Step-By-Step Guide To A Perfect Evening Skin Care Routine

After a long day, the last thing on your mind is an evening skin care routine. However, a little tine spent on your face can do wonders for the condition and look of your skin in the morning. Having an evening skin are routine can also keep you looking younger for years to come. Here is our step-by-step guide to the perfect evening skin care routine.

Clean – The crucial first step in an evening skin care routine is to clean your skin. Cleaning the dirt, oil and makeup from your skin before you hit the sack can remove toxins that result in enlarged pores and uneven skin. Cleaning your skin can also prevent skin dehydration and prime the sensitive skin on your face for moisturizers and serums that can help your skin heal while you sleep. Even a quick clean with a good quality cleanser can make a huge difference. Regardless of your skin type, choose a gentle cleanser that won’t dry out your face (remember, some oil is a good thing, and overly dry face can do more harm than good.) check the ingredient list and skip cleansers with alcohol in the ingredients. Two gentle cleansers to try are Cetaphil  Daily Facial Cleanser ($8) or Philosophy Purity Gel Cleanser ($17.)

Tone – The next step is using a toner after you clean. This is especially important for people with oily or acne-prone skin. A good toner has a variety of benefits, including giving your skin a good pH balance, shrinking pores and refreshing your skin (which is great after a long day!) Toner is a great way to prepare the skin for additional treatments. Try the Rodan + Fields REDEFINE Pore Minimizing Toner ($47) or Olay Daily Care Refreshing Toner ($5.69)

Add Serum – Serums are gels that are highly concentrated with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals to give your skin a super-charged healing treatment. Think of this product as the “specialist”, addressing concerns ranging from age spots and discolorations to wrinkles – in fact, many serums also offer anti-aging ingredients to help you fight wrinkles while you sleep. Tiny molecules in serums allow the “good stuff” to penetrate deeper than daytime moisturizers for a powerful skincare punch. Serums work best on moist skin, so use this product right after toning and cleansing. Some serums are so powerful that you only need to use them two to three times a week. Try Genie Instant Line Remover ($35) or Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Serum ($16.49)

Moisturize – The last step in the perfect evening skin care routine is to moisturize your skin. Not every skin type and moisturizer is made alike. Just like cleansers, most people need to try out different moisturizers to see what works best with their skin tone. Moisturizers can help you retain collagen in your skin, which is the chemical that gives you supple, tight skin (and which, when lacking, contributes to wrinkles and fine lines.) Moisturizers can help heal your skin at night and fight wrinkles, especially products with retinoid, which provides anti-aging benefits. Creams made specifically for nighttime use are often filled with more vitamins and antioxidants than daytime creams because they don’t contain a sunscreen component. Try The Body Shop Nutriganics Smoothing Night Cream ($20) or L’Oreal Paris RevitaLift Deep-Set Wrinkle Repair Night Creame ($17).

Amanda is a social media manager for a health care organization by day and a blogger and freelance writer by night. She’s also a mom to an amazing 2 year-old boy and wife to a great guy who indulges all her celebrity gossip. Amanda loves coffee, fashion, Twitter, makeup, nail polish, and cats (not always in that order.) Her work has been published on family.com and blogher.com.