Method

What order to apply things in

Ten-step routine charts make layering look like something you need to memorise. You don't. One rule handles almost every product you will ever own, and a handful of exceptions cover the rest.

The rule

Apply in order of consistency, thinnest to thickest.

The reasoning is straightforward: a thin watery product can pass through skin easily, but it cannot pass through a layer of heavy cream sitting on top of it. Put the cream on first and the serum underneath it never arrives. Thin to thick keeps every layer able to do its job.

The order in practice

1. Cleanser — everything else works better on clean skin.
2. Toner or essence — watery, mostly hydrating.
3. Treatment or serum — the active step. Slightly thicker than water.
4. Eye cream — if you use one, before heavier face creams.
5. Moisturiser — seals in the layers beneath.
6. Sunscreen, mornings only — always last on the skin.

If you own fewer products than that, skip the lines that don't apply and keep the order of the rest. The sequence still works.

The exceptions worth knowing

Sunscreen is always last, whatever its texture. This is the one place where the thin-to-thick rule loses. Sunscreen forms a film on the surface, and that film is what protects you. Putting anything over it — especially anything you rub in — disturbs the film and reduces the protection. If your sunscreen is thinner than your moisturiser, it still goes on last.

Makeup goes over sunscreen. Same logic: sunscreen is the final skincare step, not the final step of the whole face.

Exfoliants go early, and not every night. An acid exfoliant belongs after cleansing and before other treatments, on the nights you use it. Two or three nights a week is plenty for most people. Daily exfoliation is the most common route to a damaged barrier.

Retinoids at night, not with acids. Retinoids and exfoliating acids on the same night is a reliable way to end up irritated. Alternate nights instead.

Two details that make a real difference

Damp skin for hydrating layers. Hyaluronic acid and similar humectants work by holding water. Applied to dry skin in a dry room, they have little water to hold and can end up drawing it from deeper in the skin instead. Apply them to skin that is still slightly damp, then seal with moisturiser.

Wait between layers, but not long. Thirty seconds to a minute is enough for a layer to settle. The five-minute waits some routines prescribe are not necessary and mostly result in people abandoning the routine.

Morning and night do different jobs

Mornings are about protection: keep it light, and finish with sunscreen. Antioxidants like vitamin C fit here, because they work alongside sunscreen against daytime environmental damage.

Nights are about repair: this is where retinoids, exfoliants and richer moisturisers belong. Skin loses water faster overnight, so a heavier final layer earns its place after dark in a way it doesn't at 8am.

If you only do three things

Cleanser, moisturiser, sunscreen. Used consistently, that outperforms an elaborate ten-step routine used sporadically. Everything else is optimisation, and optimisation only matters once the basics are habitual.

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