Tip #1: Get the timing right

There's a right time and a wrong time for active skin care treatments. Nighttime is for skin repair, while daytime is for protection. Get that basic right, and you’re on the right track.
 
Soooo... use the potent anti-ageing ingredients such as alpha-hydroxy acids (e.g. glycolic and lactic acids) and retinoids (aka vitamin A, retinol, etc.) at night. These ingredients help boost your body’s own repair cycle while you sleep. They can make your skin sun-sensitive, causing redness, excess pigmentation and sunburn if exposed to sunlight, which is exactly what you don’t want!
 
The anti-ageing ingredients you want in your skin care generally, but especially in the morning, are the ones that protect your skin from environmental damage (sun, pollution, stress, etc.). We're talking antioxidants - vitamins C and E, which work together against free radicals that damage your skin cells, and other potent ingredients such as co-enzyme Q10, green tea, resveratrol, pomegranate and grape seed oil.
 
Some of our daily faves include Eucerin Q10 Day Cream, Nivea Perfect & Radiant with vitamin E and Garnier Dark Spot Corrector with vitamin C.

Tip #2: Goldilocks water

How do you wash your face? By splashing yourself awake with cold water? Or in the shower with the water temp on parboil? Either way, you’re hurting your skin.
 
The ideal temperature for washing your skin is neither too hot, nor too cold - lukewarm is just right. Too hot dehydrates the skin, dilates the blood vessels and can aggravate redness-prone skin if you are predisposed. Cold water can be just as harsh and drying. Treat your skin with the same TLC as you would a baby’s.
 

Tip #3: Speaking of cleansing...

We're told to cleanse our skin properly at night before we go to bed so that we remove the dirt, make-up and pollution of the day and prep it for the skin treatments to follow, and that is absolutely correct.
 
There is a school of thought that you only cleanse your skin once a day, but we believe you need to clean your skin again in the morning. We're not talking full double cleansing. Just give your face a wipe with a gentle cleansing water, such as Bioderma's brilliant H20 micelle solution - choose from variants for sensitive skin, problem skin or hydrating, according to your skin needs. This removes the impurities your skin has shed overnight, as well as wiping off the active nighttime ingredients such as AHA and retinol so your skin is prepped for your daytime moisture and protection.
 
Pro tip: If washing your face in the shower, wash your face after shampooing so you remove the shampoo residue from your skin.

Tip #4: Introducing Eye Cream

We know that the skin on the eye area is the first to go, because it is so thin and fine. Once we get to our late twenties, we might see fine lines appearing from dehydration or the first signs of ageing, and those late nights start showing up as puffiness and dark rings. So an eye cream is a vital step to add from our late 20s onwards.

Cool tips: If you're applying concealer, eye cream also helps prime the area so that it doesn't cake up and crack. And if you pop your eye cream in the fridge overnight, you'll get an instant wake-up as it depuffs tired eyes.

We like Olay Total Effects BB Eye Cream, BioNike Defence Eye and Dermactin Dark Circle Eye Cream which helps reduce early morning puffiness.

Tip #5: Order is Everything

Besides using the right ingredients at the right time, you also need to apply them in the right order and soon after you've washed your face.
 
Rule of thumb: start applying your skincare as soon as you’ve patted your face dry with a towel.
 
It can be confusing to know in which order to apply the product but if you work from the lightest textures towards the richest, you're pretty much correct. So start with your toner (if you use one), then serum - wait a minute for it to sink in, then apply eye cream and day cream and finally sunscreen. Simple.

Tip #6: Before You Go, Haven't You Forgotten Something?

Yep, your sunscreen! We can't stress enough how important this is in our sunshine-blessed country. If you don't protect your skin with a good quality sunscreen that offers both UVA and UVB protection, you will not only age your skin way before its time, you risk getting skin cancer. That's right, girls, SA is the world's leader in skin cancer.
 
If you're going to be indoors all day, choosing a day cream or BB/CC Cream with an SPF of 30+ is adequate protection for your face. You may want to apply sunscreen if you nip out for lunch, and you need to apply sunscreen on your arms to protect them while driving.
 
If you're going to be outdoors, sunscreen is vital. The international dermatological societies warn that no matter what it says on the label, there is no such thing as an 'all-day' protection sunscreen, so if you're planning on staying outdoors all day, make sure you are in the shade for most of it, and reapply sunscreen every two hours.
 
And don’t forget sunscreen needs 20 to 30 minutes to activate, so make sure you apply it before leaving home, and apply enough – a full shot glass is needed to cover your body, and a teaspoonful for your face. Sunscreens we trust: BioNike Defence, Bioderma Photoderm and Eucerin.

 

And if you have ever wondered how models always look so drop-dead gorgeous, Byrdie UK uncovered some of our favorite schlebs 'go to' tricks for glowing skin in "7 Skincare Secrets Models Know (That You Don't)". Find out all the tricks Kendall, Jourdan and other stunners use here.