Just In Time For The Holiday Season: A New Moisturizer For Dull, Dry, Stressed-Out Skin

The holiday season is certainly full of fun festivities. But if you’ve ever felt like it’s messing with your skin, you’re not alone. Between the increased stress and the decrease in sleep that tends to occur, your skin can take a beating. That’s because stress has been linked to increased inflammation in the skin, a breakdown of the collagen and elastin that keeps your skin firm and bouncy, and even breakouts that result from increased oil production. And poor sleep impacts your skin in a similar way by weakening its ability to repair itself and causing a higher production of stress hormones.

It’s not all bad news, though. In addition to prioritizing your health as the holiday season picks up, Rest Religion has introduced a daily moisturizer that was specifically formulated for stressed-out skin. Learn more about it, and some of the brand’s other best-selling products, ahead.

Fast Facts:

• Key benefits: moisturizes, plumps, and calms irritation
• Key ingredients: peptides, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide
• Vegan
• Cruelty-free
• Fragrance-free
• Suitable for all skin types

This moisturizer covers all your beauty bases with its multi-tasking formula that’s been dermatologist tested and deemed safe for all skin types. Created with the goal of protecting your skin from environmental stressors (think UV and pollution exposure as well as lifestyle factors like the stress and lack of sleep we talked about earlier), the Ultimate Glow Moisturizer tackles dryness, dullness, loss of firmness, and irritation.

Nourishing ingredients like glycerin, shea butter, jojoba seed oil, hyaluronic acid, and squalane all work in tandem to draw moisture to the skin and keep it there. The moisturizer also includes organic hibiscus extract for more hydration, ceramides and amino acids to strengthen the skin barrier, and panthenol and niacinamide to soothe irritation and, in the case of the latter, brighten the skin tone with continued use. But the star ingredient behind the moisturizer is MATRIXYL® Synthe’6™, a peptide that boosts firmness and elasticity in the skin by stimulating its natural production of collagen and elastin.

Because of its gentle formula, you can apply the Ultimate Glow Moisturizer in the morning and at night, and Rest Religion notes that it works particularly well as a primer prior to applying your makeup. Germaphobes will be happy to know that the moisturizer uses a pump top to dispense the product, which prevents germs and bacteria from getting in and preserves the efficacy of the ingredients.

More Products To Try

The only other topical product from the line, Rest Religion’s Retinal Skin Restoring Serum will be a solid addition to your routine if you want to double up on the skin brightening and smoothing benefits. Encapsulated retinal is the primary active ingredient in the serum, which is a type of retinoid that works to speed up skin cell turnover and stimulate collagen production, minus the higher risk of experiencing irritation. To further boost its efficacy, niacinamide is included in the serum, as is Argireline®, a peptide that helps support collagen production. The serum also works to combat some of the irritation that retinoids are known to cause thanks to the inclusion of skin-soothers like bisabolol, ginger root extract, and panthenol.

Because it’s a serum, you’ll want to apply this one before your moisturizer, sticking to nighttime application only and slowly increasing the frequency with which you apply it to avoid any irritation from the retinal. (If you’re new to the world of retinoids, start by applying the serum once a week, and gradually work your way up to the recommended every-other-night application as your skin adjusts.)

For new customers, Rest Religion also offers this three-piece set to gift for the holidays or keep for yourself. In addition to full-size bottles of the Ultimate Glow Moisturizer and Retinal Skin Restoring Serum, the set includes a mulberry silk pillowcase. The set is valued at more than $200, but Rest Religion is offering the bundle for $70 less for new customers, which brings the price down to $154.