Most people own the right products and use them in the wrong order. It is the cheapest skincare mistake to fix, because it costs nothing — you already have everything you need.
Here is the order, why it is the order, and the handful of combinations worth avoiding.
The one rule that covers almost everything
Thinnest to thickest. Watery things first, greasy things last.
The reason is simple. A thin, water-based serum can pass through skin that has nothing on it. It cannot pass through a layer of cream you applied first. Heavier products are partly designed to seal — that is what makes them good moisturizers — so anything you want absorbed has to go on before the seal, not after.
That is the whole principle. Everything below is just that rule applied.
Morning
- Cleanser. Overnight your skin produces oil and sheds cells. A gentle wash clears it so the rest of the routine reaches skin instead of residue. If your skin feels tight after cleansing, your cleanser is too strong — that is not "clean," that is stripped.
- Toner. Optional, and the most misunderstood step. A modern toner is not an astringent; it is a thin hydrating or clarifying layer that preps skin. Skip it if you like.
- Serum or treatment. The active step. This is where niacinamide, hyaluronic acid or vitamin C goes, on skin that is still slightly damp.
- Eye cream. Before your face moisturizer, because eye products are usually lighter and the skin there is thinner.
- Moisturizer. Seals in everything above it and slows water loss through the day.
- Sunscreen. Always last. SPF is a film that has to sit on the surface to work. Anything applied over it dilutes and disturbs that film.
A note on that last step: we do not make a sunscreen. We would rather say so than pretend the step does not exist. If you only ever add one product to your routine, make it a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher from someone who makes a good one. It does more for how skin ages than any serum on the market, ours included.
Evening
- Remove makeup and sunscreen first. A cleanser has to get through that layer before it can clean anything underneath. If you wear either, this is a genuine first step, not an optional one.
- Cleanser. The actual wash.
- Exfoliant — two or three nights a week, not nightly. A glycolic acid serum or a polish goes here, on clean skin. Nightly exfoliation is the single most common way people damage their own skin barrier.
- Toner. Same optional step as the morning.
- Treatment serum. Whatever you are targeting: hydration, tone, texture.
- Eye cream.
- Night cream or moisturizer. Richer than your daytime one, because there is no sunscreen or makeup going over it.
- Face oil, if you use one. Genuinely last. Oil passes through cream far better than cream passes through oil.
How long to wait between steps
Less time than the internet tells you. Around thirty seconds to a minute — long enough that the previous layer is no longer wet to the touch — is enough for almost everything. The twenty-minute waits you see quoted come from a small number of prescription actives and do not apply to a normal routine.
One exception worth knowing: put hydrating serums on slightly damp skin, not bone-dry skin. Hyaluronic acid works by holding water. Give it some.
The combinations actually worth avoiding
Fewer than you have been told. Most "never mix these" advice online is repeated without a source. Three that hold up:
- Two strong exfoliants on the same night. A glycolic acid serum and a scrub in one session is how you end up red, stinging and worse off than when you started. Pick one.
- A retinoid and a strong acid on the same night. Both work on cell turnover. Together they compound irritation without compounding results. Alternate nights instead.
- Four new products at once. Not a chemistry problem — a diagnosis problem. If your skin reacts, you will have no idea which one caused it. Add one product at a time and give it two weeks.
And one myth worth retiring: niacinamide and vitamin C are fine together. The claim that they cancel each other out comes from a 1960s study using raw, unstable ingredients at high heat, not finished cosmetic formulas. Modern products handle this.
You cannot sequence what you cannot read
All of this assumes you know what is in your products. Plenty of labels make that difficult on purpose — actives buried near the bottom of a list where there is barely any of them, or hidden behind a phrase like "botanical complex" that tells you nothing at all.
Every Altarus product publishes its complete ingredient list on its own page, before you buy, and the Ingredients page collects every formula we make in one place. Read ours. Then go read the ones already in your bathroom — that is usually the more interesting exercise.
Or skip the sequencing entirely
The reason we sell routines rather than a wall of single products is that the ordering problem disappears when the products are chosen together. Each kit is three full-size products meant to be used in a set order, and the order is on the box.
- Clear + Calm — niacinamide-led, for oily, combination and breakout-prone skin
- Daily Glow — hyaluronic acid and aloe, for dry, tight or dull skin
- Night Renew — a PM-only stack with dedicated eye care
- Men's 3-Step Essentials — face and body in three moves
Not sure which one fits? The routine finder takes about thirty seconds. Or browse by what you are actually dealing with: breakouts and oily skin, dryness, dullness and uneven tone, fine lines and dark circles, or sensitive skin.
Altarus products are cosmetics and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are dealing with persistent, painful or worsening skin problems, a dermatologist is the right call — a routine is not a substitute for one.