Winter Skin Stuff, Whether You're Pregnant or Not.

Y'all, I am pregnant, AND it's January, and my skin is...it's not good you guys. It's broken out and itchy and sad, so I've been waging war against the skin woes and thought I'd share what's working for me right now. Honestly, these are great products whether you are pregnant or not, and spring feels really far away, so let's talk skin products and makeup, shall we?

For starters, I need to slather on the face moisturizer in the winter. My skin is acne prone yet freaks out even worse if it gets dry, so measures must be taken. For daytime, I am a big fan of St. Ives Collagen Elastin. This shit is $1.59 for a tube, or you can get a huge tub for like $6. That's so cheap that I slather this stuff all over my neck and chest area in addition to my face. At night I've been using this Oil of Olay night moisturizer, which I like fine but hasn't changed my life. Same with this swirly eye cream, but I keep using it because it doesn't hurt. It's getting bitterly cold so I'm about to switch to the big guns at night--my go-to is the wildly expensive (but worth it, I swear) Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Moisture Balm. If you are prone to flaky patches on your face in winter I also recommend the Extra Soothing Balm. You just kind of press it into your skin and it protects and heals and gives you this kind of pinky, glowy thing that I can't really explain. It's nice. Is it cheap? Nope. You want cheap, stick with the St. Ives, but it's not enough for me come the dead of winter.

Confession: if science created a pill you could take that made it so you never had to apply body lotion EVER AGAIN, I would be first in line. Even if there were dubious side effects. I hate putting lotion on that much. BUT, pregnant skin is itchy, winter skin is itchy, this makes you not itchy and doesn't take so long to rub in that you want to shoot yourself: Curel Continuous Comfort Anti-Itch Lotion.It also lasts so you don't have to apply it every freaking day. I am just really lazy when it comes to body lotion.

Here is another secret: you have to pee all the time when you are pregnant. Which means washing your hands 700 times a day, which means your hands are as dry and sandpapery as an old crones. I keep this Kai lotion at my desk and every time I put it on I am told how good it smells. People walk over from other cubicles. But I got it as a gift and had no idea until this very second that it is so expensive holy crap. Still smells amazing, though. Gilt has it for a little cheaper.

I break out when I'm pregnant. A LOT. But y'all have been so sweet and complimentary of my skin, so I am going to tell you my secret: this concealer is the best I've ever found. Thank you to my makeup guru Claire (who now has a website!) for recommending it to me. It blends in so completely and totally covers red blotchy jerky zits. ARGH. I miss having half decent skin. Along those same lines, I am tired as hell and have dark circles to prove it, so Claire also made me start using this Bobbi Brown correcter and concealer combo. I know I've harped on it before, but this stuff really works. It does crease after a couple of hours, but you can kind of pat it back into place. Without this, I kind of look like consumptive Anne Hathaway, without the kicky hairdo.

To treat the acne, I like plain old Benzoyl Peroxide. Nothing added to it, no salicylic acid (which isn't recommended for pregnant women and doesn't work for me anyway). In summer I love the kit from Acne.org, which is really inexpensive, but not moisturizing enough in winter.

To go along with the zits and itchy skin, my scalp gets weird and dry and flaky. Oh pregnancy, THOU ART WONDROUS. Anyway, I've been putting just a drop or two of Argan oil on the flaky patches and it's clearing them up nicely without being super greasy.

So that's a lot of words about the stuff that just makes me socially acceptable these days. Do you have any go-to magical winter skin stuff? Do tell.