How To Make Your Facial Serum Work Harder (& Better!)
Serums can truly supercharge your skincare routine – especially if you know how to maximize their effectiveness. Here’s how…
We believe your face serum should be one of your most prized skincare possessions. Of course, daily sunscreen is crucial, and yes, your cleanser provides the foundation to everything that follows. But a face serum is the key to targeting everything you love (and maybe don’t love so much) about your skin. Whether you want to improve hydration, deal with breakouts, soften fine lines or brighten tired skin, the right face serum can help fix the lot.
Speaking of the ‘right’ face serum, finding your perfect fit is vital, but let us ask you this: do you feel like you’ve found the one... yet it’s kind of underperforming? Then it’s probably not the serum that’s the issue. Instead, it’s likely the way you’re using it.
So let’s fix that, shall we?
Your Serum Strategy 101
Think of your face serum as the VIP in your skincare routine. Because yes, it's that special. Plus, it’s likely to have cost more than most of your other products, so it’d be foolish not to fuel yourself with the knowledge of how to use it effectively.
Here are the face serum rules we follow to the letter…
When To Use Your Face Serum
The correct order in which to apply ALL of your skincare products matters. A lot. And the general rule of thumb is that you should always work with your products from thin to thick; from water to oil.
This means that cleanser comes first (obvs!), then toner, serum, eye cream and finally moisturizer. If you apply serum after your moisturizer, on the other hand, the rich, slightly heavier nature of moisturizer will block the serum from the surface of your skin. And this will immediately make it less effective. That’s what we call money down the drain.
Serum BEFORE moisturizer, people. Always.
How Much Face Serum Should You Use?
Face serums are super lightweight due to their small molecular structure. This means they’re able to carry a high intensity of concentrated, active ingredients in a relatively thin, slippery formulation. This is crucial because it gives serum the ability to penetrate the skin more effectively than thicker, more viscous formulations like moisturizer and facial oil.
Thanks to their slippery nature, face serums smooth over your skin like a dream – well, a good one does, anyway;). Sure, it’s tempting to smother your face in it because you think your skin will end up reaping more benefits from all those awesome ingredients. But that’s a mistake because, the truth is, your skin can only soak up so much.
A reputable serum will always come with guidelines on how much to use, but a pea-sized amount, or roughly two to three drops, should generally be sufficient for your face and neck. Any more will simply be a waste.
5 Ways To Make Your Face Serum Work Harder
Because it's not just what you apply, but the way in which you apply it...
1. Exfoliate First
If the surface of your skin is clogged up with dead skin cells, your face serum stands no chance of penetrating at a deeper level. And this means it won’t work so well. So make sure you exfoliate regularly to create an easier pathway for your serum to go about its business.
A gentle scrub two or three times a week is a great shout, but if you’re not keen on face scrubs, try a leave-on chemical exfoliant that uses ingredients like glycolic acid and/or salicylic acid to dissolve the ‘glue’ that holds dead skin cells together.
Try: 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant
2. Nail The Damp Skin Technique
Serums are able to penetrate the skin better if your skin has a bit of moisture present at its surface. Why? Because damp skin is more permeable, easy as that.
The trick is to apply a couple of drops to your hand as quickly as you can after cleansing or toning your skin. Then apply serum all over your face and neck using clean hands and light pressing motions. Not only will your skin be more receptive to all those fabulous ingredients but you’ll also lock in a little extra moisture while you’re at it. Win win.
One word of warning, however. If you have sensitive skin, you might actually be better off applying your serum to dry skin to reduce irritation. But play around, see what works best for you.
3. Understand That Your Skin’s Needs Vary From Morning To Night
Just like your entire body, your skin’s needs are very much governed by time. Cell turnover, for example, is at its peak during the night, while you’re asleep. This means that instead of using a sun protective antioxidant serum before bed, it’s much better to encourage repair and regeneration with ingredients like retinol, peptides and growth factors. Sebum production also slows down at night so it's similarly wise to enlist in some help sealing in hydration.
Meanwhile, your levels of cortisol are at their highest when you wake up, so anti-inflammatory serums that contain ingredients like niacinamide and vitamin E are better as part of your morning routine. Skin brightening and awakening ingredients like caffeine and vitamin C are also more beneficial first thing when you’ll be able to maximize – and actually see! – their revitalizing effects. And obviously antioxidants that help to protect your skin from environmental harm are crucial every morning.
Try: Day Night Duo with Vitamin C and Retinol Facial Serums
4. Wait A Hot Minute Before Applying Moisturizer
While it’s great to apply face serum swiftly after cleansing and/or toning, it’s wise to wait 60 seconds or so between your serum and moisturizer. Most serum formulations will sink in super fast but still, giving the formulation a short while to fully absorb and dry helps it to really settle into your skin.
5. Give Your Face Serum Enough Time To Work
Serums aren’t miracle workers that instantly make wrinkles vanish overnight. On the contrary, for real results, you’ll need to consistently apply yours for at least six to eight weeks before you’ll even begin to see their true effects.
Saying that, don’t rush in without patch testing any new formulation first. Then, if you’re good to go, make sure to introduce it slowly into your routine. This will give your skin time to adjust, thereby reducing your chances of irritation. It’ll also stop you from giving up too soon!
Check out our line-up of awesome serums right here. And if you don’t know which one is right for you, here’s a helpful guide.
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![Our Best Skincare Advice For Stressed Skin]()
A stressed mind often goes hand-in-hand with stressed skin so if your skin is breaking out, freaking out or drying out right now, here’s some advice…
Stress can be a real bummer for the health of your skin. It can exact all sorts of chaos on your complexion, causing anything from redness and irritation to acne, excess dryness, even flare-ups in existing conditions like rosacea and eczema.
But why? What’s the connection between stress and your skin?
Why Your Skin Reacts To Emotional Stress
You may not know this but your skin and brain are pretty tight. So tight, in fact, that they have a name for their strong friendship: the skin-brain axis.
The skin-brain axis is a communication network through which the brain and skin connect and consequently react to certain triggers. The skin-to-brain communication is pretty obvious when you think about it. For example, when your hand comes into contact with something extremely hot, the skin sends signals to your brain to move your hand away to reduce pain and minimize harm. Of course, it’s way more complicated than that (because biology), but that’s your skin doing its part in this two-way partnership.
But what about the brain-to-skin communication? Well, this is where your emotions come into play. And more specifically, stress. When your brain is stressed it releases inflammatory factors into the bloodstream, including an increase in the ‘stress hormone,’ cortisol.
Cortisol plays an important role in the body, boosting your energy as you wake up in the morning, enabling tissue repair throughout the day and dropping in the evening to help prepare you for sleep. Problems arise, however, when chronic stress (the kind that builds up and makes you feel anxious, depressed, tired or frustrated) causes your cortisol levels to stay elevated. This not only disrupts sleep – which is seriously bad news for your skin in its own right – but elevated cortisol can also destroy important proteins like collagen and elastin, increase inflammation and seriously mess with your skin’s important barrier function. This is how the brain-to-skin part of the partnership works.
Tell-Tale Signs That Your Skin Is Stressed
Many skin conditions have been linked to emotional stress. Eczema, rosacea and psoriasis can all be triggered by bouts of stress thanks to the inflammatory nature of the beast. Cortisol also accelerates the production of sebum in your skin which can be seriously bad news for those with acne-prone skin.
But it’s not just sufferers of these specific skin conditions that can be affected by stress. It can get us all if we don’t watch our backs and try to keep our levels of emotional stress under control.
The most common signs to look out for include…
* Redness
* Irritation
* Dryness
* Dehydration
* Oiliness
* Pimples
Your Game Plan For Reducing Stress
Are you noticing any of the above creeping up on you right now? Feel like they might be a result of chronic stress? Then your first course of action is to implement lifestyle changes that promote relaxation and help reduce your stress levels. It's vital to think about the way your conduct your daily life and to take time out to concentrate on your mental health. Granted, this isn't easy, but it’s extremely important for the health of your entire body, not just your skin. Things like exercise have been proven to boost your mental wellbeing, as has meditation, a healthy diet, quality sleep and deep breathing.
Also, try to understand your stress triggers. This will give you the skills and knowledge to improve habits or avoid certain situations that make you feel tense or troubled.
Skincare Recovery Starts Now
When it comes to skincare, there are many ways to provide your skin with a physical buffer against the visible signs of stress.
Below are our top skincare tips for stressed skin.
1. Simplify Your Routine
When stressed skin starts freaking out, it’s a warning sign to chill out with the over-complicated skincare routine. Lay off the exfoliation for a bit and reduce your use of active ingredients while your skin hits the reset button. Hopefully, it won’t take long for your skin to return to a state of calm but sticking with a simple cleanser, good moisturizer and broad-spectrum sunscreen will help speed up the process.
2. Embrace Calming Skincare Ingredients
The likes of retinol and glycolic acid are extremely effective skin-enhancers when your skin is strong and behaving itself, but when it’s compromised it’s best to lay off these potent powerhouses.
Instead, reach for the more gentle folk; those that still have positive effects on your skin, while helping to soothe redness and reduce inflammation at the same time. Our favorites include aloe, green tea, oat and rice milk, niacinamide and vitamin E – all of which you’ll find in many of your favorite TruSkin formulations. Soothing Cleansing Milk, for example, is the bee’s knees for compromised, stressed skin, literally giving your skin a comfortable hug of oat and rice milk, along with two of the finest super hydrators, hyaluronic acid and glycerin.
3. Boost Your Barrier Function
Your skin’s barrier function is crucial for keeping your skin hydrated and strong. How so? Well, this important top layer keeps moisture in and nasties out, allowing your skin to maintain optimum health and minimal disruption.
Excess cortisol tries its hardest to upset your barrier function, so make sure you counteract its damaging effects by ‘feeding’ your skin with all the good stuff. Ceramides, for example, are essential for a strong, stable barrier function as they help bind the cells together, giving it stability, preventing water loss and protecting it from environmental stressors.
Try our Smoothing Collagen Serum which contains three essential ceramides for repairing, hydrating and strengthening stressed skin.
4. Supercharge Your Skin’s Overnight Repair System
While the rest of your body sleeps, your skin gets super busy, repairing damage caused by the stresses from the day as well as rejuvenating itself in preparation for a brand new one. To help out, ensure your skin is gently cleansed before bed, then apply an enriching night cream that contains kind-to-skin antioxidants (hello sodium ascorbyl phosphate!) as well as ingredients famed for fueling hydration and calming inflammation.
Good news: we have that exact product in the form of Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream.
5. Finally, Don't Panic
Fortunately, stressed skin is usually temporary so don't worry about it too much – that'll do nothing but heighten your emotional stress! Just listen to your skin, stick with a back-to-basics routine for a while and if things do persist, maybe it's time to visit a dermatologist for extra advice. That's what they're there for, after all.
Our Best Skincare Advice For Stressed Skin
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