Mistakes To Avoid When Starting A New Nighttime Skincare Routine
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When it comes to cultivating a daily skincare routine, not much is required to meet your skin's needs. Some argue that less is more pertaining to what you put on your skin. Wash with a decent cleanser, perhaps slap on a hydrating serum, pat in some moisturizer, apply sunscreen, and you're good to go. While the daytime is for a quick, simple, and easy routine, the nighttime is the appropriate time for going all out with your routine – if that's what you desire.
During the day, our faces battle UV rays, sweat, dirt, and pollution. The night gives our skin a break; it's when it renews and regenerates itself, making it the best time to apply many skin treatments. If you're looking to develop the perfect nighttime skincare routine, it could be difficult knowing where to start. You can pick up skin cycling or try out the 10-step routine. Whatever you go with, knowing the mistakes to avoid when creating a nighttime skincare routine will help keep your face intact.
Always double cleanse
Aside from the sweat and grime that layer up on your face during the day, you may be wearing makeup for hours. In most cases, your regular cleanser isn't enough to remove the makeup you have on, nor will it adequately remove the sunscreen you should be wearing. Washing your face beforehand with an oil-based cleanser will ensure that every bit of sebum, sunscreen, and makeup is completely gone before you put your face on the pillow.
To double cleanse, start with an oil-based cleanser such as the Uoma Go Awf! Au Naturel Cleansing Oil, which is rich with antioxidants and contains grapeseed and olive oil. With your hands and face dry, pump some cleansing oil into your palms and apply it to the skin, massaging it in like you would with any other cleanser. If you have whiteheads or blackheads, focus on these areas, working in the oil cleanser. Emulsify it with a bit of water for a few extra seconds and then rinse it off.
Follow it up with a gentle cleanser. The SkinCeuticals Gentle Cleanser is a mild cream cleanser that can clear away any lingering impurities while keeping the skin hydrated with a combination of glycerin, allantoin, and orange oil.
Avoid exfoliating too much
Exfoliating is a major key to achieving the radiant skin that you're after. The practice helps to shed dead skin and unclog pores, allowing the rest of your products to work effectively. It also smooths out the skin, helping to reduce uneven skin tone and texture. Exfoliation can be done with either a physical or chemical exfoliant. In recent years, chemical exfoliants have risen in popularity, with ingredients like salicylic, glycolic, and lactic acid commonly used.
They can help to promote smoother, clearer skin. The Good Molecules Overnight Exfoliating Treatment is formulated with a blend of both AHAs and BHAs. While salicylic acid targets breakouts, glycolic and lactic acid create even textured skin.
Although chemical exfoliants can benefit the skin, they can be used too often, especially if you also use retinol as part of your routine. Retinoids are not exfoliants, but they promote skin cell turnover, so they work in a similar function to chemical exfoliants. Because both ingredients have a powerful effect on the skin, they shouldn't be used in the same skincare routine.
Don't use the wrong serums at night
With many skincare products, you may think you can use them at any time of day, with only a few exceptions. Never use retinol during the day, and don't waste your sunscreen by wearing it at night, right? Well, there are a few more rules to skincare so that all your products work best for you. A popular ingredient, Vitamin C, brightens and plumps the skin, working against fine lines, hyperpigmentation, and sagging. It also helps to protect the skin from sun damage.
Vitamin C works in tangent with sunscreen, boosting the latter's protective powers. Even though Vitamin C has its own individual benefits, wearing it in the daytime along with your sunscreen allows you to reap the full potential of the antioxidant. Instead, opt for serums with ingredients like hyaluronic acid or niacinamide that will help to hydrate and repair the skin while you sleep.
The Peach & Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum works to give you luminous-looking skin with its combination of niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, coupled with peach extract and a peptide complex. The serum reduces the appearance of pores and uneven skin texture while also targeting fine lines and acne. For better absorption, apply to damp skin.
Layer your products correctly
If there's anything the 10-step skincare routine has taught us, it's the correct order of how to apply your skincare products. Outside of starting with cleansing and ending with moisturizer — or a facial oil – what comes in between can be a bit complicated. In general, skincare products should have a hierarchy based on consistency, applying them from thinnest to thickest.
After cleansing, any toners or essences you use would come next. While they're not a necessary part of the skincare routine, they serve different purposes. The toner, used first, works to balance your pH levels. An essence hydrates the skin and readies it for whatever products are used next. They can also have other benefits, like soothing irritation or brightening. Then I Met You's Toner and Essence Skin Balancing Duo contains its gentle Birch Milk Refining Toner that smooths out pores with a combination of AHAs and PHAs. On the other hand, The Giving Essence is packed with antioxidants, brightening the appearance of the skin.
Next come your serums and treatments. Unless they contain strong ingredients like retinol, apply them to damp skin for better results. Most serums have a similar consistency but use the thinner one first. To get them to absorb properly, don't use more than two serums in the same routine.
Use moisturizer every night
Moisturizing is arguably one of the most important parts of your skincare routine, and you should never skip this step. If you're too tired to do anything else, washing your face and moisturizing is enough to go to bed without worrying about breakouts or textural irregularities. Whatever skin type you have, moisturizing will always improve the skin. The product helps to soothe dehydrated skin, which can happen when you have dry or oily skin.
It also works as a barrier, locking in all the hydration you just put onto your skin via toners, essences, and serums. The type of moisturizer you use can depend on your skin type, as well as the products you've used beforehand. If you exfoliated or applied a retinol, a skin-barrier repairing cream like the Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream will help to protect your delicate skin barrier. This moisturizer deeply nourishes the skin, using shea butter, sunflower extract, and lipids to hydrate and repair it.
For oily skin, try the Versed Dew Point Moisturizing Gel Cream. Lightweight and hydrating, it contains green tea leaf extract and aloe vera, helping to soothe the skin without clogging your pores.