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Redness around your nose is a look-killer. It doesn’t matter that your eyelashes are perfectly curled or you finally mastered your lip liner or cat’s eye liner. No one notices all that when your nose is lit up like Rudolph on Christmas Eve. Add flakes to the redness and you’ve got a losing combination. Beat the skin blemish blues with a solution specific to the root cause of your redness and flakes, so the skin around your nose blends in with the rest of your beautiful face.
Environmental Causes
The changing seasons can wreak havoc on the sensitive skin around your nose. Step outside in the cold, and by the time you come back inside, your red nose leaves you looking like you just had a good crying fest. Pollen in the air during spring can irritate allergies, in turn irritating the skin around your nose. And, dry air in any season is a one-way ticket to Flakesville.
Simple Solutions
To combat redness in the winter, bundle up your nose in a stylish scarf, and don’t forget an SPF of at least 30, which is just as important in boots season as it is in bikini season. Kill two beauty problems with one product and use a moisturizer containing sunscreen all year long. Take a daily antihistamine to soothe an allergy-plagued nose, and fight dry air with the moisture from a humidifier.
Medical Causes
Oily skin is such a drag. Not only does it cause acne, but it could be the culprit behind that redness and flaking around your nose due to a condition called seborrhoeic dermatitis. Basically, it’s a harmless rash that affects various areas of skin, including the folds on the sides of the nose. Only a doctor can diagnose seborrhoeic dermatitis, so check with your M.D. before trying to treat it.
Topical Treatments
Luckily, treatment for seborrhoeic dermatitis is fairly simple. Generally, you’ll want to replace regular soap with a non-soap cleanser; it’s milder and contains synthetic surfactant ingredients, which also aid in moisturizing your skin. Then, your doctor can recommend a cream, such as hydrocortisone, ketoconazole or ciclopirox.
Makeup Tips
Until you can kick those flakes and redness to the curb, cover them up with makeup. First, regularly exfoliate your skin to promote new skin growth. If your skin is too dry, your makeup will just flake right off like your skin. You want to eliminate the flakes, not add to them! Then, apply a green-tinted concealer or powder over the red areas before using your regular foundation or powder.
