When winter descends on Minnesota, our skin can often pay the price. Between icy winds, frigid temps, low humidity, and the dry blast of indoor heat, even the most resilient skin can feel dry, tight, itchy, flaky, and dull. Many Skin Artisans patients tell us their skin looks tired, like it’s lost its spark and vitality. However, a glowing complexion doesn’t have to be a distant memory until spring. With the right lifestyle tweaks, strategic product swaps, and a few professional treatment boosts, you can win over winter skin and maintain a healthy, hydrated glow all season long!
Lifestyle Tweaks to Outsmart Winter Skin
Your skincare routine starts long before you open a product jar or book an appointment with us. What you do daily, especially during the cold months in the Midwest, can make or break your skin’s protective barrier. Here are some powerful tips to keep your skin’s moisture levels and radiance intact from the comfort of home.
Humidify Your Habitat
Minnesota winters mean moisture-zapping indoor heat and wood-burning fireplaces for many of us. Running a humidifier in your bedroom can dramatically improve how your skin feels in the morning. By adding water vapor back into the air, a humidifier helps prevent overnight dehydration and maintains your skin’s supple, plump texture. Bonus: your sinuses and lips will thank you, too!
Moisturize While Damp
Timing matters! The best time to moisturize your face and body is within 60 seconds after stepping out of the shower or bath. When your skin is still slightly damp, applying moisturizer helps lock in surface hydration instead of letting it evaporate. This simple step can transform how smooth and comfortable your skin feels throughout the day.
Double-Layer for Lasting Hydration
Give your body the same attention as your face. Apply a rich cream moisturizer first to hydrate, then seal it in with a lightweight body oil to lock in moisture. This two-step layering technique prevents dryness and creates a dewy, soft finish—perfect for parched, scaley winter legs and elbows.
Hydrate (Inside and Out)
When it’s cold, we naturally reach for coffee, tea, and wine, all of which can dehydrate the skin. Make a habit of keeping a water bottle nearby and sip regularly. Staying hydrated helps maintain your skin’s elasticity and glow, while limiting alcohol intake can reduce puffiness and overall dryness.
Balm Up Before You Brave the Cold
If you’re spending time outdoors, apply a nourishing facial balm over your moisturizer to cocoon your skin from biting wind and extreme cold. This protective layer helps prevent windburn, flaking, and inflammation, providing a comforting shield for your complexion!
SPF Still Matters
Snow reflects up to 80% of UV rays, making sunburn (and long-term sun damage) a year-round concern. Use a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher every morning, even on cloudy days. Your future self and your collagen supply will thank you.
Product Powerhouses That Bring Back the Glow
Just as your wardrobe changes with the weather, your skincare should too. Lightweight summer serums and gel-like moisturizers may not cut it when temperatures drop. Our Skin Artisans providers often recommend switching to products that are a bit more emollient to deeply hydrate, soothe, and strengthen your skin barrier to protect against the elements. Here are some of our favorites:
SkinMedica® HA5® Cleanser, Serum and Moisturizer
SkinMedica’s HA5® collection of products is formulated to restore instant and lasting hydration to the skin at every step.
- The new HA5® Hydra Collagen Hydrating Foaming Cleanser is powered by a breakthrough formula of amino acids and proprietary HA5® Hydra Collagen Complex – featuring 5 forms of hyaluronic acid and Hydra Collagen. This cleanser never strips your skin or leaves it feeling tight. Instead, it instantly replenishes moisture, leaving skin feeling cloud-soft, calm, and clean.
- A cult favorite, HA5® Hydra Collagen Replenish & Restore Hydrator is enhanced with Hydra Collagen for instant hydration and smoothness, plus Advanced VITISENSCE® Technology to replenish natural humectants, including HA, to help restore skin’s hydration reservoir. It provides immediate hydration that lasts up to 48 hours and leaves skin visibly plump, dewy, and healthier-looking, with fewer lines.
- Lastly, the HA5® Hydra Collagen Water Burst Moisturizer delivers a bursting wave of hydration that locks in moisture for bouncy, dewy skin. It features SkinMedica’s skin-drenching HA⁵® Hydra Collagen technology and Microbiome Barrier Complex to support a healthy skin barrier and microbiome. It’s clinically proven to boost hydration up to 25% immediately after use and continues to provide powerful all-day hydration for up to 24 hours.
Shop SkinMedica® online with us!
Special offer! All SkinMedica® products are 25% OFF when you shop IN-STORE with us November through December 30th, 2025!
iS CLINICAL® Winter Skin Essentials
iS CLINICAL’s medical-grade serums are some of the most effective winter skin saviors we know. Their advanced formulations deliver hydration, antioxidants, and healing benefits that work in harmony with professional treatments.
- Hydra-Cool Serum: Lightweight but powerful, this serum delivers a surge of moisture with hyaluronic acid and soothing menthol. Ideal for calming stressed winter skin with redness, irritation, or wind burn.
- Pro-Heal Serum Advance+: A must for healing dry winter skin. Packed with potent vitamin C, olive leaf extract, and zinc sulfate, this serum provides antioxidant protection, encourages healing, and strengthens compromised skin.
Professional Treatments That Transform Winter Skin
Even with the best at-home care, your skin may still need a professional boost from Skin Artisans. Winter is actually the perfect time to treat your skin concerns since you’re spending less time in the sun. This means your skin can safely recover from light and laser treatments while you get a jump-start on your spring glow.
Hydrating DiamondGlow® Facial Treatment
DiamondGlow is an advanced facial treatment does triple duty: it exfoliates dead skin, extracts impurities, and infuses medical-grade corrective serums deep into the skin for immediate hydration and radiance. Winter skin soaks up the moisture like a sponge, leaving your complexion looking luminous, smooth, and refreshed after just one treatment.
Benefits:
- Gently removes dry, dull skin
- Deeply hydrates
- Unclogs pores and smooths texture
- Delivers instant, dewy radiance
Oxygen Facial
If your skin feels tired, congested, or “blah,” this facial delivers an instant burst of vitality. By infusing oxygen and botanically based actives, it revitalizes dull skin and boosts circulation for a healthy glow. Oxygen facial a favorite before special events or anytime your skin needs a little pick-me-up and burst of moisture.
Benefits:
- Increases oxygen and nutrient delivery to skin cells
- Boosts hydration and radiance
- Calms inflammation and redness
- Leaves skin visibly more luminous
- Feels ahh-mazing!
- *Available at our Edina location only
BBL® (Broadband Light) Treatment
Redness, dullness, and uneven tone often worsen during the winter, especially for those with rosacea-prone or sensitive skin. BBL targets unwanted pigmentation and vascular redness while stimulating collagen production to even out tone, remove sun damage, and reduce redness. The result? A clearer, brighter complexion that looks beautifully balanced year-round.
Benefits:
- Reduces redness and blotchiness
- Brightens dull or sun-damaged skin
- Removes dark spots and uneven pigmentation
- Minimizes the appearance of pores over time
- Enhances overall radiance
Special offer! Purchase two BBL Full Face treatments for only $720 (save $180) November through December 30th, 2025!
MOXI® Laser Treatment
Winter is prime time for laser resurfacing, and MOXI is one of the gentlest, most effective ways to do it. This fractionated laser treatment polishes away dull surface cells and stimulates collagen renewal with little to no downtime. You’ll notice smoother texture, refined pores, and a lit-from-within glow that only gets better over time.
Benefits:
- Refines skin tone and texture
- Boosts collagen for long-term skin health
- Evens out pigmentation and minimizes fine lines
- Delivers that “just-glowing” look without peeling or flaking
Special offer! Stack a MOXI treatment with ProFractional laser to enhance and accelerate your results for only $1,075 (save $400) November through December 30th, 2025!
Why Seasonal Skincare Shifts Matter
Your skin is a living, breathing organ constantly adapting to its environment. When temperatures drop, humidity plunges, and heaters kick in, your skin shifts from thriving to surviving. Without extra moisture and barrier protection, it loses water faster than it can replenish it, leaving you with tight, dry, flaky skin.
That’s why seasonal skincare adjustments are so important. They’re not about replacing your entire regimen but refining it by adding richer hydration, dialing up exfoliation, and booking professional treatments that restore balance and vitality. Think of it as recalibrating your skincare strategy to meet your skin where it’s at, not where it was in July.
At Skin Artisans, our Advanced Practice Estheticians specialize in helping patients fine-tune their skincare through every shift of the seasons. Whether you need a hydrating facial, a glow-boosting laser, or a customized at-home regimen, our team will guide you toward solutions that keep your complexion radiant, healthy, and resilient year-round.
Your Winter Glow Awaits
This winter, don’t let your skin’s radiance go into hibernation. With a few smart tweaks, strategic product swaps, and the expert care of Skin Artisans, you can hydrate, heal, and glow straight through to spring!
Book your complimentary, customized winter skincare consultation at any Skin Artisans in Edina, Minnetonka, or Woodbury today, and let’s build your most beautiful, resilient skin yet!
Call us at (952) 767-3163 to schedule or book online.
