A Prefall Moisture Boost for Skin

Knowing how to layer makes any season infinitely easier and more pleasurable. Just the way a satin slip dress works with a ribbed cotton sweater, a great serum or rich cream can be layered to great effect. Knowing how—especially in a transitional season like fall—is the best way to keep your skin looking and feeling its healthiest. Here, six layers and steps to really make a difference in the way you look (and feel) this fall.

It seems counterintuitive, but exfoliating is the key to moisturizing: When you gently remove dead skin cells, it allows newer, living cells to get closer to the surface, improving your skin’s barrier function. This also makes it easier for your skin to absorb any treatments that follow.

Serums are the least occlusive form of moisturizer, and they deliver active ingredients in a very powerful way. Because they sink right into skin, they make an ideal first layer.

Choose by texture, depending on the richness your skin needs. The right one layers easily over serum and over or under face oil.

Oils are one of our favorite ways to moisturize. While creams and lotions are a relatively new invention, people have been using oils to moisturize their skin for eons. Oils are great on their own or layered over (or under) serums, creams, lotions, and treatments.

If your skin is ultradry, you want something super occlusive to hold moisture in your skin.

At goop, we’re passionate about the idea that beauty comes from the inside out. Diet, water consumption, and supplementing with antioxidants like the ones in this morning skin powder can really make a difference in your skin.