Your 8 week beauty countdown to Christmas: Week 3 - Night treatments

We are three weeks in and you know what that means? No! We are not putting up our Christmas trees but we are upping the ante in our skin game.

Six week to Christmas and most good coffee outlets have their red paper cups out. Another little reminder that the jolly season is just around the corner. And to remind me that this week's healthy eating plan hasn't gone to plan for me. What can I say? There was a special offer on Haagen Daaz ice-cream and three tubs later I decided I better up my skincare regimen to compensate. I was recently introduced to glycolic acid and it's something I consider a wonder product. So this week I have started using a nighttime treatment with glycolic to get my skin into optimum condition.

Glycolic acid does so much for your skin. With the correct dosage, it will brighten your skin, increase collagen production and exfoliate your skin with massive anti-ageing results too. Once we hit the age of 20, the collagen fibres in our skin start to lose their elasticity and our natural exfoliation process starts to slow down.

(We wrote about the importance of a good facial and gave a shortlist of our fabs for week 2 last week.)

Glycolic Acid Night Treatments

I have found two fabulous glycolic-based night creams that will work wonders while you sleep. The first is the Derm Acte Restorative Exfoliating Night Cream (€64.30). It has 10.25% acids to restore, soften and brighten your skin while significantly reducing pigmentation. So far I've had no reaction or redness using this cream so it's gentle on your skin while getting excellent results. You might have already heard about this during our chat with the lovely Tara last week on Facebook. But even if you missed the live session, you can catch up here.

The other one I love is the infamous Alpha H Liquid Gold with Glycolic Acid (€35.95). Celebrities like Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer and Margot Robbie use Alpha H. Closer to home, Pippa O'Connor is a big fan. You apply it with a cotton pad to your face neck and decolleté every other evening. With any active product like this, I always begin by applying it just twice a week and then build up to every second night.

These night creams are acidic enough to gently melt away the dead skin cells that have built up beneath the surface of your skin. Regular mechanical exfoliators just can't get rid of these old dead skin cells. Over time, the build-up of dead skin cells will cause your skin to thicken. They may even cause an orange peel effect. The cells are held prisoner beneath the skin until glycolic acid gets deep into the dermis and loosens them.

I will be using my glycolic night treatment every second night for the next six weeks. Have you tried either of these restoring night treatments before?