If you’re looking for answers to beauty challenges, we would point you in the direction of our Beauty Clinic section, in which (over the years) we’ve answered hundreds of readers’ real-life beauty queries.

As we’re wrapped up warm for mid-winter, though, we wanted to revisit our response to a reader suffering from a classic winter beauty problem. Hope you find it helpful, too.

Q. My face always gets very dry, sore and chapped in the winter.  What products do you suggest to prevent this?

A. You and most of the rest of us, we think, so we asked for advice from top facialist Abigail James, author of Love Your Skin (Kyle Books), whose fans include such beauties as Melissa Hemsley and Arizona Muse – as well as us.

Abigail says the main thing is to support the lipid barrier of the skin so that it keeps the moisture in: ‘cold, wind and rain outside and then abrupt changes to central heating and fires inside literally zap the moisture from your skin, leaving it sensitive, dry and flaky.’

Here are our combined suggestions:

Swap to a non-stripping cleanser, such as a balm. (Note from us: Aromatherapy Associates Inner Strength Soothing Cleansing Balm/£36 for 100ml, is a gold Beauty Bible Award-winner, while Jo is on about her seventh or eighth ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm/£49 for 100g pot (which lasts for simply ages).

Now layer up your skincare as you would your clothes: 

For day (and night too if you wish) apply a serum first. Abigail likes Niod Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex/£45 for 30ml, and Dr Andrew Weil for Origins Mega Mushroom Skin Relief/£39 for 200ml. Beauty Bible Award Winners we’d add to that list include Temple Spa Let’s Concentrate Skin Glowing Serum/£50 for 30ml and Tropic Glow Berry Brightening Serum/£48 for 30ml.

Then the watchword is moisturise, moisturise, moisturise… Abigail suggests Weleda Skin Food/£14.95 for 75ml (a perpetual recommendation, for us, too), Dr Hauschka Rose Day Cream/£32 for 30ml or Darphin Hydraskin Rich/£50 for 50ml. 

Beauty Bible Award winners are ishga Anti-oxidant Marine Cream/£89 for 50ml, OSKIA Nutri-Active Day Cream/£72 for 40ml and Amway Artistry Hydrating Gel Cream/£35.20 for 50ml.

At night, we love a good facial oil. A Gold Award-winner with our testers is Ani Rose & Geranium Face Oil/£45 for 30ml, which we have become big fans of, too.

If your skin is really dry, seal it in with a rich night cream such as Elemental Herbology Vital Glow Overnight Resurfacing Cream/£57 for 50ml, which has romped home with a fantastic average score in our Awards.

If you are in need to ‘total rescue’, Abigail has two products that have saved her own chapped skin: La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Soothing Repair Balm SPF50/£18.90 for 100ml, and also Epaderm Cream – a real steal at £13.20 for 500g, which was developed for dry skin on face and body by skin experts at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.  ‘It’s literally magic and healed my psoriasis in two days,’ reports Abigail.

And just remember to wrap up warm, won’t you?

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