10 Tips for Designing a Night Skin Care Routine – 100% PURE

There’s a kernel of truth to this whole „beauty sleep“ thing. Following the right steps in a skincare routine and ensuring a good night’s rest can lead to refreshed, radiant skin and a feeling of rejuvenation. Properly caring for your skin at night involves a regimen that includes the best face moisturizer and best eye cream for clear, healthy, and glowing skin upon waking.

Since your skincare needs are different in the daytime, having a separate night routine of skin renewal and repair is paramount while your body is in regenerative mode. Read on to learn the best tips for creating a night skincare routine with products from a natural face cleanser to a vitamin C serum that helps ensure you wake up every morning with gorgeous skin. Sleep IS a beautiful thing!

Why a Night Skincare Routine Is Worth Your Time

Tending to a night skincare routine right before bed might feel like the last thing you want to do after a busy day. But if you fall asleep at night without washing off your makeup or giving your skin proper nourishment, you will likely wake up with skin that looks dull, lackluster, or worse, broken out.

Since your complexion is exposed daily to skin-damaging pollutants and UV rays, plus any cosmetics you use, it’s important to have a nighttime routine that can repair and renew your skin overnight. At night, your skin is in repair mode, fixing environmental damage, rejuvenating, and creating new cells.

After washing with a natural face cleanser, following the proper steps for a skincare routine is important because all the active ingredients in your night products can better penetrate your skin than they can during the day. Then you can reap all the skin benefits.

How Does a Night Skincare Routine Differ from a Daytime One?

Your daytime skincare routine is all about proper balance, hydration, preservation, and most importantly, protection from environmental pollutants. The burden of these daytime influencers can create free radicals in your skin. Free-radical damage can lead to aging issues like fine lines and wrinkles, and pesky dark spots, requiring a vitamin C serum to neutralize them.

But before you hit the pillow, your night skincare routine should treat and give your skin back what it needs. Your skin goes into reparative mode and addresses issues before the regenerative process of sleep begins. It’s important to use products with active ingredients that can penetrate deep within the skin’s layers.

Must-Have Ingredients for a Night Skincare Routine

Starting a night skincare routine can feel overwhelming. With so many ingredients and products on the market, it’s easy to feel paralyzed by choice. The good news? A great skincare routine doesn’t have to be complicated. Before we uncover the best tips for designing a night skincare regimen, let’s point out must-have ingredients to build a foundation for healthy, glowing skin without the guesswork.

Hyaluronic Acid:
This powerful humectant deeply hydrates the skin, helping to improve its appearance by smoothing fine lines, reducing the appearance of wrinkles, and making the skin appear plumper. 

Vitamin C:
This potent antioxidant fights free radicals, brightens the skin, reduces the appearance of wrinkles, and boosts collagen production, contributing to a healthier, more youthful-looking complexion. 

Retinol:
This vitamin A derivative reduces fine lines and wrinkles, and it promotes cell renewal and turnover, leading to smoother, more even-toned skin. 

Peptides:
As the building blocks of proteins, peptides instruct skin cells to perform specific functions like building collagen and elastin, which are crucial for maintaining skin structure and elasticity. 

Antioxidants:
These skin protectants donate electrons to free radicals, neutralizing them and preventing them from damaging skin cells. 

Pro Tip: Layer your products from the thinnest to the thickest consistency to maximize absorption.

10 Best Practices for Your Night Skincare Routine

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all routine, there is a basic night skin care routine that everyone should have in place. Plus, applying products with concentrated, active ingredients and finishing by sealing in everything with the best face moisturizer are the keys to skin’s success.

#1: Wash your face and neck
Sleeping in makeup is a cardinal skincare sin. It may seem common sense, but wash your daily skin products and impurities off your face and neck with a natural face cleanser before applying treatments. If you don’t start with a cleansed, bare canvas, your night products will not work to their best potential.

#2: Use a toner
A natural toner comes next to clear leftover debris (including loosened dirt, oils, and dead skin cells) from cleansing (or exfoliating). It deeply hydrates and balances skin pH levels, resulting in a soothed, refreshed complexion.

#3: Apply a serum
Morning is a great time to use a vitamin C serum with antioxidants or a skin-brightening serum. They protect your skin from free radicals you’ll encounter throughout the day. But at night, you’ll want to use a multi-vitamin restorative serum that can deeply penetrate your skin while you sleep.

#4: Use an eye cream
Apply a night eye cream meant for your under-eye area. Face moisturizers just don’t cut it for what our eyes actually need, but the brightening, best eye cream will! Using a nighttime anti-aging eye cream with retinol is another must-have for helping to smooth out fine lines and crow’s feet around the eyes, so you wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

#5: Apply a spot treatment
It’s a good idea to use spot treatments at night when your body is in repair mode. For the best blemish- and dark-spot banishing results, you’ll want a dark spot remover with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory actives, plus brightening powers to naturally lighten dark spots.

#6: Moisturize
Using the best face moisturizer hydrates skin and locks in all the other layers of nightly products you’ve applied. In the evening, you can use a thicker night cream than what you used during the day. Opt for a free radical-scavenging moisturizer with nourishing antioxidants and potent green tea to protect against environmental damage.

#7: Use a retinol overnight balm
Applying a retinol overnight balm gives the potent nutrients the time to penetrate and fully absorb into the skin. Retinol can improve the appearance of firmness, tone, and elasticity while you sleep.

#8: Apply a retinol neck cream
Our necks often get less TLC than our faces and can quickly show the signs of aging without having proper neck treatment and protection. Keep that ‘turkey neck’ away with a retinol neck cream that can reduce telltale signs of aging in one of the most delicate and visible areas of skin.

#9: Tie up your hair
While you snooze, your face is vulnerable to many menacing factors, like a dirty pillowcase and unwashed hair. Tie your hair up in a loose bun on the top of your head so you’re never sleeping directly on top of your hair and exposing your skin to pore-clogging culprits.

#10: Patch test before using retinol
Since you’re using stronger ingredients like retinol or exfoliating acids, it’s best to patch-test before applying these stronger products to your face. Your skin can be easily irritated by certain ingredients, making patch tests a necessity.

Creating a Routine for Your Skin Type

Your skin isn’t just what you see in the mirror—it’s your body’s largest organ and first line of defense against the outside world. Therefore, it needs protection daily and nightly. Following the best steps for s skincare routine should include cleansing, hydration, and protection, and knowing your skin type, to help your skin stay resilient, smooth, and clear.

Let’s build your perfect skincare regimen for your skin type.

What to look for:

Oily Skin: Lightweight serums and non-comedogenic moisturizers

Combination Skin: A balance between hydration and oil control products

Sensitive Skin: Use fragrance-free, gentle formulations

Aging Skin: Incorporate hydration and rich products, peptides, and retinol for firming and smoothing

Step 1: Cleanse with the Right Face Wash

Cleansing is the foundation of any skincare routine. It removes dirt, oil, makeup, and environmental pollutants that accumulate on your skin throughout the day. A good natural face cleanser prevents clogged pores, breakouts, and dullness while preparing your skin to absorb the rest of your skincare products more effectively.

Best Product Recommendation:
All Skin Types
100% PURE Rose Water Gentle Cleanser– This cleanser is packed with hydrating florals, which nourish and soothe all skin types while gently removing dirt and oil. It’s free from harsh detergents and artificial fragrances, making it a great option for sensitive skin.

Step 2: Use a Toner to Balance & Prep Your Skin

Toner is often an overlooked step, but it plays a crucial role in balancing and prepping your skin after cleansing. A good toner restores your skin’s natural pH balance, removes any lingering impurities, and enhances the absorption of serums and moisturizers.

Best Product Recommendations:
Dry/Sensitive/Aging Skin:
100% PURE Restorative Sea Culture Hydrating Toner – Featuring the heavy hydrating lifter, hyaluronic acid, this water-drenching elixir seals in precious moisture. Chia water adds extra hydrating action, plus Mother Nature’s mighty gem, seaweed. Seaweed is excellent at trapping moisture into your skin, which is exactly why we tapped into its skin-loving minerals and nutrients.

Oily Skin:
100% PURE Tea Tree & Willow Clarifying Astringent – This toner is ideal for oily and acne-prone skin. It contains tea tree oil and willow bark extract, both known for their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It helps to tighten pores, control oil, and reduce the risk of breakouts without causing excessive dryness.

Combination Skin:
100% PURE Fermented Rice Water Toner
The nutrients in rice water help to inspire a radiant glow, very toned skin, and hydrated dry spots – very important for combination skin, especially in the colder months. These active enzymes combine with gentle sake and bearberry to be the perfect formula for removing spots and scars.

Step 3: Use Serum to Address Specific Skin Concerns

Face serums are lightweight, concentrated skincare products designed to address specific skin concerns and deliver active ingredients directly to the skin. They can help with dryness, blemishes, pigmentation, sun damage, and signs of aging. 

Best Product Recommendations:
Dry/Sensitive/Aging Skin:
100% PURE Rose Water Hyaluronic Serum – This lovely serum is designed to make skin shine with the ultimate hydrating trifecta for a base: aloe, rose, and glycerin. Skin drinks up this trio, soothed by these healing and calming ingredients before soaking in all the anti-aging and beautifying florals in this lightweight formula.

Oily/Combination Skin:
100% PURE Vitamin C Serum – This lightweight, stabilized vitamin C serum helps firm and brighten skin tone while promoting collagen production, and deeply hydrates skin with soothing aloe.

Step 4: Hydrate with a Lightweight Moisturizer A.M.

Hydration is essential for maintaining a strong and healthy skin barrier. A moisturizer helps prevent water loss, keeps skin soft and supple, and protects against environmental damage. Even if you have oily skin, using a moisturizer is crucial to prevent your skin from overcompensating by producing even more oil.

Best Product Recommendations:
Dry/Sensitive/Aging Skin
100% PURE Hydra Drench Cream – This ultra-lightweight moisturizer is packed with hydrating ingredients like chia seed gel and rose water, making it perfect for beginners. It provides long-lasting hydration without feeling greasy or heavy, making it suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin.

Oily/Combination Skin:
For daily use, we love the brightening Fermented Rice Water Serum or Green Tea EGCG Protective Serum for oily or combination skin types, since they both deliver oil-balancing essential oils, niacinamide, and antibacterial green tea and herbs.

If you’re looking for a nighttime serum for oily skin, look no further than our best-selling Multi-Vitamin & Antioxidant Potent PM Serum. This powerful serum is more than an anti-aging powerhouse; it’s packed with oil-balancing ingredients like niacinamide, vitamin C, broccoli, spinach, and tomato.

Step 5: Renew & Repair Moisturizer P.M.

Your complexion is exposed daily to skin-damaging pollutants and UV rays, plus any cosmetics you use. It’s important to have a nighttime routine that can repair and renew your skin overnight. At night, your skin is in repair mode, fixing environmental damage, rejuvenating, and creating new cells. It’s important to use the best face moisturizer with active ingredients that can penetrate deep within the skin’s layers.

Best Product Recommendations:
For All Skin Types; Sensitive Types Should Patch Test:
100% PURE Retinol Restorative Balm – This anti-aging overnight retinol cream is formulated with nourishing vitamins and antioxidants to enhance the skin’s natural glow. Vegan retinol helps to promote a more evenly toned complexion while lessening the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

PRO-TIP: For dry skin that is not cracked or aggravated, Multi-Vitamin + Antioxidants Potent PM Serum will offer the greatest anti-aging benefits at night. It includes hydrating rose water, hyaluronic acid, rosehip oil, and sea buckthorn oil.

Step 6: Protect Your Skin with Sunscreen (AM Routine Only)

Sunscreen is the most important step in any morning skincare routine. It protects against UV rays, which cause premature aging, dark spots, and an increased risk of skin cancer. Even on cloudy days or when indoors, UV exposure can still penetrate windows and damage the skin.

Best Product Recommendation:
For All Skin Types:
100% PURE Green Tea SPF 30 – This moisturizing sunscreen lotion defends against harmful UV rays with SPF 30 protection, while nourishing and rehydrating thirsty skin with green tea and aloe. The protective and toning antioxidants in the star ingredient green tea make for a soft, light, and fortified formula that makes putting on sunscreen feel a lot less like a chore and more like self-care.

Step 7: Treat Eye Area

Once you have established a basic skincare routine, you can start incorporating targeted treatments for specific concerns. The eye area is one of the first spots to show the signs of aging.

Best Product Recommendation:
For All Skin Types:
100% PURE Multi-Vitamin + Antioxidants PM Eye Treatment – This richly moisturizing, vitamin-concentrated eye treatment lessens the appearance of lines and wrinkles and increases firmness, elasticity, and brightens the eye area.

Pro Tip: Patch test new products before incorporating them fully into your routine.

Just as washing your face and applying sunscreen before stepping out are imperative for healthy skin, undoing the damage caused to your skin during the day is absolutely necessary. If you want to wake up with clear, glowing skin, build and maintain a night skincare routine. This way, you’ll cleanse, renew, and repair your skin while you get your necessary beauty sleep!

Frequently Asked Questions About a Night Skincare Routine

How does sleep benefit your skin’s health and appearance?

Sleep is vital for your skin’s health and appearance because it allows your body to repair and regenerate skin cells. During sleep, blood flow to the skin increases, collagen production is boosted, and damage from UV exposure and other environmental factors is repaired. This results in a brighter, more even complexion, reduced inflammation, and a decrease in the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.

Why is it crucial to cleanse your face before bed?

Cleansing your face before bed is crucial because it removes dirt, oil, makeup, and pollutants that accumulate on your skin throughout the day. These impurities can clog pores, leading to breakouts and dullness. Additionally, cleansing ensures that your skin care products, such as serums and moisturizers, can penetrate more effectively and work their magic while you sleep.

How can retinol improve your skin while you sleep?

Retinol, a derivative of vitamin A, is known for its anti-aging benefits. It works by stimulating cell turnover and collagen production, which helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation. Using retinol at night allows it to work without interference from sunlight, which can degrade the product and cause sensitivity. Over time, consistent use of retinol can result in smoother, firmer, and more radiant skin.

What is the best way to moisturize your skin at night?

The best way to moisturize your skin at night is to use a rich, hydrating moisturizer that suits your skin type. Look for products containing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and glycerin, which help to lock in moisture and repair the skin barrier. After cleansing and applying any treatment serums, gently massage the moisturizer into your skin to enhance absorption. Nighttime is the perfect opportunity to use a thicker, more nourishing formula, as your skin can fully absorb it without the interference of makeup or sunscreen.

Why should you use a specific eye cream at night?

Using a specific eye cream at night is important because the skin around the eyes is delicate and prone to showing signs of aging, such as fine lines, puffiness, and dark circles. Nighttime eye creams are typically formulated with potent ingredients like peptides, antioxidants, and retinol that target these concerns while you sleep. Applying an eye cream before bed helps to hydrate, firm, and brighten the under-eye area, contributing to a more youthful and refreshed appearance.