Do You Really Need a Night Cream?

The short answer—if it’s glowing, supple, healthy-looking skin you’re after—is yes. Use the right one before bed and you’ll wake up to radiant, moisturized, fresh-looking skin that needs less (or no) makeup, feels great all day, and in many cases, will have people demanding, “What are you using on your skin?”

Night creams are typically made with high concentrations of active ingredients to support skin while you sleep—the interval when skin, like the rest of the body, shifts into repair mode. All the skin-reviving active ingredients, oils, and extracts can go to work unperturbed without getting broken down by sunlight or perspiration or simply getting rubbed off during the course of a day, which is another reason night creams can make such an enormous difference.

1. 1

   Peptide Cream with over fifty active ingredients

   
   MACRENE actives High Performance Face Cream goop, $225

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2. 2

   Hydrating Mask for All Skin Types

   
   Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Mask goop, $120

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3. 3

   Multipurpose Moisturizer for Normal and Dry Skin

   
   Mukti Marigold Hydrating Crème goop, $62

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4. 4

   Youth-Boosting Treatment for Dull Skin

   
   Lavido Age Away Night Cream goop, $49

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Night creams help plump fine lines, firm, and improve your complexion because they’re often made with high levels of emollients to deeply nourish skin. When your skin is dry, it doesn’t just look and feel bad; the lack of moisture can actually affect collagen production. Night creams drench skin with moisture and, in doing so, help keep skin feeling firm.

Note: It’s important to go clean with night cream to avoid potential toxic ingredients and endocrine disruptors, as well as petroleum and the silicones often found in conventional moisturizers that create the feeling of hydration but have no real skin benefit.