Don’t let people tell you your 30s will be the best time of your life in a tone that suggests your looks will fade so you better find inner peace. Vicki’s Pick is a weekly beauty column that features Vicki’s all-time favourite beauty products and latest discoveries for women in their 30s who plan on staying pretty on the outside for a long, long time. Inner peace is optional.

I’m not being facetious when I say I love talking about the weather. What other topic offers you the opportunity to charm the tall, dark stranger from the 5th floor with your quick wit on the elevator ride up? I sometimes think the only reason I survive winter in Canada is by turning weather talk into a personal challenge, particularly in confined spaces where improv comedy suddenly feels like my calling. Just last Friday, when the temperature tiptoed above zero for a few fleeting hours, my hot neighbour broke the elevator silence first by remarking that it was a lovely day. I mentioned that I saw multiple sets of fully exposed wrists and at least a few scarf-free necks and finally understood why the Amish found bare ankles so scandalous. He laughed, which I took as my green light to suggest that spring this year would clearly be Canadians’ answer to rumspringa. He only smiled at this, perhaps rushing home to Google the term before experiencing a delayed appreciation for my genius. A girl can dream. What else am I going to do… go outside?

All that said, winter always does a number on my skin, mainly because my face especially is naturally dry no matter what time of year it is. If I didn’t moisturize in the winter I’d resemble Julianne Moore in The Hours in just a matter of days. I can’t be making jokes about the weather in elevators if the most obvious chance of flurries is coming from the eczema around my hairline. That’s why it’s so important to find a winter moisturizer that locks in hydration and doesn’t just grease up the most outer layer of my skin while leaving the delicate layers underneath to dry up like dehydrating fruit for Amish winter preserves.

This year my absolute favourite moisturizer is Kiehl’s Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Cream. The product’s description claims that it hydrates, improves skin’s elasticity, and even reduces the appearance of wrinkles. Does it? Well, I’ve been carded every single time I’ve ventured out into the cold to karaoke – so two-for-two isn’t bad if you ask me. As far as the science behind it goes, the key ingredients are copper PCA and calcium PCA, which are collagen boosters, while apricot kernel oil plays the lead moisturizing role.

I put this on every night before bed and again most mornings even though it doesn’t have SPF. (I might not look like Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button this year, but I’m so sun-deprived I could easily play Powder in a stage adaptation of the highly referenced but nevertheless barely seen 1995 Hollywood gem.) I don’t need to do midday moisture touch-ups, and while it’s thick enough to satisfy my nighttime obsession with piling on the moisture, it’s light enough to wear under makeup. For maximum dewy skin results, exfoliate with a kickass product beforehand to remove dead skin for a super soft, glowing complexion. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been obsessed with the charcoal wonder that is LUSH Dark Angels Skin Cleanser. Hey, we’re clearly weeks and maybe even months away from needing to moisturize our ankles for Canadian rumspringa, so right now all we’ve got are our faces to show off to the world – or at least the neighbours we see in the elevator on the way to the mail room.

You can grab the Kiehl’s Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Cream online for $58.

Have you tried Kiehl’s Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Cream yet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @ViewTheVibe.