How to get a glowing complexion

Radiant, luminous, lit up from within… A glowing complexion catches the light naturally, and radiates freshness and vitality. Follow our beauty tips so you can enjoy radiant skin every day.

This English word has already slipped into France’s beauty vocabulary. In fact, it’s not unusual to see terms such as “le glow” or “une peau glowy” in the world of French beauty! While the first meaning of glow is brightness or a warm light, when it’s used to refer to the skin, we immediately think of a fresh, healthy, even-toned, radiant complexion – skin that looks and feels happy.

To achieve that natural glow, you have to look after your skin from the inside and out. Of course, you need a good daily skincare routine that’s tailored to your skin’s moods, but you also need to lead a healthy lifestyle, to care for your skin from within. You should avoid sources of stress, foods that can cause oxidation or inflammation, cosmetic products that contain harmful or comedogenic ingredients, tobacco, and other unhealthy substances that prevent your skin from glowing.

Makeup, pollution, sebum, impurities… They all build up on your face during the day, clogging pores and dulling your skin. If you want to keep your skin free from toxins, dirt and grime, and encourage optimal cell renewal, you can’t skip removing makeup and cleansing!

Begin by using a makeup remover with an oily texture, such as Le Baume Céleste or La Crème Douce Démaquillante. This will effectively lift away makeup, sebum, and pollution particles. Rinse off, then follow with a gentle cleanser like Le Nettoyant Pureté. Because it has a more aqueous texture, it’s perfect for removing sweat, dust, and any remaining traces of makeup.

When dead cells linger on your skin for too long, they stop it from “breathing” properly and dull the complexion. A face scrub helps to rid your skin of impurities and boost cell renewal, while enabling it to better absorb the hydrating ingredients in products applied afterwards. And the better hydrated your skin is, the better it reflects the light!

If you have normal, combination or oily skin, we recommend exfoliating once every two weeks. On the other hand, if your skin is sensitive, reactive, or mature, once every three or four weeks is often enough.

There are lots of different kinds of face scrubs, and it’s easy to get lost in the choice! Enzymatic exfoliants are usually recommended for sensitive and mature skin. They’re formulated with fruit acids to gently “eat away” dead skin cells. A mechanical exfoliant, meanwhile, is more suitable for normal and oily skin types (which tend to be more resilient). Scrubs like this often contain active ingredients such as almond powder or crushed apricot kernels to exfoliate the skin mechanically. We recommend avoiding sugar or salt scrubs, as the granules have an irregular shape and sometimes sharp edges, which can cause tiny lesions in the skin.

If you can’t decide between an enzymatic and a mechanical exfoliant, Absolution has the perfect compromise: La Crème Gommante, which exfoliates in both ways! It’s enriched with AHAs (fruit acids derived from Lemon, Orange, Sugar Maple and Sugar Cane), as well as Diatoms derived from fossilized microalgae, with very fine, rounded granules – perfect for exfoliating the skin ever so gently.

How to use it:

If you have sensitive skin, leave La Crème Gommante on your face for 10 minutes (enough time for the fruit acids to do their work) then simply rinse off. If your skin copes with scrubs easily, leave on for 5 minutes to soak up the benefits of the fruit acids, then add a little water and massage your face, so that it can also act as a mechanical exfoliant.

Moisturizing is essential to keeping skin cells hydrated and maintaining the balance of the hydrolipidic film. It’s an important way to support your skin, help it regenerate, and keep it plumped all day.

There are lots (and lots!) of products designed to deeply moisturize your skin and reveal its radiance. You can choose from masks, serums, creams and even oils. Our must-have product for anyone who wants to have seriously hydrated, luminous skin is Le Sérum Anti-Soif, enriched with Aloe Vera, Elderberry Flower and Alpine Skullcap. Laboratory tests showed a 188% increase in hydration of the upper layers of the epidermis after application!

The first step in most makeup routines is applying foundation. If you want your skin to look radiant, opt for a lightweight, non-comedogenic foundation that will illuminate the complexion but won’t clog pores. When we think of glowing skin, we tend to think of a very natural look, so you want a foundation that smoothes away imperfections and uneven skin tone, but doesn’t cover up the natural texture of your skin.

Our tip: for a smooth and velvety skin effect, combine your foundation with a mattifying powder, such as La Poudre Christophe Danchaud. It will enhance your complexion and ensure your makeup lasts all day. Apply the powder to the T-zone only, to let your skin’s natural glow shine through.

Another way to get that glowy (but not shiny!) look is to use highlighter. Choose from a cream or powder – whichever texture you prefer. Highlighters are excellent for sculpting the face and creating a “luminous skin” effect.

Our tip: Apply highlighter on high points of the face: cheekbones, bridge of the nose, Cupid’s bow, or just below the eyebrows to make the eyes look bigger.

To take care of your lips, apply the certified organic and vegan lip balm Le Baume, enriched with 11 nourishing and repairing vegetable oils such as Argan oil, Macadamia oil, Jojoba oil, and Perilla oil.

We all know that water is essential for our health, and flushes out toxins from the body. But what we sometimes forget is that one of the main ways our skin gets moisture is through the water we drink.

Cosmetic products can then add extra moisture and lock in the water that’s already in skin cells.

Well-hydrated skin is visibly more plumped, even-toned and luminous, but it also looks smoother, less lined and less blemished. Scars from spots, for example, will fade faster when the skin is hydrated.

Our tip: Fill a drinking bottle with water and add a few drops of lemon or orange juice, then keep your bottle close to you, so you can drink from it throughout the day. You should never wait until you feel thirsty to drink, as that means your body is already dehydrated!

If you enjoy drinking tea, try not to drink more than two cups a day. Contrary to popular belief, tea can actually have a dehydrating effect. Drinking too much tea may also increase the risk of anemia, as the tannins it contains can inhibit the absorption of iron. Opt for herbal teas instead (verbena, linden, lavender, etc.) and look for ones made with ingredients that haven’t had to travel far to get to you!

Fruits and vegetables are exceptionally rich in vitamins and antioxidants, which help the skin to fight free radicals – one of the major causes of skin aging. Look for organic, seasonal fruits and vegetables. In winter, you could get carried away with carrots, for example! They’re high in beta-carotene (a precursor to Vitamin A), which helps to give a healthy glow to the skin. And eat lots of citrus fruits too! These delicious fruits boast a high content of Vitamin C, which is known to help improve firmness, circulation, and radiance. In summer, when the days are long and hot, cucumbers are a great way to get some extra hydration. Combine them with red fruits, which are packed with antioxidants, to help protect skin from oxidative stress. A red fruit you might not think of immediately, but that you definitely should be eating in summer, is the tomato! Tomatoes are known for their skin benefits, and help to shield the skin from UV rays and oxidative stress.

Make sure you also eat foods rich in omega-3. You’ll find these fatty acids in oily fish, such as sardine and mackerel, or (if you’re vegan or vegetarian) flaxseed and rapeseed oils. They’re essential for health, and help to smooth and soften the skin, while also fighting skin aging.