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Last Updated on October 19, 2026 by Giorgia Guazzarotti

How to help skincare products better penetrate skin

Do you know how to apply your skincare products correctly? Once upon a time, when I was young and naive and didn’t have a clue what I was doing, I thought I could just pour a bit of serum on my hand and rub it on my skin for it to work its magic. As I grew up, I realised things aren’t that easy. If you want your skin care products to REALLY work (and why would you even buy it, otherwise?), you also need to make sure they can penetrate your skin as deeply as possible. But… how?

Start with clean skin, apply your products while it’s still slightly damp, exfoliate regularly to remove dead skin cells, and layer your skincare from thinnest to thickest products. These four simple steps help your products penetrate better so you can get the most out of them. Here are 4 way to apply your skincare products correctly to ensure maximum skin penetration:

1. How To Correctly Cleanse Your Skin

This is a given, but I’ll say it anyway. Applying your skincare products without cleansing your skin first is a waste of time. Makeup, grime, and other impurities create a barrier on the skin that prevents your skincare products from penetrating it properly (dirt will do the same, by the way). Always, always, always, cleanse your skin before you put on any skincare products.

And here’s the kicker: this film doesn’t just block your products, it can actually grab onto some active ingredients and prevent them from ever reaching deep into your skin. Rude, right? Even on days when you’re bare-faced and staying home, your skin is still producing oils and shedding dead cells like crazy. All that buildup needs to go.

Oh, and water temperature? Yeah, that matters too. Use lukewarm water because it loosens up all that gunk without freaking out your skin or stripping away the good oils you actually need. Hot water might feel amazing, but it messes with your skin’s protective barrier, which actually makes it HARDER for your products to work later. Not what we want.

So what should you use? The right cleanser depends on your skin type. If you have oily skin that produces too much excess oil, a foaming cleaner will do the trick. Dry or sensitive skin? Opt for milk balms or a cleansing oil that moisturises skin while cleansing it. Click here for my guide on how to choose the best cleanser for your skin type. FYI, cleansing oils are better for removing makeup (if you use one, you don’t need double-cleansing).

Product recommendations:

  • CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser ($15.99): A cream cleanser loaded with ceramide to remove impurities while strengthening your skin’s protective barrier. Click here for the full review. Available at Boots, Cult Beauty, Look Fantastic, Sephora, and Ulta.
  • Corsx Low PH Good Morning Gel Cleanser ($14.00): A gentle pH-balanced (5.5) foaming cleanser that gets rid of excess oil and impurities without drying out skin. Click here for my full review. Available at Sokoglam and YesStyle.
  • Paula’s Choice Skin Recovery Softening Cream Cleanser ($24.00): This moisturising cleanser uses a mix of surfactants and natural oils to remove impurities and makeup from skin, leaving it soft and clean. Available at Paula’s Choice.

Related: How To Choose The Best Cleanser For Your Skin Type

Don’t know which skincare products you can mix and match together and which ones deactivate each other? Download your FREE “How To Layer Actives Like A Pro” cheat sheet to get the most out of your skincare products:

2. Apply Products To Moist Skin

Washed your face? Don’t towel dry it. Not completely anyway. Leave it a little damp.The extra moisture helps your skincare products get deeper into your skin. FYI, this is the secret of Korean skincare.  Each product provides a layer of hydration that helps the next one better penetrate into your skin.

So here’s what’s actually happening when you do this. When your skin’s damp, the water puffs up your skin cells a bit and makes them way more receptive to letting stuff sink in. It creates these temporary pathways for ingredients to dive deeper. Bonus points: the more hydrated your skin is, the smaller fine lines and wrinkles look.

Also, a bunch of skincare ingredients are basically water magnets, and they work SO much better when there’s moisture sitting on your skin to help drag them in. Hyaluronic acid? Major water magnet. Slap it on damp skin and it’ll pull that water deeper, taking all the other goodies with it.

And if you’re dealing with winter or you live somewhere super dry, this becomes even more important. The drier the air, the faster that moisture vanishes from your face. So you really want to trap it in with your products before it’s gone.

Related: 4 Things I Learned From Korean Skincare

3. Exfoliate

Makeup and dirt aren’t the only things that create a barrier on your skin. Dead skin cells do too – when they accumulate too much. Here’s a fun fact: your skin sheds something like 30,000-40,000 dead cells every single minute. EVERY MINUTE. But not all of them fall off like they’re supposed to. And as you get older, this whole shedding process slows way down, which is why mature skin can look dull and why your fancy products seem to stop working as well. Exfoliation just speeds things back up so you can see the fresh skin underneath.

If you want your skincare products to get through your skin, remove this last obstacle too. Chemical exfoliants (alpha-hydroxy acids and beta-hydroxy acids) are way different from those scrubs with the little beads. They actually dissolve the “glue” holding dead cells together, so they can slide off without all that rubbing and potential damage that scrubs can cause. Here’s what you should use to exfoliate depending on your skin type:

  • If you have oily skin or acne-prone skin, salicylic acid. It’s in many spot treatments because it also helps treat pimples.
  • If you have dry skin or sun-damaged skin, glycolic acid.  It also hydrated skin and helps fade hyperpigmentation.
  • If you have sensitive skin, lactic acid. It’s the gentlest acid and less likely to cause irritation.

Just, don’t do it too often! A little exfoliation enhances penetration of your skincare products. If you’re overdoing it, you’ll see more sensitivity, redness, weird shininess (not the dewy kind – the “my skin barrier is crying” kind), and sometimes even MORE breakouts. If any of that happens, back off immediately. Your skin should feel smoother and look brighter, not angry at you. Two or three times a week is usually enough for most people (I use glycolic acid 3 times a week, in case you were wondering).

One more nerdy thing: the pH of your exfoliant matters. These acids work best when they’re more acidic (pH between 3-4), which is why you use them right after cleansing. That way they can do their thing at the right pH before you layer other stuff on top.

Best Picks:

  • Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid ($37.00): The cult exfoliant from the brand, it unlclogs pores and treats blackheads and acne. The texture’s a little sticky (it’s a personal preference), but if you can take that, this is one of the best salicylic acid exfoliants out there. Available at Cult Beauty, Paula’s Choice, Sephora, and SpaceNK.
  • The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution ($13.50): A simple, no-frills Glycolic Acid exfoliant that brightens the complexion and fades away dark spots. Available at Boots, Cult Beauty, Sephora, SpaceNK, The Ordinary, and Ulta.
  • The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2% ($8.90): A simple Lactic Acid exfoliant enriched with Hyaluronic Acid to exfoliate and hydrate skin at the same time. Available at Boots, Cult Beauty, Sephora, SpaceNK, The Ordinary, and Ulta.

Related: How To Choose The Best Exfoliator For Your Skin Type

4. Follow The Correct Order Of Product Application

Yes, there is a proper order to apply skincare products. As a rule, products with the thinnest consistency (think toners and serums) go first, and thicker products (i.e. moisturiser, face oils, cream, and sunscreen) go last. That’s because a thick consistency can create a barrier that would be impossible for a lightweight, runny formula to get through, preventing it from working its best.

The thin-to-thick thing also respects how products are made. Water-based stuff won’t push through oil-based stuff, but oil-based products can usually make it through water-based layers. So yeah, that lightweight hyaluronic acid serum needs to go on before your thick night cream, not after. Otherwise you’re just wasting it.

Timing matters too. Give each product like 30-60 seconds to sink in before you add the next one. This little breather lets each layer settle and start doing its job before you pile on more.  Quick heads up though: there IS an exception to thinner products first. Treatments that need a specific pH to work (like vitamin C serums or retinoids) should go on clean, dry skin first, no matter how thick or thin they are. These guys need direct contact with your skin and shouldn’t have to fight through other ingredients to get there.

Oh, and here’s a little trick: warm your products between your palms before you put them on. It makes them more fluid and easier to spread, which can help with absorption. Just don’t heat them up so much that you wreck sensitive ingredients like retinol or vitamin C. We’re going for warm, not hot.

Should You Rub Or Pat Serum Into Your Face?

Pat it in, don’t rub it in. Your serum isn’t a stubborn stain you need to scrub off. You don’t have to massage it aggressively into your face to make it work. In fact, research shows that excessive rubbing can damage the skin’s protective barrier. Not exactly what you want when you’re spending good money on skincare to make your skin healthier, right? This is especially important for eye cream. The skin in the eye area is very delicate, so you need to be extra gentle. Instead, spread a few drops of serum between your fingertips and gently pat it onto your face until it’s evenly distributed. No tugging, pulling, or slapping required.

Can You Use Too Much Skincare Product?

Absolutely! More skincare doesn’t mean better results. Slathering on half a bottle of your expensive serum won’t make your wrinkles disappear twice as fast. It’ll just make your wallet considerably lighter.

How much is too much depends on the product. With serums, using more than you need to cover your face is usually just a waste of money. Too much moisturiser can leave your skin feeling greasy and sticky. And piling on too many layers can make your skincare pill (those annoying little balls that roll off your face).

But don’t take this as permission to be stingy with everything. Sunscreen is the big exception. Research shows that most people apply too little, which means they’re getting less SPF protection than they think. Not a mistake you want to make.

So how much should you actually use? I’ve broken it all down in my guide to how much of each skincare product to apply. Because there’s a difference between getting your money’s worth and literally washing it down the drain.

The Bottom Line

These are the basic rules of skincare. Never stray for them or all of your precious lotions and potions won’t work as claimed.