What Order Should You Apply Skincare In?

Apply skincare from thinnest to thickest. In the morning that’s cleanser, any serum or treatment, moisturizer, then sunscreen as the last skincare step before makeup. At night it’s cleanser, treatment, moisturizer, and a face oil or balm on top only if your skin is dry. Watery products go on first because a heavy cream or oil sits on the surface and gets in the way of anything applied over it. Sunscreen goes last in the morning so it forms an even layer that nothing else disturbs. You don’t need every step. Cleanser, moisturizer and a broad-spectrum sunscreen make a complete routine, and everything else is optional. Prescription and acne treatments are the exception to any chart: they go where your prescriber or the label says.

The order at a glance

Morning, step by step

1. Cleanse. A gentle cleanser and lukewarm water. If your skin runs dry and you cleansed well the night before, a water rinse is enough.
2. Serum or treatment, if you use one. Thin, water-based products go on now. If you use two, the runnier one goes first.
3. Moisturizer. A lotion or cream over the top.
4. Sunscreen. Last, in the amount and at the timing on its label. Makeup goes over it. Our guide to what order to apply makeup in picks up from here.

Night, step by step

1. Cleanse. If you wore makeup or sunscreen, take that off first with a balm, oil or micellar water, then wash.
2. Treatment, if you use one. A retinoid, an exfoliating acid or a serum, on clean skin. One strong treatment a night is plenty.
3. Moisturizer.
4. Oil or balm, if your skin is dry. Nothing gets through an oil, so it’s always the final layer.

Double cleansing, retinoid buffering and which nights to skip are covered in the right order for a night routine.

Why thinnest to thickest works

Skincare products are built at different weights. A toner or serum is mostly water. A cream carries more oils and waxes, and those are meant to stay near the surface and slow water loss. Put the cream on first and the serum you apply afterward lands on that film and doesn’t reach your skin in the same way.

So when a new product doesn’t fit the chart, rub a drop between your fingers. Runnier than your moisturizer means it goes before your moisturizer. Thicker or oilier means after.

Sunscreen is the one product you place by its job, not its texture. It works as a film on the skin, and you want that film even and intact. Mixing it into moisturizer thins it out, and rubbing a serum over it moves it around. So it goes on last, even when it’s a light fluid.

The 3-step minimum

You need three products: a cleanser, a moisturizer and a sunscreen.

• Morning: cleanse or rinse, moisturize, sunscreen.
• Night: cleanse, moisturize.

That isn’t a beginner version you’re supposed to graduate from. It cleans the skin, keeps water in it and protects it from UV. Serums, toners, essences and eye creams are for a specific goal like dark spots or fine lines. If you don’t have a goal for a product, skip it. And if your skin is oily and your sunscreen feels moisturizing enough, you can drop the morning moisturizer.

Keeping it going is the harder part: see how to build a skincare routine you’ll stick to.

How long to wait between steps

For almost everything, you don’t have to. There’s little evidence that a serum needs five or twenty minutes alone before moisturizer, and hydrating products go on fine over slightly damp skin. Apply one layer after another and go.

Two waits come from product labels, and those are the ones to keep:

• Sunscreen before sun. Many sunscreen labels, including the one on our pick below, say to apply 15 minutes before sun exposure. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) gives the same advice: apply to dry skin 15 minutes before going outdoors.
• Whatever your treatment’s directions say. Differin Gel’s leaflet, for example, says that if you use it during the day you should let it dry before applying sunscreen. If your prescription’s directions give a wait after washing, follow it.

One optional wait is worth it for a practical reason. If your makeup balls up into little flakes, give your moisturizer and sunscreen a minute or two to set before foundation. That’s pilling, and our layering mistakes guide goes through the other causes.

Where prescription and acne treatments go

Follow your prescriber or the label. That beats any order chart, including the one above.

The general pattern is that a treatment goes on clean, dry skin before moisturizer. Over-the-counter adapalene (Differin Gel 0.1%) is a good example of what a label covers: use once daily, clean the skin gently and pat it dry first, then cover the entire affected area with a thin layer. Its leaflet adds that a moisturizer may help with dryness and that you should use sunscreen when going outdoors.

If you were told to put moisturizer on first, or to use a treatment only on certain nights or spots, that’s your order. And ask before layering two acne medications; the adapalene label notes that irritation is more likely when you use more than one at a time.

Common mistakes

• Serum over moisturizer. The cream got there first. Swap them.
• Mixing sunscreen into moisturizer or foundation. It dilutes the sunscreen and you can’t tell how much went on. Apply it as its own layer.
• Counting on SPF makeup alone. Getting the labeled protection takes far more product than anyone wears as foundation. How much sunscreen to apply has the amounts.
• Adding three new products at once. If your skin stings or breaks out, you won’t know which one did it. Add one, wait a few weeks, then add the next.

One pick for each step

Prices move constantly, so we link to live listings instead of printing a number that is wrong by the time you read it. Links go to Amazon, which is where a referral gets credited.

Cleanser: CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser

CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser is a fragrance-free cleanser with ceramides and hyaluronic acid, made for normal to dry skin. CeraVe says it cleans without leaving skin feeling tight. It costs about $15, though the price changes often. It isn’t the pick for very oily skin; how to choose a cleanser for your skin type covers the foaming options.

Optional treatment: The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% is a water-based serum with 10% niacinamide and 1% zinc PCA, so it slots in after cleansing and before moisturizer, morning or night. It’s about $6, a cheap way to find out whether you’ll keep a serum step. The Ordinary advises a patch test before you use it. It’s a cosmetic, not an acne medication.

Moisturizer: CeraVe Moisturizing Cream

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is a fragrance-free cream with ceramides, hyaluronic acid, petrolatum and dimethicone that works on face and body. At about $19 for a 19-ounce tub, one purchase covers both ends of the day for months. It’s a rich cream, and oily skin may prefer a lotion; see how to choose a moisturizer for your skin type.

Sunscreen: La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-in Milk SPF 60

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-in Milk Sunscreen SPF 60 is a broad-spectrum lotion for face and body, about $28. Its label directions: apply generously 15 minutes before sun exposure, and reapply after 80 minutes of swimming or sweating, immediately after towel drying, and at least every 2 hours. Sunscreen is regulated as a drug, so the label’s directions come first.

If I Were You

If you want the least possible, buy a cleanser, a moisturizer and a sunscreen, and stop there until that’s a habit.

If you own a shelf of products and don’t know where they go, line them up from runniest to thickest. That’s your order, with sunscreen at the end in the morning.

If you’re on a prescription for acne, rosacea or anything else, build the routine around its directions and keep everything else plain.

If you wear makeup every day, treat sunscreen as the end of skincare and primer as the start of makeup, and give the sunscreen a minute before you go on.

Bottom line

Thinnest to thickest, sunscreen last in the morning, oil last at night. Cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen are the whole requirement. Skip the long waits, keep the ones printed on your sunscreen and your treatment, and let a prescriber’s directions overrule any chart. More basics are in our skin care archive.