Eye cream, Serum, and Moisturizer 101

Serum, after toning, is the most important step of the whole routine. If you have money that you have left to spend, spend it here.

After I've prepped my face through cleansing and toning, I'll go in with my eye cream. I use an eye cream because I like it, but if you don't have the budget or don't see a need for one, just use your serum around the eyes. You might want an eye cream if you visually have a problem in that area, and you can find tons of creams specifically targeted for certain eye problems.

I apply my eye cream around the eye socket bone and under my eyes a bit after toning so it can absorb better into that area. 

My favorite eye cream is the Natura Bissé NB Ceuticals Eye Balm. It treats every problem from dark circles and puffiness to fine lines. It's the best. I also really like the Eysilix one from Indeed Labs.

Then I go in with my serum. Serums are the powerhouse of a skincare routine. They have higher concentrations of important ingredients to treat specific skin issues and hydrate the skin.

My favorite serums include the Vichy Idéalia Life Serum which treats basically every skincare problem from acne to aging, the Mario Badescu Vitamin C Serum which is great for dark spots and anti-aging, the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo which treat darks spots and acne, and the Hydraluron moisture serum which really helps keep the skin plump and hydrated (therefore being anti-acne and anti-aging).

I then follow up with a moisturizer. If your skincare routine were a manicure, you'd have your base coat to prep (cleansing and toning), your nail color/the best part (your [eye cream and] serum), then your top coat, or your moisturizer. The moisturizer is there to lock in everything you just put on.

Quite honestly, you don't need to get spendy with your moisturizer. Make sure there are no no-no ingredients in there (alchol denat. and mineral oil), but after that you don't need to spend much since you just want to keep in the good stuff you already put on with your serum. If you have mineral oil in any of your products after cleansing, the good stuff won't absorb into the skin.

My favorite moisturizers include the Tata Harper Rebuilding Moisturizer and the Tata Harper Replenishing Nutrient Complex, the Cera Ve Moisturizer, and the Cetaphil Lotion (again, huge pump available from Costco. Not expensive).

After this basic routine, you can get into your spot treatments and your masks. See my mask post here and we'll go into spot treatments for blemishes in the next post.