So what is the answer? – I strongly advise my clients to start their skin care routine a few hours before bed. Why? Well unless you want a very well moisturised pillow it's best to allow your skin care the time to absorb into your skin. There’s no point spending so much time, money and effort on an evening skin care routine if it's just rubbing off on your pillow and sheets. I must admit there have been a few occasions where I've left it to the last minute and gone to bed looking and feeling like an oil slick and lying on my back waiting for everything to sink in (not much fun). However, if you finish work and are staying in for the evening which many of us are at the moment, there’s no reason why you can't start your skin care routine straight away. A few hours before before bed is more than enough time especially if you have an elaborate skin care routine consisting of serums, moisturisers, eye creams and so on.
Another thing I can highly recommend doing is keeping it simple. The more complex your routine the more likely you are to miss an evening and then another, which isn’t too bad if it's a few days here and there but to see true results you need to maintain your routine. If you know you don’t have much time in the evenings for a multi step skin care process then just start with a couple of products and if you wish to you can increase and add more steps in the future. I'm a great fan of keeping it simple and natural as much as I can, less is more sometimes.
Lastly, you need to know your skin and the end goal for you. Just because a certain product is all the rave it doesn't mean you necessarily need it.
Know what works for you, know what works for your skin.
Stay safe and well
Sufiah