Skincare Basics

Your morning skincare routine does not need to be complicated. The goal is to prepare your skin for the day by cleansing away overnight buildup, adding supportive ingredients, maintaining hydration, and protecting your skin from daily UV exposure.

A simple, consistent routine is often more useful than layering on too many products.

The Basic Morning Skincare Routine

1. Cleanser
   Start with a gentle cleanser that removes oil, sweat, and overnight buildup without leaving your skin feeling tight or stripped.
2. Antioxidant Serum
   Vitamin C is one of my favorite morning ingredients — it can help brighten dull-looking skin and provide antioxidant protection. Apply serum before heavier creams so it can absorb easily.
3. Moisturizer
   Moisturizer helps support your skin barrier and reduce moisture loss. Dry or sensitive skin may need something richer; oily or combination skin may prefer a lighter formula.
4. Sunscreen
   Finish every morning with broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher. If there is one morning step I would never skip, it is sunscreen.

Your evening routine has a different job than your morning one. Instead of protecting your skin through the day, the goal at night is to remove what built up, let supportive ingredients work while you rest, and give your skin's natural repair process what it needs.

The Basic Evening Skincare Routine

1. Cleanser
   Double cleanse if you wore makeup or sunscreen, removing the day's buildup first, then following with your regular cleanser.
2. Treatment Serum
   This is the best time for reparative ingredients like retinol or peptides, since your skin does most of its renewal work overnight.
3. Eye Cream
   A small amount helps support the delicate skin around the eyes while you sleep.
4. Night Moisturizer
   Finish with a richer formula than you'd use in the morning, to support barrier repair overnight.

The general rule is thinnest consistency to thickest. Lighter, water-based formulas need to reach your skin first; applying a heavy cream too early can block everything layered underneath it from absorbing properly.

The Basic Layering Order

1. Cleanser
   
2. Toner
   preps skin and helps the next layers absorb
3. Water-based serums
   Vitamin C in the morning, retinol or peptides at night
4. Eye cream
5. Spot treatment, if needed
6. Moisturizer
7. Face oil, if using one
8. Sunscreen
   always last, and only in the morning

A Few Layering Notes

Give each layer thirty seconds to a minute to absorb before adding the next. If two products feel like they're pilling or not absorbing, it's often a sign they're going on in the wrong order.