne color concealer instead. Gold counteracts redness and brightens darkness, so a champagne or peachy shadow will brighten the eye area and help you avoid a sleepy, tired look.

Dull Lusterless Complexion: You wake up the “morning after” looking just a bit “green in the gills” — The perfect antidote, is to warm up the skin with a bronzer. Opt for a cream bronzer instead of a powder to give dry, dehydrated winter skin a competitive edge. For an instant skin pick-me-upper apply AminoGenesis Paranormal EFx it will hydrate and plump up you skin instantaneously while counter balancing your sallow skin tone to more a healthy one. This aminoacid and peptide filled serum will make you look rested and relaxed and just back from vacation, even if you’re not!

We hope you had a great vacation, Stay Beautiful!