How to Layer Skin Care at Night Using Dermatologist Developed Products

Have you ever wondered how to layer skin care products at night? It’s Monday, the start of a new week, and for us, the start of another week of nightly layering with our dermatologist developed skincare products to look like a glazed donut before bed! In all seriousness though, having a nightly skincare routine which focuses on overnight regeneration of the skin is so important. Why? Because overnight our skin repairs itself, blood flow increases, and the skin works to rebuild collagen and repair any damage from UV exposure. Therefore, we can help the skin kickstart this process before bed by ensuring we follow a routine with products which aid the skin in its regenerative process. 

We did some research across the web looking at step-by-step guides to nightly skincare routines and collated them together to create a Dr Skincare 9-step Nightly Layering Routine which you can follow. Some of the steps are customisable to your own preferred product or treatment, for example those who use retinoids in their nightly routine, this would fit into step 4.

Just a little disclaimer: if you add products in a different order to this, don’t panic! It’s totally cool. When doing our research on this, many dermatologist-developed brands, dermatologists themselves, and skin experts will moderate or customise certain routine steps or orders to suit the skin. However, Dr Skincare’s main steps follow in an order that is most commonly seen in skincare nightly routines. 

Step 2 is to cleanse. We all know how important it is to cleanse our skin twice daily, and if you didn’t that’s ok, why not start today? You will see immediate improvements in the skin as a good cleanser works to break down and remove oil, dirt, debris and other environmental aggressors that your skin is exposed to during the day. Throughout a normal day, our skin is continually exposed to harmful bacteria, viruses, pollutants, dirt and old/dead skin cells. So, we actually propose a double cleanse during this step. 

Toning the skin is the next step in how to layer skin care, you can also use a hydrating mist for this step if you would prefer. After cleansing, a toner will help to gently refresh the skin without stripping away natural moisture. Toner, for us, is one of the most important steps in any skin care routine because it preps the skin to fully absorb post-cleansing products from the remainder of your routine. Again, you should tone the skin after cleansing twice daily, once in the morning and once at night.

At this point you can add in a customisable treatment for the skin. This may be the use of a hyaluronic acid, salicylic acid or retinoids, depending on what you prefer. When using retinoids, most say it’s safer to use them at night because of their ability to increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun! Also, if you have sensitive skin, it can be better to use a retinol after moisturising (between steps 7 & 8) but waiting 20 minutes for the moisturiser to soak in. 

At this point, we like to use a hydrating serum, especially after a customisable Step 4. Serums have many different and unique purposes including boosting hydration, anti-ageing, blemish-reducing, skin-brightening and more. Serums are made up of smaller molecules which can directly penetrate the skin with concentrated active ingredients, therefore you should use after cleansing and before moisturising in any skincare routine. 

Step 7 is reserved for Eye Cream, another extremely important product that we should all use religiously in our skincare routines no matter the age. The orbital bone and eye contour area is an extremely delicate area of the face, this area also doesn’t  have any sebum glands (sebum is an oily waxy substance produced by your body’s sebaceous glands; coating, moisturising and protecting the skin). Thus, investing in an effective eye cream or serum can really help to protect this area, whilst working to minimise the appearance of wrinkles, tackle dryness, puffiness, dark circles and pigmentation. 

Step 8 is arguably our favourite step… I mean come on, there really is no better feeling than finding an amazing moisturiser which you can’t live without and slathering it on before bed. Now, this step should be a no-brainer for everyone. Your skin absolutely needs to be moisturised every. single. night. Moisturising your skin consistently as part of a nightly routine will absolutely reduce skin problems. Moisturising your face daily and nightly can reduce your chances of developing extreme dryness or oiliness.