4 beauty resolutions to make in January

Most sheet masks have amazing but short-term effects (rather than more long-term repairing benefits) so if you use one at night pre-bedtime, you are wasting much of the skin-boosting transformation. Keep other masks – peels, clay, anti-aging – for evening and use your sheet mask in the morning, ideally chilled from the fridge as the cold will tighten pores, firm and de-puff. Even better, use a roller over the top; it helps release tight muscles and pushes ingredients into the skin. I keep a selection of 111Skin, Sarah Chapman, Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair and Joanna Vargas sheet masks along with Angela Caglia’s rose quartz roller in my fridge.

Already a popular treatment at most dermatology clinics and beauty spas, there’s finally an effective (and safe) LED device you can – easily – use at home: the Dr Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite FaceWare Pro, which combines both blue and red light therapy. Blue LED light is the proven, potent and gentle treatment for transforming acne-prone skin. “It kills the pimple-breeding bacteria without killing the skin’s good bacteria,” explains New York-based Dr Gross. Red LED light works by stimulating APT, the molecules that supply energy to the cells, and when you boost APT, says Dr Gross, “the skin produces collagen and elastin, the two proteins most important for fighting signs of aging or treating scarring.”

Not both, though, as that’s too much for most skin types. Make a plan and focus on using a peel for a few nights per week for three weeks, then switch to a retinol. It’s proven that targeting the skin with one potent active ingredient at a time gives better results.

With our obsession with serums, face creams seem to have fallen off our skincare ‘to-do’ list, and I often hear from aestheticians that they are increasingly seeing the drying effect this is having on our skin. Unless your skin is super oily, see a cream as the essential final step to ‘seal in’ the effects of your serum. It doesn’t have to be rich in texture to nourish; while ultra-dry skin will do brilliantly with La Mer’s classic cream, the gel-like texture of Lixir Skin Universal Emulsion is perfect for oilier skin types and warmer climates.