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How To Layer Your Skincare Serums & Oils – Tropic
Every serum and oil in your routine has hardworking ingredients inside it, and layering them in the right order is what lets each one do its job properly.
If the order is off, you might not see the results you were hoping for. Actives can sit on the surface instead of sinking in, or two products can cancel each other out.
So, we’re here to help. Below you’ll find the order to apply everything in, which serums can share a routine, how often to use each one, where oils belong, and the combinations to keep apart.
Thinking Of Trying Something New?
If you’ve been meaning to introduce a new serum or oil into your routine, now is a great time, because you can try them in a sample size before committing to a full-size bottle.
Until the end of August, spend £80 or more and choose 3 FREE mini serums and oils, or spend £120 or more and choose 6.
Once you’ve met the spend threshold, you’ll be able to select your minis in your cart.
Offer ends 31st August, while stocks last. Full T&Cs apply.
Perfect The Order
When it comes to ordering, keep one rule in mind: lightest textures first and richest last.
Serums are the specialists of your routine. They’re water-based formulas packed with active ingredients, each one made for a particular job: brightening dullness, refining texture, calming breakouts, or hydrating thirsty skin. Being so light, they go on early.
Oils are the finishers. Instead of actives, they bring lipids and fatty acids, which is what your skin barrier is partly built from. Because they’re oil-based rather than water-based, they can travel down through the watery layers below them, but nothing watery can get back up through them.
A full routine looks like this:
- Cleanser: Removes makeup, SPF, oil and impurities. Clean skin lets your serum absorb properly instead of the actives getting stuck in whatever is sitting on the surface.
- Toning essence: Lifts away any last traces after cleansing and preps the skin to take what comes next. If yours contains niacinamide or gentle acids, like Juicy Greens, it also smooths the surface, so your serum absorbs more evenly.
- Serum: Delivers the active ingredients that target your particular concern, whether that’s dullness, texture, breakouts or dehydration.
- Moisturiser: Hydrates and holds the layers below it in place. Without it, the water in your serum evaporates off your skin and takes the benefits with it.
- Facial oil: Nourishes the skin barrier and seals everything in. It goes on top of your moisturiser, because oil can pass down through water-based layers but water-based products can’t pass through oil.
Can You Use More Than One Serum?
You can, and lots of us do. Put the lighter ones on first and thicker ones on second, giving the first a moment to sink in before you move on. If one of them is an exfoliating serum like Fruit Smooth, that goes on after a hydrating serum like Rainforest Dew rather than before it.
Two serums are usually plenty in one sitting. If you’ve got a few you love, spread them across your week instead of piling them all on at once. Your skin will thank you for the breathing room.
Which Serum, And When?
Timing matters almost as much as order. Some serums are built for daytime, because they protect your skin from what it’s about to face. Others work best overnight, when your skin is repairing itself and there’s no sunlight or pollution to complicate things.
Morning Serums
Glow Berry Brightening Serum
Illuminating superberries and encapsulated vitamin C brighten dull skin and help defend it against daily pollution.
When to use it: Reach for Glow Berry in the morning for a brighter start and full pollution protection. If brightness is your main goal, use it again at night after cleansing and toning. On sensitive skin, start with every other day.
What to follow with: Rainforest Dew Hydration Serum, then your moisturiser to seal both in.
Sun Drops Gradual Tanning Facial Serum
Natural tanning agents and brightening passion fruit extract build a soft, natural-looking tan over around 10 hours. You control the depth by the number of drops you use.
When to use it: Add a few drops to your evening moisturiser and wake up with a warm glow. Or mix them into your morning moisturiser and watch your tan develop through the day. Avoid using it on the same day as Fruit Smooth Gentle Resurfacing Serum or Glow Berry Brightening Serum.
What to follow with: Nothing. Sun Drops mixed into your moisturiser would be the last step of your routine, to ensure your glow stays even.
Evening Serums
Fruit Smooth Gentle Resurfacing Serum
A trio of fruit acids gently exfoliates overnight, lifting away dead skin cells to reveal a supersoft complexion by morning.
When to use it: At night. Once a week is enough if your skin is easily irritated. If it isn’t, use it three times a week or on alternate evenings.
What to follow with: Leave it for ten minutes, then apply your favourite moisturiser and Super Greens Nutrient Boost Oil.
Ocean Dive Pore-Clearing Serum
A salicylic acid serum for areas of excess oil, bumpiness or blemishes.
When to use it: Every night, on the areas that need it, to sweep away bacteria and stabilise sebum levels.
What to follow with: Pure Lagoon Blemish Prevention Serum to prevent further blemishes, then your moisturiser.
Serums For Whenever You Like
Rainforest Dew Hydration Serum
Juicy botanicals and multi-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid quench dehydrated skin and leave a dewy, glassy glow.
When to use it: Morning and night. It layers well with almost everything.
What to follow with: Always seal in the hydrating benefits with a moisturiser.
Pure Lagoon Blemish Prevention Serum
If you’re prone to breakouts, this rebalancing serum brings your microbiome back to equilibrium.
When to use it: Morning or night, or both.
What to follow with: Oily skin still needs hydration, so apply Rainforest Dew Hydration Serum next, then seal everything in with your moisturiser.
Combinations To Keep Apart
Glow Berry and Pure Lagoon: Leave 24 hours between them as Pure Lagoon’s copper complexes and Glow Berry’s vitamin C can cancel each other out.
Sun Drops and Fruit Smooth: These are also best when used on different days, as Fruit Smooth’s exfoliating acids can lift away the colour you’ve been gradually building.
Sun Drops and Glow Berry: Best used on different days to keep your tan even and long-lasting.
Where Oils Fit In
Both of our facial oils go on last, over your moisturiser. They do different jobs, so it’s worth knowing which one you’re reaching for.
Super Greens Nutrient Boost Oil
A cold-pressed shot of concentrated greens, packed with phytonutrients for radiance and resilience. This is the one for skin that looks dull or tired, feels easily upset, or spends its days outside, since the vitamins and antioxidants inside help defend against pollution damage. Being the lighter of the two, it also suits combination skin that wants nourishing without feeling heavy.
When to use it: As the very last step, morning or night. It’s particularly good on the evenings you exfoliate, applied ten minutes after Fruit Smooth.
Elixir Enriching Omega Facial Oil
Cold-pressed moringa, pomegranate and rosehip seed oils blended with vitamin E to nourish, hydrate and veil skin in a radiant glow. The richer of the two, so reach for this one if your skin feels dry or tight, looks a little flat, or has started to lose its bounce. From around the age of 22, our stores of fatty acids begin to decline, which is exactly what Elixir replenishes, so it’s great for mature skin.
When to use it: Smooth a couple of drops into skin before makeup for extra radiance, or apply as the very last step at night to seal in hydration. It works as a cuticle oil and a pregnancy belly massage oil too.