First and foremost: Wash your face. A good skin routine always starts with a clean canvas. After cleansing, simply blot your face with a towel until it’s damp before applying your humectant product. Here’s a list of our favorite hyaluronic acid serums, for those in the market.
If you want to infuse your skin with extra hydration, apply a hydrating toner or essence into your skin pre-serum. (My personal favorite is Renée Rouleau’s Moisture Infusion Toner.) You can even press the essence into your skin in thin, multiple layers—this is called the K-beauty 7-skin method—until you feel your skin is satisfyingly plump and hydrated.
Layer on your hydrating serum, then lock in that moisture with an occlusive layer, like a cream or oil. All that water on the top layer of your skin can easily evaporate, so you need to slick on an occlusive as the last step of your skin care routine. Feel free to follow up with a barrier cream, if your skin feels especially thirsty.
Finally, if you really want to amp up the hydration, you can opt for an inside-out approach á la hyaluronic acid supplements. Many beauty experts swear by these skin-enhancing ingestibles to “flood” your skin from the inside out; see here for our favorite formulas for hydrated, bouncy Jello skin.
