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With the exorbitant amount of skin care products on the market, it’s daunting to simply buy a new serum, let alone assess where it fits in your routine. But the truth is, familiarizing yourself with the basics of skin-care layering is a great way to ensure that you are making the most of your products and catering your routine to your specific skin type.
Generally (and I mean very generally) speaking, this is the order in which products should be applied: Cleanser, exfoliator, toner, essence, serum, eye cream, retinoid, moisturizer, face oil, SPF. But before you run for the hills, I can’t stress enough that there is no correct amount of products that you must use. Whether your routine is two steps, three steps, or five steps is entirely up to you—more products doesn’t equal better results. In fact, following the great quarantine skin care boom of 2020—a time when folks binge ordered mass amounts of skin care from their sofa, resulting in a nationwide discussion on how to repair a damaged skin barrier (no judgments, I’ve been there!)—more experts are preaching the benefits of a simple, straightforward routine. All of this just to say, the list above is by no means a manual you must strictly adhere to—it’s a loose skin-care layering guidebook to help you roughly understand how products interact and absorb on top of one another.
But even with the outline to refer back to, skin-care layering is not a one-size-fits-all system, and there are certainly exceptions. To dive into some more specific questions, I called upon industry specialists in dermatology and cosmetic chemistry. So if you’re wondering why some people apply their retinoid after their moisturizer and others before, or if you still don’t know what the difference is between a toner and an essence, look no further.
Post-Cleansing
This is perhaps the first skin-care layering decision you’ll make as you begin your routine. According to Dr. Loretta Ciraldo MD FAAD—a board certified dermatologist based in Miami and founder of skin care brand Dr. Loretta—your skin is more permeable when it’s wet, so leaving your skin damp will promote greater penetration and therefore increase the efficacy of your product.
If you are using a hydrating toner or serum—a product chock full of humectants like glycerin and hyaluronic acid, for example—leaving your skin damp is a great way to help your product along and ensure you’re delivering as much moisture as possible to your skin. However, if you are using a product with potentially irritating ingredients, such as a retinoid or glycolic acid, for example, Dr. Ciraldo advises patting the skin totally dry, otherwise you run the risk of irritation.
Exfoliation
Exfoliators come in all different shapes and sizes—toners, serums, masks, scrubs, and the like. Typically if you’re going to exfoliate, it should be done right after cleansing your face. That way, the alpha and/or beta hydroxy acids can get to work, helping remove dead skin cells from the surface of your face, while also priming your complexion for the rest of your routine. AHAs and BHAs are marvelous, workhorse ingredients with a wide range of benefits, including but not limited to controlling sebum, fading hyperpigmentation, and helping smooth out textural issues. However, over-exfoliation—meaning using AHA and BHA based products too often—can actually disrupt your skin’s natural barrier, creating irritation, redness, and breakouts.
Every skin type’s tolerance is unique to the person, but on average one should exfoliate around two to three times per week.
Toning
If you grew up in the early noughties, you may recall toners as the astringent concoctions responsible for drying out our pimply, teenage skin. But much like us, the toner has greatly matured since then. Thanks to the enormous influence of Korean beauty on the industry, toners have since become far more cosmetically elegant, with an increased focus on hydration, nourishment, and balancing of your skin’s pH, rather than oil absorption.
In addition to these new and improved skin quenching formulas, there are also a ton of exfoliating toners out there, like cult favorite Biologique P50 or Paula’s Choice BHA toner, for example. If your toner has exfoliating ingredients in it, count that product as both your toning and exfoliating step and move along.
Essences and Serums
Truthfully, not a whole lot, besides the fact that hydrating toners have a bit more of a focus on pH balance and are often instructed to be applied with a cotton pad, and therefore function as a kind of second cleanse to the skin. According to Dr. Shuting Hu—a cosmetic chemist and founder of skin care brand Acaderma—essences and serums are also practically the same, with only a few slight differences. “An essence is a more lightweight, less concentrated version of a serum,” Dr. Hu explained. “The key difference is that essences focus more on just hydration whereas serums target a variety of skin care concerns, like acne and dark spots, for example.”
It’s certainly not essential to include all three of these products in your routine, but if you happen to already have all of them in your medicine cabinet and you’d really like to, go ahead. Just make sure you’re not doubling up on any products with potentially irritating ingredients in them, like lactic acid or glycolic acid.
According to Dr. Hu, the simplest way to think about layering serums is to apply them thinnest to thickest so thinner, more watery serums are able to penetrate the skin without having to work extra hard to get through a thicker formula. And once again, AHAs and BHAs serve as a caveat: “If you are using a peeling serum, like something that contains AHAs, mixed with another serum, it’s always better to use the acid-containing serum first, then wait a few minutes before applying the next serum,” Dr. Hu says.
However, I have great news for people who try to get their skin care done as quickly as possible. According to Dr. Ciraldo, cocktailing your serums together isn’t the end of the world. “Unless your product contains a potentially irritating ingredient, like glycolic acid or a retinoid for example, mixing your serums together in the palm of your hand, and then patting them into the skin is a perfectly fine way to apply multiple serums to the skin,” she says, further explaining that mixing products of a similar viscosity together won’t make the product less effective. “The rate of penetration is much more dependent on the molecular size of the actives in each formula, rather than the way they’re applied to the skin, so you’re not diluting any of the potency or efficacy if you’re cocktailing them together.”
Retinoid is an umbrella term that refers to all vitamin A derivatives available in skin care, from retinol esters (the mildest form, which you can find in over-the-counter serums) to retinoic acid (such as tretinoin, which is the strongest and for which you’ll need a prescription). Retinoids are often considered the crème de la crème of topical skin care by dermatologists, estheticians, and skin care enthusiasts alike—and for good reason. Years of research and clinical trials have proven time and time again that retinoids have the ability to effectively boost collagen production, increase cell turnover, and even out the appearance of hyperpigmentation and texture. But retinoids are very powerful ingredients that should be used carefully and slowly integrated into your routine in order to avoid irritation and dryness.
Typically, instructions will tell you to apply your retinoid before your moisturizer. But if you have sensitive skin or if you are first starting out, Dr. Hu recommends applying your retinoid—whether that be an over-the-counter formula or a prescription one—on top of your moisturizer, as that will help minimize any possible irritation. “Layering your retinoid after applying moisturizer will help create a gentle barrier between your skin and the potent ingredient,” Dr. Hu says.
Not necessarily! According to Dr. Ciraldo, where it slots into your routine has nothing to do with adhering to universal rules and everything to do with your personal satisfaction. “If you have been applying your retinoid after your moisturizer for a while, and you are still seeing great results, keep at it! If you believe your results have plateaued, then maybe it’s time to slightly increase the strength by applying it before your moisturizer,” she explains.
Moisturizer and Face Oil
Face oils and moisturizers should not be used interchangeably, but they work wonders when paired together. Moisturizers are water based, and therefore deliver more hydrating benefits to the skin. Face oils, on the other hand, are (of course) oil based, and work as an occlusive barrier that helps trap moisture in the skin.
Face oils don’t give off moisture, but they do a great job at retaining it. For this reason, Dr. Hu advises applying face oils after your moisturizer, as they help trap the product’s hydrating ingredients (like glycerin or hyaluronic acid, for example) in the skin, and prevent them from evaporating. “Facial oils contain occlusive properties that seal in all the incredible benefits of your other skin care products,” Dr. Hu says. “Plus, the oil can also create a barrier between your skin and external pollutants.”
Sunscreen
Sunscreen is unequivocally the most important step in your skin care routine, as it not only helps prevent superficial issues such as hyperpigmentation and wrinkles, but it also protects your skin from extremely harmful UV rays. SPF should be applied every morning, rain or shine, as the grand finale of your routine. Never layer any skin care on top of your sunscreen, as that runs the risk of blocking the product’s protective benefits.
