Why Your Skin Might Break Out in September—and How to Help Fix It
The Skinsmith | 22nd September 2025
Why Your Skin Might Break Out in September—and How to Help Fix It
(photo credit: main - natural beauty group, above - elevatewaxandfacials, below - brokenskincareenthusiast)
Just when you thought your skin had finally found its summer glow, September rolls in…. along with the possibility of sudden breakouts.
If your complexion seems to turn on you around this time of year, you're not alone. Many people experience a spike in blemishes as summer fades into fall, and there’s more at play than just coincidence.
Let’s dive into why your skin might be acting up in September—and what you can do to keep your glow going strong all the way through autumn.
1. Climate Shifts & Seasonal Transitions
September is a month of transition… as warmer days start to cool, humidity drops, and the air becomes drier our skin feels these changes too, reacting accordingly. These environmental changes can throw your skin’s balance off.
In summer, your skin might have adapted to higher humidity, producing more oil…. But as the air dries out, your skin may overcompensate by producing even more oil, and this change can lead to clogged pores and those dreaded breakouts.
On top of that, the cooler air temperatures and wind can lead to dehydration on the skin's surface, causing flakiness and more congestion. Yes—your skin can be both oily and dry from dehydration at the same time, a frustrating combo that often leads to more breakouts.
How To Help Fix It:
- Switch to a gentle, hydrating cleanser: if you’ve been using a gel or foam-based one all summer long because you like the lighter texture and fresher feeling, it’s now time to infuse your skin with some much-needed moisture. We love these three all skin type cleansers listed from lightest to richest!
- Mangosteen Daily Resurfacing Cleanser: is a milky-gel cleanser, perfect for those who like a lighter textured cleanser, it contains a lactic acid complex which will also help to refine your pores, giving your complexion a deep cleanse and a radiant glow.
- Calm Skin Chamomile Cleanser: a silky cream cleanser with soothing chamomile, arnica and calendula, it will infuse your skin with hydration and help reduce any inflammation caused by summer sun damage.
- Stone Crop Cleansing Oil: a luxurious light-weight oil cleanser with jojoba and sunflower oils. It will balance oil production, helping to slow down excess oil and infuse your skin with rich hydration and soothing botanicals.
- Introduce a richer moisturiser and night cream: the air can feel drier in the autumn months resulting in an increase in moisture loss from your skin. Help to counteract this by infusing your skin with hydration and moisture to help support your skin barrier function and prevent vital moisture loss. The addition of a night cream will help to lock in moisture lost over night as you sleep. Both together equal a more hydrated, plumper and healthier skin! We love these moisturisers and night creams again from lightest to richest but perfect for all skin types.
- 🌞 Mangosteen Gel Moisturiser: a light-weight gel-cream moisturiser brimming with antioxidants. It will help refine pores, hydrate and stimulate skin cells leaving skin feeling velvety soft and hydrated without feeling heavy!
- 🌞 Stone Crop Whip: a medium textured moisturiser with a fresh, earthy scent and soothing, healing stone crop. This moisturiser will deeply hydrate and moisturise and help to even out and uneven skin tone or sun spots.
- 🌞 Coconut Age Corrective Moisturiser: one of our richest moisturisers and a best seller globally! Coconut oil, water and shea butter work together to deliver rich intense moisture and hydration into your skin. Natural Retinol Alternative will help to stimulate collagen production and minimise visible signs of premature ageing.
- 🌙 Blueberry Soy Night Recovery Cream: a superfood night cream brimming with vitamins and antioxidants to help repair and moisturise your skin over night while you sleep.
- 👉 Need More Hydration? If you feel your skin still needs more hydration and moisture try adding in a facial oil, our fave for all skin types is Facial Recovery Oil it is perfect to help your skin readjust and rebalance, it is no surprise it has the nickname “liquid gold”, it is a real gem of a product, this one!
- Don’t skip exfoliation, (once or twice a week) to keep dead skin cells from building up and causing congestion. The top layer of your skin (stratum corneum) consists of old, dead skin cells, they should fall away naturally but sometimes this natural process doesn’t work so well. Excess oil and dehydration can lead to a build up of the dead skin cells and leave your skin looking, dull, feeling rough and can lead to breakouts and clogged pores. Gentle exfoliation removes them to reveal a healthier, glowy skin underneath. Removing this dead layer also helps your other products absorb better for improved results so exfoliation is definitely worth it in more ways than one!
- VitaSkin Exfoliating Peels: if you are short on time and find exfoliating a bit of a chore then these peels are perfect for you! We love the Bright and Clear Skin Exfoliating Peels at this time of year to either brighten and even out your summer complexion or help minimise and heal any breakouts.
- Yam & Pumpkin Enzyme Peel: not only is this such a seasonal treat with those lovely autumnal ingredients but it is also a lovely relaxing exfoliation treatment that will leave your skin, softer, smoother, brighter and more youthful looking… and all this in just one jar!
- Turmeric Energizing Treatment: if you fancy a warming exfoliating treatment masque try this amazing product from our gemstone collection. Once mixed you can leave this on from 5 minutes all the way up to 30 minutes. It will gently warm and energise your skin, the exfoliating granules will buff away dull skin and turmeric will reduce any summer inflammation. A real gem of a product with real Citrine gemstones!
2. Back-to-School or Work Stress
Even if you’re not a student, or the school routine doesn’t directly affect you the “back-to-school” mindset is real. September often signals a return to routine, increased workloads, new projects, a packed calendar and don’t forget the increased rush hour can also increase stress and anxiety. This mental and emotional stress can trigger hormonal fluctuations—especially an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone.
Cortisol stimulates oil production in your skin, which can lead to breakouts, especially along the jawline, cheeks, and forehead.
How To Help Fix It:
- Prioritize stress-reducing habits enjoy time outdoors, even a short walk helps you to reconnect with nature and disconnect from the urban jungle! Try journaling, meditation, breathing exercises or something like yoga to help you relax, unwind and enjoy some “me-time”. Stress reducing habits can help lead to a better sleep pattern which in turn helps reduce stress too!!
- Support your skin with calming ingredients and please where you can opt for organic healthier skincare. Ingredients such as niacinamide, green tea extract, or chamomile in your skincare routine, help to soothe skin and reduce inflammation. Some ingredients may also help to soothe the mind as well as their aromatherapeutic effects can calm emotionally too! Eminence even has a range of night products with lavender and monoi which help to calm you mind to help you drop off to sleep easier.
- Avoid over-washing or picking at “spots”… unfortunately when you are stressed you can do things subconsciously to help you “cope”, one of which can be touching or picking at blemishes on your face and body… this is called stress-picking and can lead to open wounds, sores and infection. From mild picking to obsessive picking, stress picking could happen anywhere on your body including nails, skin and hair!!!! Try to keep your hands busy and try to recognise triggers and if your picking becomes too much speak with your GP.
3. Changing Your Skincare Routine Too Quickly
September is when many people start switching up their skincare products, retiring summer SPFs or lightweight products in favour of richer creams or active ingredients like retinoids. While this is a good idea in theory, making too many changes too fast can stress your skin out.
Your skin needs time to adjust and bombarding it with new ingredients (especially exfoliants or retinols) could lead to purging, sensitivity, or breakouts.
How To Help Fix It:
- Introduce new products gradually: especially active ingredients like retinoids or chemical exfoliants as they are stimulating to the skin. In fact, we would advise you opt for botanical alternatives, for instance Eminence’s Natural Retinol Alternatives have all the benefits without the side effects of conventional retinol and can be more effective in the long run too!
- Use the “one new product at a time” rule, waiting at least a few days between each product introduction can help you assess what is working for your skin best.
- Patch test whenever possible, particularly with products that contain strong active ingredients. Behind your ear or in the crease of your elbow are great areas for patch testing as they are sensitive and will usually show any responses in your skin quickly. Apply the product and leave for 8 hours.
Bonus Tip: Watch for Post-Summer Build-Up
After months of sunscreen, sweat, and possibly more makeup or outdoor activity, your skin may have some residual build-up. If you didn’t deep-clean or detox over the summer, that build-up could surface now, contributing to congestion and dullness.
How To Help Fix It:
- Try a gentle clay mask or enzyme exfoliant to help draw out impurities and gently resurface your skin. Fruit enzymes are perfect for keeping your skin glowing and gentle enough for most skin types. We love our:
- Snow Mushroom & Reishi Masque: with kaolin clay, snow mushroom and reishi mushroom and paracress this masque is a great all-rounder. It will remove impurities, infuse deep hydration into the skin and help to tighten and contour your complexion
- Mango Exfoliating Enzyme Masque: a lovely masque to end summer with, as its gorgeous scent will remind you of long hot summer days! This gel masque is brimming with vitamins to help repair your summer skin and will leave a healthy radiant glow.
- Hydrate deeply afterward to restore balance and prevent rebound breakouts. Your skin naturally produces hydration in the form of hyaluronic acid (water) and lipids (oils) but the summer can affect the levels in your skin leaving your skin feeling dry and sensitive. Re-balance your skin by infusing nourishing lipids and hydrating hyaluronic acid and we love these for a boost of both for your complexion: (from lightest to richest again)
- Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Hydrator: a light-weight silky gel-cream with multi-level hyaluronic acid to hydrate your skin on multiple levels. Strawberry is also a natural skin brightener so your skin will look luminous and hydrated.
- Firm Skin Acai Moisturiser: with superfood berries, botanical hyaluronic acid and shea butter this is a lovely moisturiser for all skin types. Your skin will soak up the antioxidants and hydration leaving it plumped, firmed and revitalised.
- Linden Calendula Treatment: this 2-in-1 treatment can be used as a masque or as a moisturiser. It is perfect for dry, dehydrated and sun-damaged skins and has a lovely rich creamy texture. It is both healing and revitalising and feels like silk on your skin!
- Book a professional facial to help reset your skin. Eminence experts have a few tricks up their sleeves with some professional only products that you can’t find for home use! They are more intense and stimulating and enable you to enjoy a concentrated treatment with increased results. Look for your nearest skincare pro here.
Final Thoughts
September breakouts aren’t a mystery—they’re a sign that your skin is reacting to change, whether it’s environmental, emotional, or product-related. The good news? With a few mindful tweaks and some skin-loving habits, you can get ahead of the breakouts and transition into fall with healthy, happy skin.
Let your skincare evolve with the seasons, with healthy botanicals that will treat your skin from the inside and out.
For More Advice......
Why Your Skin Might Break Out in September—and How to Help Fix It
For more advice on how to transition your skincare routine please speak to a member of our experienced and friendly team today on 01305 300950 or by emailing [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.
