8 Reasons Winter Is Simultaneously the Best and Worst Season for Beauty

Winter, Coat, Jacket, Outerwear, Jeans, Street fashion, Freezing, Snow, Fur, Holiday,

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published 15 November 2016

Pro: Your skin is drier and therefore less reactive.

Unlike in the summer, when an extra 1/116th-teaspoon of moisturizer could cause an eruption of milia and those weird sacs filled with clear liquid. (Pus? Sorry.)

Con: Your skin is drier and therefore itchy/red/flaky.

This is what the truth/getting older feels like: like your body's largest organ shrunk in the wash and is now a size too small for your frame, so you keep rubbing it because scratching makes scary micro-tears and the lotion you put on too late sting.

Pro: Everything is drier, so less risk of frizz.

What hot weather does for texture, cold weather does for smoothness. (Truly—this reporter, who has been blessed with a head full of cowlicks, dared to cut bangs for this very reason. They're staying down well, thank you.)

Con: But static.

It can be cute? In a windblown-dandelion, "I just touched a Van de Graaff generator" kind of way?

Pro: Color in your cheeks...

Health! Youth! A hardy constitution! (Could be faked and/or augmented with some blush.)

Con: And in your nose and eyes.

Nose isn't so bad, unless it's just at the tip. (A flush across the bridge, on the other hand, is super cute.)

Pro: Looking like an ice princess...

All pale and sparkly and untouchable.

Con: But having the disposition of the White Witch.

Because it's cold AF, you can't feel extremities (that's a sign of hypothermia, isn't it?), and there are meddling kids threatening to usurp your power, etc.

Tilda Swinton as the White Witch — That's about right.

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Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at MarieClaire.com. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.