We want to answer your most pressing questions—or, you know, just the things that you’re curious about. Please keep them coming to: feedback@goop.com. Below, a q for our beauty director, Jean Godfrey-June.
Dear Jean, I never quite understand what order to layer on the skin-care products for my face. Does it even make a difference? And if so, what comes first, what goes last, and what goes in between? —Nicola P.
Dear Nicola, I get asked this question a lot, and the truth is, it’s a pretty inexact science. In general, you want active treatment ingredients—vitamin C, peptides, alpha hydroxy acids, and the like—on as close to bare skin as possible. And you want moisturizing, protecting ingredients layered on top.
Vitamin C
Multiactive Cream
Multiactive Serum
Part of the answer also very much depends on your skin type, as well as the products you know work for you. Below, my rough order of operations for skin care, with the caveat that if a step doesn’t work for you, don’t feel you need it.
1THE PREP: EXFOLIATE
Exfoliating regularly allows treatment ingredients to get into your skin better, and some exfoliants—like AHAs—are glow-boosting treatments in and of themselves. So it’s always the first step for me. Once a week, I do an overnight peel. Then, every few days (never within at least 24 hours of the peel, though, as exfoliating too much defeats the purpose), I massage my skin with Microderm while I’m in the shower; the water softens up my skin before I even get started, so it works even better.
How I often I use Microderm depends on my skin and how it’s feeling. Some people can do it every day—Gwyneth does, for instance. Other people need to do it less. It’s really just a personal thing.
After you’ve exfoliated, you’re ready to do your routine. The dead skin cells, the dirt, and everything else have been swept away, so the products in the routine are going to go right in and work harder, for better results.
2TREATMENT SERUM
In the mornings, I treat my skin with vitamin C, as well as a potent peptide cocktail.
Everybody’s skin benefits from vitamin C first thing: It smooths and brightens your skin tone, and there’s nothing like it for glow. Start using it and it shouldn’t be more than a week before someone asks you what you’re doing with your skin.
Wait a few minutes for the vitamin C to do its work, then layer on this moisturizing peptide superserum. The combination is just magic—firming and glow-inducing—on skin.
In the evenings, I use one of our all-time favorite products on goop. It’s the gentlest, most nourishing serum, yet it really exfoliates, so you wake up with baby-soft skin. I also layer the peptide serum on later in the evening (the sleep milk, like the vitamin C, needs to do its work, too) for even more benefits.
Note: If your skin is super oily, you can probably skip the next step—you don’t need another moisturizer on top of your serum.
3MORE MOISTURE?
HYALURONIC ACID
If you need more moisture, you’ve got options. If your skin is oily or you don’t like the feel of a richer moisturizer, hyaluronic acid is great because it hydrates your skin but sinks in on contact, almost like a gel. You can have the oiliest skin in the world and hyaluronic acid won’t bum your skin out, and you can have super dry skin and use it as an extra layer.
OIL
Some people love oil; some people love moisturizer. I personally layer both if I’m feeling super dry, but I love oil. My feeling is that humanity has been using oil for thousands of years, so there must be something to it, and it just feels so good (and makes your skin look so good instantly—I love a gleam). This one from Vintner’s Daughter is technically a serum but so moisturizing and soothing that I slather it on like an oil (particularly to reawaken my skin during the 4 p.m. slump). It feels so good, it smells so good...
MOISTURIZER
Despite my love of oils, I also use moisturizer. This can be chalked up, in part, to my being a beauty editor, I think. You can layer moisturizer on top of everything, or you can skip the oil step and go straight to moisturizer. This rich face cream is not just a fantastic moisturizer—it’s full of peptides to firm and smooth your skin.
4THE CHAMPION YOUTH-BOOOSTER: SUNSCREEN
Bonus: The Supercream Option
If four is three steps too many, consider this rich, all-in-one moisture cream with 50-plus active ingredients. (I often use it as my treatment step, too.)
