I know it's not an ideal way to spend the season, and yet I often feel like there's no other option but to stay inside all winter long. I take one look at snow and think "dry skin," and a single glance at a gray sky makes my lips chap instantly. So you can imagine how excited I was to hunt down these weird beauty and skin care tools for winter.
While not specifically designed for use in cold weather, it's hard to deny how useful each and every one of them could be come mid-winter. There are massagers to warm your cold, dry skin. And buffers to treat your painful, chapped lips. Oh, and a few tools that just may make your skin glow for the New Year.
The thing is, none of them are your typical lip scrubs or oscillating brushes. No. These tools are downright interesting — and may be worth braving the weirdness factor. So why not go ahead and treat yourself to an interesting experience? I mean, you gotta take care of that winter skin somehow, don't you?
The answer is yes, yes you do. As board-certified doctor of medical aesthetics, Dr. Yelena Yeretsky tells me, the winter is "no time to neglect your body." With those aforementioned harsh weather conditions, and dry indoor air, the winter is when you should really start upping your beauty game. Read on for some interesting ways to do just that with a few interesting tools you should try this winter.
1. Warming Face Massager
Arbonne Intelligence Genius Ultra , $241.20, Arbonne
After a day spent braving icy cold winds, imagine how nice it would be to come home to a warming face massage. (Yes, warming.) This tool by Arbonne heats up on the end to not only warm and soothe your frozen face, but to help products better melt into your skin. It's most definitely pricey, but comes with a skin-renewing serum and eye cream. Add that in with a non-frozen face, and it just may be worth the splurge.
2. Your Very Own Butter Machine
Magical Butter , $170, Amazon
While Magical Butter is meant to extract botanicals for cannabis edibles, you can use it to make pretty much anything — including your own skin care products. This self-cleaning device comes with a ton of recipes so you can whip up some homemade lip balm, cocoa butter lotion, foot salve, and even body scrubs. So go ahead and plan on not leaving your house again until spring.
3. Foot File To De-Callus Your Feet
Amop é Pedi Perfect, $64, Amazon
Winter weather has a way of turning feet into shockingly dry little cinder blocks, which is why you should definitely have a foot file on hand. The Amopé Pedi Perfect Wet & Dry Rechargeable Foot File is a good one to whip out when your feel are feeling extra crusty. All you have to do is turn it on and watch in amazement as it buffs calluses away.
4. Space Age-y Facial Exfoliator
If your skin gets extra flaky by mid-winter, then it's time to invest in a facial exfoliator. Sure, you can go for the regular ol' oscillating brushes — which do work great. But if you want to try something different, the FOREO LUNA mini is a good place to start. As noted on SkinStore.com, the facial-cleansing device "gently removes dead skin cells and unclogs pores of dirt, oil, and makeup residue to reveal more vibrant, even-toned skin." Plus, there's a different brush for each skin type, so you can choose the perfect brush "nubbiness" for you.
5. Rubbery Lip Scrubber
Bliss Lip Perfecting System, $48, Amazon
At this very moment, my lips are hopelessly chapped. And they'll probably stay this way all winter long. If this is also your life, then I say we all snag a lip scrubbing tool like this one from bliss. It works by buffing away chapped lips with a gently rotating rubbery tip. As beauty director Marci Robin said on XOVain.com, after using it the dead skin on her lips was "all gone, in less than a minute." I'm jealous.
6. Hair-Saving Shower Filter
T3 Source Showerhead Shower Filter, $219, Amazon
It's difficult enough to deal with wintery hair. There's static, frizz, and likely a decent amount of oily buildup from your refusal to get in that cold, cold shower. So when and if you finally do decide to de-robe and rinse off, why not luxuriate in the cleanest water possible? Install a shower filter like this one from T3 Source, and you'll have "cleaner, shinier hair," according to the product description on Amazon.com. Pretty cool, right?
7. Self-Heating Face Mask
Bioré Self Heating One Minute Mask, $6, Amazon
OK, so this isn't a "tool" per se. But who can resist a self-heating face mask when it's freezing outside? The next time you find yourself snowed-in, warm thyself with this one from Bioré. It heats up due to its "thermal" properties, according to Walmart.com. Plus, it contains charcoal to help purify your pores. Pretty nice combo, if you ask me.
8. Magical Skin Toner
NuFACE Trinity Toning Device, $325, Amazon
I think we can all agree 2016 was a total and complete drag. If it's showing on your face in the form of stress, then it may be time for a bit of a New Year's pick-me-up. This can be accomplished with a vacation or some extra sleep, of course. But it never hurts to use a beauty tool, such as the NuFACE, either. As beauty editor Maria Del Russo noted on Refinery29.com, "The Nu Face claims to give you a mini face-lift at home with the help of electric micro-currents." All you have to do is use it for five minutes a day for a chance at 80 percent smoother skin, and the chance to forget the horribleness of 2016.
9. Amazing Foot-Healing Bags
Baby Foot, $17, Amazon
For another amazing exfoliating experience, slip your callused feet into Baby Foot bags and experience a peel that is the stuff of gods. As Del Russo said, "You apply the pads, and then a few days later, the skin on your feet peels off in one sheet." If you've yet to witness this, go to YouTube right now and search "baby foot peel." It's a-mazing, and will have you buying a these bags immediately.
The winter sucks in a lot of ways, so the comfier you can make yourself — and the prettier you can feel — the better!
Images: Pexels (1)
