If you’re ever unsure of how to layer your skincare products, keep the following foundational rule in mind: Start with the thinnest consistency and end with the thickest (e.g., cleanser to creamy moisturizer).
More specifically …
Step 1. Cleanse
A clean canvas is vital for effective skincare. Washing twice a day is ideal, but cleansing at night is essential, in order to remove accumulated dirt, oil, makeup and pollution.
Use 1 to 2 pumps of True Calm or Clean Reveal and massage over face and neck for one minute in slow, circular motions. Rinse off with lukewarm water.
Step 2. Tone
Next, it’s time to tone — but not with those harsh toners of the past. Instead, reach for Even Balance, which is aptly balancing and hydrating.
Apply Even Balance with clean hands directly to your face and neck, while skin in still slightly damp from cleansing, since the formula’s hyaluronic acid loves the watery base. Skip the cotton pad, which will soak up too much toner.
Step 3. Protect and Refine
I consider this step (a.k.a. the serum step) the main event. Serums are specialty treatments for you specific skin needs, whether dryness, dark spots, dullness or acne, with different formulations and ingredients ideal for different times of day.
A.M.
Reach for Daily Dose in the morning. Apply 4 to 5 drops to your face and neck. Since it’s packed with Vitamin C, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, this multitasking serum wards off the damaging effects of pollution while also targeting hyperpigmentation.
Just remember to always follow your morning serum with a broad-spectrum sunscreen — minimum SPF 30 — to protect skin from premature aging, hyperpigmentation and skin cancer. While epi.logic doesn’t yet offer a sunscreen, Elta MD UV Clear, Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen and Black Girl Sunscreen are all great choices.
P.M.
Your evening routine is as an ideal time to provide skin with reparative ingredients and stimulate collagen production. Double Feature, an all-in-one resurfacing serum with retinol, helps skin regenerate as you sleep for a soft, revitalized complexion.
ANYTIME
Applied day or night, Master Plan, epi.logic’s collagen renew growth factor serum, delivers skin-boosting growth factors and a beneficial layer of hydration.
Step 4. Hydrate
Often if you’ve applied a serum and sunscreen in the morning, you won’t need another moisturizer. At night, however, to take advantage of overnight skin repair, the right moisturizer can both hydrate skin and seal in all of the active ingredients you’ve previously applied.
Slather The Total Package, a maximum-impact, biocompatible moisturizer that provides daily defense against environmental stressors, on your neck, massaging into your face with an upward motion.
Finally, because the skin around your eyes is more delicate than the rest of your face, it requires its own formulation — i.e. Eye Contact. Apply it with your ring finger by gently tapping into undereye skin. Never swipe!
