Autumn Skincare: Why Your Skin Changes in October and How to Care for It.

On the Rhug Estate, October is when everything shifts: the last berries in the hedgerows, mist over the River Dee, the heather turning rust. If your skin has started to feel tighter or duller lately, you're not imagining it. Autumn skincare isn't about starting again, just adjusting. Here's what's happening and what helps.

Why does skin change in autumn?

• Drier air. Cooler air holds less moisture, so skin can lose water more easily.
• Central heating. It dries the air indoors even further.
• Hotter showers. Lovely on a cold evening, but very hot water can strip skin's natural oils.

None of this means something is wrong. Your skin just needs slightly different care for a few months.

A simple autumn skincare routine

Most autumn skin concerns can be helped with small changes to the steps you already do, and you may already have something in your routine that covers some of this. If not, adding one or two Wild Beauty products is an easy place to start. Each one is made in small batches with natural, wild foraged and organic ingredients, and they make a lovely treat as the evenings draw in. If you only change one thing, start with your cleanser.

1. Cleanse without stripping

If skin feels tight after washing, your cleanser may be taking too much with it. A balm melts away make-up and the day without that squeaky feeling. Our Deep Cleansing Balm with Wild Berries is made with the Rhug Wild Berry Complex: blackberry, bilberry and blackthorn foraged from the Estate's hedgerows, rich in antioxidants. Squalane works like skin's own oils to help prevent moisture loss.

2. Follow with a gentle second cleanse

Skin can look dull after summer, but harsh scrubs can leave it feeling sore once the weather turns. Gentle and regular tends to work better. Our Purifying Cleansing Lotion with Dandelion has mild exfoliating properties, gentle enough to use every day, so it lifts away what the balm leaves behind and helps keep skin looking fresh.

3. Add a layer of hydration

Fine lines often look more noticeable when skin is dehydrated, which is why they can seem to appear overnight in October. A hydrating serum before your moisturiser helps keep skin looking plumper. Our Active Treatment Serum with Hyaluronic Acid is designed for fine lines and dehydration, with wild foraged yarrow to soothe dry skin and herb robert, known for its antioxidant properties.

4. Moisturise for day and night

By day, our Protecting Day Cream with Blue Tansy Oil is a soothing layer before your SPF. Keep up the SPF in autumn, as UV still reaches skin on cloudy days.

At night, while the heating is on, switch to something richer. Our Restorative Overnight Cream with Evening Primrose is made with heather and yarrow foraged on the Estate and Rhug Spring Water. In two weeks of use, it was clinically proven to increase skin hydration by 30.5% and improve skin barrier function by 9.8%.

If skin feels sensitive or out of sorts, massage a few drops of Protecting Facial Oil with Bakuchiol over your moisturiser. It's made with wild horsetail, a plant traditionally used for sensitive skin, and sorrel from the Estate.

Simple habits that help

• Turn the shower down a few degrees.
• Put a bowl of water near the radiator to add a little moisture back into the air.
• Keep a hand cream by the sink, like our Hand and Nail Cream with Orange Peel Oil and Yarrow.
• Lips often feel the cold first. Our Moisturising Lip Treatment with Rhug Beeswax is made to be used throughout the day, and more often in colder weather.