results will I see? Immediately, your skin will feel smoother and look radiant. With twice-daily use, signs of damage will fade and your skin will look and behave healthier and younger.
Anti-Aging/ Antiwrinkle Moisturizer with Sunscreen (the last step in your morning routine)
What is this for? This essential morning step keeps your skin shielded from sun damage. It must have an SPF 30 or higher rating, and offer broad-spectrum protection.
Why do I need this? Moisturizers with SPF and antioxidants are essential to protect your skin from sun exposure, which is the #1 cause of wrinkles, brown spots, and other signs of aging.
What results will I see? Protecting your skin from further sun damage allows it to generate younger, healthier skin cells. This is the critical step to having radiant skin. You’ll see fewer signs of aging!
Anti-Aging/ Antiwrinkle Moisturizer (the last step in your evening routine)
What is this for? All skin types will benefit from a well-formulated moisturizer that contains the types of ingredients research has shown help your skin look healthier and younger.
Why do I need this? Used daily, moisturizers (cream, lotion, gel, or liquid texture; choose based on your skin type) improve your skin’s healthy functioning and keep it feeling smooth and soft. You can also use them around the eye area.
What results will I see? When you use the right moisturizer for your skin type, you’ll see smoother, radiant skin that’s hydrated and healthier. Dry, dull, or flaky skin will be replaced by skin that looks and acts younger!
Targeted Treatments (when and how often to apply depends on the product)
What is this for? These are optional extras you can add, depending on your personal skincare concerns. Examples include facial masks, eye creams, and boosters.
Why do I need this? These products may be needed as an extra step to hydrate skin, absorb excess oil, reduce redness, or treat a special need or occasional skin concern.
What results will I see? Results depend on the targeted product you choose and may include oil absorption, plumping of wrinkles, extra moisture, etc.
Examples of A.M. and P.M. Skincare Routines
Depending on your needs, your skincare routine can include only the basics (what we call the Essential routine) or can be more complex (what we refer to as an Advanced routine). The following step-by-step Essential routines (for morning and evening) cover the types of products everyone should use and the order in which to use them every day. These steps apply regardless of your skin type, whether oily, dry, normal, or combination.
The textures of each type of product will vary based on your skin type and preferences (lotion instead of cream, gel instead of foam), but the fundamentals and the order of application remain the same.
The ingredients that everyone’s skin needs can be found in products with a wide variety of textures within each category (step) of product in your skincare routine. In Chapter 12, How to Treat Special Skin Problems, we detail additional products and steps you can use to treat special skin concerns stemming from disorders like rosacea or brown spots from sun damage.
Essential Routine: MORNING
Cleanser
AHA or BHA Exfoliant
Moisturizer with sunscreen rated SPF 30 or greater
Essential Routine: EVENING
Cleanser
AHA or BHA Exfoliant
Moisturizer without sunscreen (sun protection isn’t needed at night)
If you have multiple concerns, an Advanced routine is the best way to go. It includes targeted treatments you can add to your Essential routine to treat your personal skincare concerns, such as acne, red marks, wrinkles, sun damage, brown spots, or rosacea.
Which to choose? Here’s an example: If your sole concern is dry skin, you’ll do fine using the Essential routine; however, if you have dry skin and wrinkles or oily skin and wrinkles and breakouts, you’ll want to use an Advanced routine for best results. An Advanced routine includes more products and takes a bit more time, but each product plays an important, critical role in achieving the skin you want to see! Once you get the hang of it, an Advanced routine, although more involved, becomes second nature and takes only a few extra minutes.
An Advanced routine includes a toner as your second step, morning and evening. If you’ve never used a well-formulated toner before, prepare to be amazed by the results! You can add targeted treatments if/when needed.
Advanced Routine: MORNING
Cleanser
Toner
AHA or BHA Exfoliant
Treatment (such as a serum or eye cream or both; for daytime the eye-area product should provide sun protection)
Moisturizer with sunscreen
Optional: Targeted treatment (applied as needed before sunscreen)
Advanced Routine: EVENING
Cleanser
Toner
AHA or BHA Exfoliant
Treatment (such as a serum or eye cream)
Moisturizer without sunscreen
Optional: Targeted treatment, as needed, applied before or after your Step 3 treatment product.
Mixing AND Matching Products
You may have been told that adding products from different brands will make the other products you’re using ineffective, or they won’t work as well as they could, or that you MUST use products from one brand or else your skin won’t improve, or the products will no longer be guaranteed “or your money back.” None of this is true in the least.
Not only is it perfectly OK to mix and match products from different brands (especially prescription products, depending on your skincare needs), but sometimes doing so is essential if you want to get the best results possible! Think of all the other areas in life where we successfully mix things up—food, for one! Who buys all of their food from only one brand, or eats at only one restaurant?
What really counts are the formulas, and whether or not those are appropriate for your skin type and your skin concerns. As long as you’re consistently using products that are well-formulated and suitable for your skin type and concern, you should see positive results. However, keep your expectations realistic: No topical product will work like Botox, and no spot treatment will completely erase a stubborn pimple or deep wrinkle overnight. If your goal is clear, smooth, radiant, healthy, and younger-looking skin, then you can absolutely achieve that with daily use of brilliantly-formulated products, no matter the line or brand.
Do Different Skin Colors or Ethnicities Need Different Skincare Products?
It might surprise
