Whether you’re a fan of a minimalist routine or you’re a twelve-step kinda girl, we suggest always having a separate day cream and night cream for your skin. Here’s why: A day cream is designed to protect your complexion during the daytime (come rain or shine) and usually has a SPF to shield your skin from harmful UV rays and prevent excessive ageing. They’re there to hydrate the skin, keep it from losing moisture, and protect it from various environmental elements because of the antioxidants found within the formula. A day cream should be applied in the morning onto freshly cleansed skin. You’ll also find that day moisturisers are lightweight in texture and absorb easily.
A night cream, on the other hand, is richer and helps aid the skin’s natural regeneration process. And you won’t find SPF in night creams. Once you’ve removed your make-up from the day and washed your face, apply your night cream to your face and décolletage in an upwards motion to prevent sagging. Ingredients-wise, you’ll find retinol, peptides, amino acids and collagen-boosting actives in your night cream.
Ready to add a day cream and night cream to your beauty cabinet? These are the moisturisers we feel deserve a spot in your morning and evening routines:
Day Creams We Adore:
The Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Day Cream SPF 30 isn’t just any ordinary moisturiser. It contains a powerful combo of ingredients, such as Tri-Enzyme Technology, raspberry oil and white truffle, to ensure your skin reaches its peak level of glow every time you use it. This cream helps to brighten dull-looking skin and improves the texture, all while giving you a natural-looking radiance. It has UVA and UVB protection and helps your skin with its cell renewal. A must for those craving smooth, flawless skin.
Is your skin in need of an extra hydration boost? Then you’ll love the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream SPF 30. This super-lightweight moisturiser rebalances the skin while providing long-lasting hydration. It contains Glacial Glycoprotein (from sea glaciers!) combined with olive-derived squalene to bring you ultra-dewy-looking, supremely moisturised skin. Use it daily in the morning, once you’ve cleansed, to start getting your skin back on the hydration track.
If your concerns fall more onto the anti-ageing side of the scale, you should add the Clarins Extra-Firming Day Cream SPF 15 to your cart immediately. Although lightweight in texture, it packs a punch skincare-wise by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and sculpting the contours of your face, making you look like you’ve drunk from the fountain of youth. It’ll fit into your day-time routine with ease too. Just warm it up between your fingertips before pressing the cream into your skin.
Night Creams We Need:
Night creams are necessary to help the skin with its cell recovery, and the Clinique Superdefense Night Recovery Moisturizer does that for your skin, plus a whole lot more. It helps to strengthen your skin’s moisture barrier and protects it from heaps of environmental aggressors while you’re in dreamland. When shopping for a night cream, look out for antioxidants within the product formula (such as this one) to prevent further dryness and keep your skin texture in tip-top shape. This night-time cream is for combination to oily skin types and won’t leave your skin feeling all heavy and overloaded with product once applied.
You had us at ‘Good Night’s Sleep’! Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Good Night’s Sleep Restoring Cream, aka the dream cream, is blended with lavender and honeysuckle, a perfect concoction to wind you down after a long, busy day. It fades the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and adds firmness to tired-looking skin in need of a perk. Apply to your squeaky-clean complexion before bedtime and wake up to wow-looking skin. It’s such a treat.
Two different types of hyaluronic acid are found in the Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Anti-Age Night Cream, making it a force to be reckoned with and a *must* if your skin needs intense moisture. When lines and wrinkles form, the best thing you can do is add moisture to your routine via products that plumpen and fill them out. This product also assists the skin in overnight regeneration due to concentrated Dexpanthenol found within the cream. Why is it so important for our skin to regenerate? In a nutshell, damaged or old skin tissue needs to be replaced by new skin tissue. They don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing.
