Ideally, you will use a facial serum to increase the effectiveness of your skincare regime and combat ageing and skin damage more successfully. Ensure your serum contains antioxidants to provide protection from environmental damage. Serums can be used both morning and night to address specific skin issues more effectively than a moisturizer alone, and will also boost the hydrating effects of your moisturizer.
This is where the layering effect comes into play – while an antioxidant serum works to repair skin cells and combat free radicals, a moisturizer acts to prevent the evaporation of moisture and provides a physical barrier to protect the skin from environmental irritants and makeup particles.
But it can also lock active ingredients in the moisturizer out of the skin, reducing their efficacy.ĭoes your skin need a serum or a moisturizer? The thicker, heavier ingredients in moisturizing creams form a barrier on your skin designed to lock in moisture in. Their main benefit is that they seal the skin, locking in moisture and nutrients. Moisturizers have larger molecules than serums, so they don’t penetrate into the epidermis or surface layer of the skin. Serums act to improve skin firmness, smoothness and luminosity while reducing fine lines and wrinkles.Ī moisturizer is a lotion or cream which contains skin hydrating emollients and forms a physical barrier to help skin stay hydrated. If you have aged, damaged, scarred or sun damaged skin, a serum is your best choice to reduce the visible impacts on your skin. Serums are designed to repair the skin at a cellular level and act on a wide range of skin health factors at the same time. Serums providing antioxidants, peptides, hyaluronic acid and Vitamin C can have dramatic and swift effects on the radiance of skin by brightening, exfoliating and hydrating the skin. Serums are lightweight, intensive skin care products formulated to penetrate deeply, allowing their active ingredients to combat free radical damage, skin pigmentation, ageing, acne and scarring by delivering nutrients and vitamins right into the skin cells. So, t he beauty of a serum is that they provide a high concentration of active ingredients, and penetrate further, effectively delivering beneficial nutrients and hydration actives to the deepest layers of the skin where moisturizers won’t penetrate. Also, because serums don’t contain the thick airtight ‘sealing’ particles present in moisturizers, the active ingredients in a serum penetrate your skin faster and can work more effectively. Firstly, because serums have smaller particles they penetrate the skin on a deeper cellular level. The second important difference is that serums are actually able to work more effectively in your skin for two reasons. Serums also contain fewer fillers, thickeners and lubricating agents. Serums leave out the ‘sealing’ ingredients such as petrolatum and mineral oils that moisturizers often use to keep water from evaporating from the skin. So let's break down the difference between serum and moisturizer.Ī big difference between serums and moisturizers is what serums don't include. Serums are likely to contain more antioxidants, nutrients and vitamins that work to repair the structure of skin cells, increasing skin radiance, smoothness and suppleness. Serums, on the other hand, are formulated to penetrate deeply into the skin and address or even reverse the causes of ageing and skin damage at the cellular level. Although moisturizers often contain ingredients to target specific issues like ageing or sun damage, their main role is to get hydration to the skin and keep it there. Moisturizers are primarily designed to hydrate the skin by adding to and sealing in the natural moisture of the body. The undisputed fact is that we all need to take care of our skin in order to be and look healthy. My great aunt to this day swears by her Oil of Olay cream but as it is with everything in life, the passage of time brings new ideas and technology.