Length / Less than 7 minutes
Spoiler alert: it absolutely does! When it comes to skincare, we often focus on the ingredients in our products, but have you ever wondered if the order you apply them in matters? In order for your skin to absorb all the benefits each product has to offer, you need to layer them correctly. Let’s break down this order, to ensure your next routine is applied correctly.
Step 1: Double Cleansing
Double cleansing is essential for properly removing makeup, sunscreen, and daily grime. Start with an oil-based cleanser like Oil Cleanse, to break down oil-based impurities such as makeup, SPF, and excess sebum. Next, you’ll want to follow up with a gel cleanser like Gel Cleanse, as this second cleanse tends to be from a water-based cleanser. This cleaning agent is surfactants, which work to break down and combine these oil-based impurities on your skin, providing an effective deep cleanse into your pores.
Why, you ask? Well, if you were to start with a gel cleanser instead, and an oil cleanser second, the gel cleanser’s cleansing agent, surfactants, would work to try to combine your oil-based impurities on your skin, including SPF, makeup and excess sebum. However, this would be ineffective, as with oil-based impurities, ‘like-disolves-like’. Therefore, in order for these impurities to dissolve first, so they can be lifted off the skin and be ready to be removed, to make for the most effective cleanse. Then, you need to use an oil cleanser first and gel cleanser second.
You would double cleanse in your night time routine to remove the build up of these impurities from the day. Otherwise, for individual use, we’d recommend you use Gel Cleanse in your morning routine, and Oil Cleanse in your night time routine to remove makeup etc. Paired with our Tailor Towel for an effective and gentle removal.
Step 2: Exfoliation
When using an exfoliating product, this is your next step after cleansing - think of it like an extension of your cleansing routine. But, your cleanser/s must be applied before your exfoliators. What happens if you don’t follow this order? Well, “cleansing the face before exfoliation will allow chemical exfoliants to penetrate deep into the skin and prevent makeup or dirt from pushing deeper...” So, if you want to avoid your makeup and dirt from being pushed further into your pores, making it harder to remove, you’ll want to follow this order. We have our AHA skincare boosting mask, Elevate and our BHA detoxifying mask, Polish. You can use either Elevate and/or Polish in your morning or night time routine.
Step 3: Serums
Now, it’s time for your serums. The way skincare works, is that you apply your most lightweight products first, through till your heavy-weight products. But, if you don’t follow this order, and instead apply a moisturiser ahead of your serum, you’d find a moisturiser’s heavier consistency, plus the protective barrier / film it coats the skin in, would make it hard for your skin to absorb your serum. This means your skin would miss out on these benefits. Serums are designed to deliver a high concentration of active ingredients e.g., antioxidants, vitamins, or probiotics, directly to the deeper layers of your skin, where they can be most effective at targeting skin concerns. Therefore, in order to give the serums the best chance at penetrating deeply into your skin, they must be applied first, after cleansing and exfoliating.
Our serums include, Renew, our vegan probiotic serum, which needs to be applied first, as it absorbs best on clean, slightly damp skin. Then, Hydrate, our hyaluronic acid plumping gel serum, which would be applied next, and then Gold Dust, our vitamin C treatment powder, which you would mix a scoop in with Renew or Hydrate. You can use Renew and Hydrate in your morning and night time routine, and Gold Dust once in either your morning or night time routine, but in bursts, e.g., every second day.
Step 4: Eyes
It’s time to give some special attention to your under eye area. This would be your next step to apply, after serums, but before moisturisers, due to the order of light-weight to heavy-weight. Similar logic to the serums, but if you were to apply your eye cream after your moisturiser, with it’s key function to form a protective barrier / film on your skin, then this eye cream will struggle to penetrate through. If an eye cream can’t penetrate through properly, it will affect the effectiveness of its active ingredients, as these ingredients are formulated to be absorbed deeply and efficiently into the eye area. We have Awaken, our brightening eye cream. This is formulated with active ingredients like hyaluronic acid and caffeine extract. You can use Awaken in your morning routine.
Step 5: Moisturisers
Now, it’s time to form a protective layer over your skin, creating a seal to trap in the moisture. We have a day moisturiser, Moisture, our lightweight protecting and hydrating daily moisturiser. This is perfect for your morning routine. Then, we have a night moisturiser, Restore, our melatonin nurturing night balm, and this is designed to have a thicker, more rich texture to deeply nourish your skin and repair overnight, making it perfect for your night time routine.
Step 6: Facial oil
This is your last step in your night time routine. You’ll want to lock in all this skin-loving goodness from your routine, with Illume, our bakuchiol collagen boosting oil serum. As this is a 100% oil-based product, it needs to be applied last, as it would create an oil barrier which repels water, therefore if you apply water after oil they won’t reach your skin.
Step 7: SPF
In your morning routine, it is essential you apply SPF to protect your skin from environmental stressors e.g., sun. It should always be the final step in your skincare routine, but before makeup. The reason why it should be the last step in your skincare routine is because SPF acts as a protective barrier between your skin and the environment, and therefore it needs to sit on the top of your skin. Throughout the day you want to reapply your SPF so then over top of your makeup will work as you don't want to remove your makeup every time to reapply. This is where SPF mists are great.
So, when you’re next applying your routine, whether it’s morning or night, here’s your handy dandy Tailor guide for our full skincare range and your chosen SPF, from step 1 to step 7. Because, after reading this (we hope) you’ve now learnt why the order of your skincare products is so essential, to ensure you’re reaping all the maximum benefits from your skincare routine, and this money spent has gone to good use. Well, until next time…
Talk soon,
Tailor x
References:
Veazey, K. (n.d.). Should a person cleanse or exfoliate first? MedicalNewsToday. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/do-you-cleanse-or-exfoliate-first#:~:text=Cleansing%20the%20face%20before%20exfoliation,strip%20the%20skin%20of%20moisture.