Sleep has important restorative properties, using the right skincare can help make a good night’s sleep even more effective!
What products to use
Night oils are one of the most popular choices for overnight skincare at the moment. Oils penetrate very deeply into the skin, which means they can deliver key ingredients to where they need to be. Face oils don’t really protect the skin, so it’s best to use them at night. Your skin doesn’t require the protection at night just nourishment. Night creams are another popular choice. They tend to have a higher concentration of oil to give the skin that deep nourishment. Daytime skincare is formulated to sit under makeup, which limits the nourishment it can provide; with specifically adapted night time products, this isn’t a concern so they can be much richer in key ingredients.
Ingredients to look for
One ingredient you can only use at night is retinol; this anti-ageing, anti-scarring, anti-acne powerhouse is a vitamin A derivative and is broken down by sunlight. Other ingredients to look out for include detoxifying and regenerating plant extracts like grape seed oil and rosehip seed oil as well as carrot, lemon and lavender essential oils; this is because your skin can make best use of them at night when it’s renewing. High concentrations of vitamin C can make your skin more sensitive to UV light, so save these stronger products for night time use too. And finally, leave-on AHA or BHA acid peels should be reserved for overnight use and washed off in the morning once they’ve done their job by deeply exfoliating your skin.
What are the benefits?
The ingredients mentioned above are some of the most effective skincare ingredients in existence, and using them in the correct way ensures you’ll get the most out of them. Retinol, peeling acids, rosehip seed oil and vitamin C have almost legendary skincare powers and are best used at night. You can’t use them all, but choose a product based on what you want to achieve with your skin. With overnight skincare, wake up to a softer, smoother, firmer and clearer complexion morning after morning.
Image:istock.com/gpointstudio
