Product Application: Layering

More Out of Monday:  Beauty Tips

By Jeffrie Ann Hall (Esthetician)

Ever wonder how you should be layering your skin care products? It is important as some products are water soluble and others contain oils and seal themselves into the skin. Some products penetrate the skin to a greater degree than others.  Here’s a quick run down on the best way to proceed:

1.   Cleanse, of course! Do it thoroughly and use a gentle circular massaging motion. Rinse well and gently pat dry.

2.  Tone – this brings the skin back to a normal PH level. You can apply toner by misting the skin if it is in a spray bottle or wet a cotton ball or pad and gently wipe the skin. Allow to dry.

3.  Serum – Some of these are water soluble. Serums contain anti-oxidants in their most concentrated form and some also include Pro Collagen Peptides. These are products that are intended to slow and repair the aging of the skin. Allow this to sink into your skin completely.  Some of us use two serums, me for example. The second is oil based and is intended to target a very specific issue. In my case this is loss of elastin in the skin, and I use the serum which includes the ingredient Ethocyn (it’s amazing!) that replaces that. I put this on top of the first serum, it absorbs and acts as a sealant for the first, water based, serum.

4.  Moisturize – This is when you apply your day or night cream/lotion. Your day moisturizer should absolutely contain an SPF of at least 15.

Having the SPF built into your moisturizer allows you to skip the step of an added sunscreen product. Sometimes foundation makeup has SPF but I highly recommend using a moisturizer with SPF instead. The SPF is usually higher in moisturizer and often of a higher quality with a broad spectrum which protects you from UVA and UVB rays. UVB rays will give you sunburn (aging your skin) and UVA you puts you at risk for skin cancer.

Your night moisturizer should not contain SPF so don’t use the same one you use in the day! Your night moisturizer will contain ingredients that are more targeted to repair your skin and have higher levels of potency (anti-oxidants and peptides).  When we sleep, our bodies (and YES! our complexions!) repair and heal the best. That is why when you are ill everyone tells you to get plenty of rest!

So, maybe you already knew all this….

But I’ve had clients that didn’t, so I felt it was a good subject to run through.  Have any questions on ingredients? Want to talk skin care?  Leave a comment or Visit The Secret to Perfect Skin.

Photo by Kaeldra-1