The Alternating Night Skincare Routine

As trends come and go, we’re always weeding out what’s just a money scheme or an extra step that’s not needed in our makeup or skincare routine. A few months ago we came across the idea of an alternating skincare routine, and after trying it out, it’s not as extra as it seems.

Why Use An Alternating Routine?

While there are products that you should be using every night (cleanser and moisturizer for the super bare basics) there are products that will get the job done being used every other night, or once a week. Below we’ve broken down when you should use which products, including an example of our current alternate routine.

Use These Every Day

There are some products that you should use every day to keep your skin healthy and hydrated. Obviously, cleansing the skin every day is essential, with or without makeup, to remove any dirt or oils that have built up throughout the day, especially if you tend to touch your face often. In our routines, we include a cleanser that can do double duty: removing makeup and being gentle enough to use on plain skin. We love the Indie Lee Cleansers, both the Rosehip Cleanser and the Brightening Cleanser as they’re great no matter what the cleansing situation. After cleansing, it’s also important to always use a moisturizer to help add some hydration back into the skin. Finding the perfect moisturizer for you is different for everyone, but we recommend finding one that is thick enough to kick up the skins hydration but also light enough to use underneath an oil without pilling or feeling too heavy. We love the Herbivore Pink Cloud Rosewater cream for morning and night, and the Youth To The People Adaptogen moisturizer as well.

Rotate Between These

When it comes to serums and oils, these are some products that you don’t have to layer on every single night. Each skin type responds to something different, but it’s pretty universal that no skin type needs to use a heavy duty oil every night. Every other night, we use an oil like the Herbivore Lapis Oil or their new Emerald oil to help add an extra shot of hydration to skin as well as to help regenerate the skin cells. On the off nights from the oil, we use a hydration boosting serum to replace that step, and we love to use the Moon Juice Plumping Jelly Serum as a simple serum.

Use These Once A Week

We also love using certain treatments once a week, such as masks or peels. This helps to reset the skin once a week when it comes to dry skin flakes, radiance or hydration. We are huge fans of Leahlani masks for radiance and softness, especially the Meli Glow Mask. For an easy chemical peel, the Herbivore Blue Tansy mask is great for reducing redness and smoothing the skin. For a physical exfoliant, we like to use the Acure Brilliantly Brightening scrub once a week to slough off any stubborn dry skin, especially in the winter.