It’s the beauty equivalent of the
chicken or the egg question: which comes first the sunscreen or the
moisturiser?
Where
does primer fit in? What about serum?
With all
the new beauty products invading our bathroom cabinets it’s no wonder we’re
confused about which order to layer our products in. Use the following as a
handy guide.
This
regime assumes you have cleansed and toned your skin:
1.
Sunscreen*
The Cancer Council recommends that sunscreen be applied to clean
skin underneath your make up and before moisturiser. By applying
moisturiser first, the sunscreen won’t be able to interact with the skin the
way it should therefore making it less effective.
What about
foundations and moisturisers that contain sunscreen I hear you ask? Many
cosmetic sunscreen products offer protection that is much lower than the
maximum recommended SPF30+ and these are fine if you are going to be outside
for short periods of time such as a quick trip to the shops at lunchtime.
However, if you need to spend periods of time in the sun, the Cancer Council
advise you use a separate sunscreen and reapply it every two hours (not just
once in the morning).
Dermalogica’s Solar Defense Booster is a gem of a product I
can’t recommend it highly enough. You can apply it directly to skin for full
SPF30 coverage or mix it (in equal parts) to your moisturiser or foundation if
you are only going to be outside for brief periods of time. It’s also
newly formulated to be a SPF50.
2. Moisturiser
Wait a few minutes for the sunscreen to absorb before applying
your moisturiser, I know what you’re thinking, Nic, how can I apply moisturiser
over a thick goopy sunscreen? But if you use an SPF product for the face like
the Dermalogica one mentioned above or Day Wear Face by the
Cancer Council you won’t get that chalky white residue.
*If you usually apply a serum during the day you can – and only if
it’s of light consistency (in other words don’t go crazy with the rosehip oil)
apply it before the sunscreen and wait a few moments for it to absorb before
applying your sunscreen. If you’re not going to be in the sun much, your steps
would be: cleanse, tone, apply a serum then a moisturiser with SPF properties
and any make up products over that.
3.
Primer
Aussie
cosmetics guru Napoleon Perdis has always said ‘it’s a crime not to prime’ and
if you’ve ever cursed foundation or makeup powders settling into and
accentuating your fine lines and wrinkles, consider primer your new best
friend.
Napoleon Perdis’ Auto Pilot Primer was one of the first on
the Australian skincare market and it has just celebrated its 10th birthday-
and with good reason, it’s a killer skin preparation. BareMinerals has a great
primer, Prime Time, is great for oily skins and if you prefer using a
mineral make up powder over a liquid foundation. And if like me you have any
redness, both Smashbox Finish colour correcting foundation primer and Dermalogica's Redness Relief are good at covering up
blotchiness, rosacea or pigmentation.
4. Make up
Exhausted yet? You can skip a bunch of steps if you use 2-in-1
products like a moisturizing primer or a BB/CC Cream (my favourites here are
Garnier’s BB Cream for sensitive skin, Clinique’s Moisture Surge CC Cream* and
Stila’s 10-In-One HD Illuminating Beauty Balm) and to be honest I don’t know
anyone other than beauty editors who apply a serum and primer on a daily basis.
So don’t by any means think this has to be part of your regular skin care
routine – the only thing I’d say you should never skimp on a daily basis is
sunscreen.
As for which make up comes first: the concealer or foundation?
It’s really up to what works for you. When I wrote this post, some commenters rushed to tell me I was wrong in
saying you should conceal first, but our skins aren’t all the same so if
something is working for you, don’t change it!
As I was talking about the eye area in that post and in
reference to a particularly sticky product I find it’s best to conceal first
BUT if you want to cover pimples or blemishes you can conceal after applying a
foundation – as you’re likely to wipe off any concealer when you’re applying
foundation anyway.
So that’s
the daytime covered, what about at night? Your first step is to…obviously take
any make up off and clean your skin from any pollutants that have come in contact
with the skin.
Step 1:
Remove eye make-up (eyeshadow, mascara etc).
Step 2:
Cleanse
Step 3:
Exfoliate (I do this twice a week, you may do it less or more often).
Step 4:
Tone
Step 4:
Serum – warm up two drops of your product into the palms of your hand and pat
over your face.
Step 5:
Under-eye cream – I like to apply this after serum to give that a chance to
absorb before applying a night cream.
Step 7:
Moisturise – skip over under-eye area.
