Have you ever stood in front of your bathroom counter, staring at a lineup of bottles, wondering which one is supposed to go on first?
You’re not alone. Between cleansers, serums, toners, hyaluronic acid, eye creams, moisturizers, oils, and SPF, it’s easy for a routine to start feeling like a chemistry experiment.
At Collab Medspa, we believe skincare doesn’t need to be complicated to actually work. The best routine isn’t the one with the most steps — it’s the one you’ll actually do, morning and night, without dreading it. You can always add products later as your skin’s needs change, but consistency with a simple routine will beat a complicated one you abandon after two weeks.
What Is the Correct Order for Skincare Products?
A full routine, with every possible step included, looks something like this:
Cleanser → Exfoliant → Toner → Serum → Retinol→ Hyaluronic Acid → Eye Cream → Moisturizer → Facial Oil at night OR SPF during the day
Before that list overwhelms you, take a breath — you don’t need all of it. Everyone can start with just three basics:
Cleanser → Moisturizer → SPF
That’s a complete, legitimate routine on its own. Once you’re consistent with those three, you can start layering in more based on your specific skin goals. Let’s walk through it step by step.
Step 1: Cleanser
Cleanser always comes first. It clears away makeup, oil, sweat, and the general buildup of the day (or night), giving everything you apply afterward a clean surface to actually absorb into. Cleansing at night? Do this step twice; once to remove make-up, dirt, sweat, oil and pollution. A second cleanse to cleanse skin and pores deeply.
The right cleanser depends on your skin type, but as a general rule: your skin should feel clean when you’re done, not tight or stripped.
Step 2: Exfoliant
If exfoliation is part of your routine, it comes right after cleansing. There are two main types — physical exfoliants, which use a gritty texture to manually buff away dead skin, and chemical exfoliants, which use fruit acids or similar ingredients to loosen dead skin and debris without scrubbing.
This isn’t a daily step for most people — two to three times a week is a reasonable starting point, depending on your skin and the product. Done well, exfoliation leaves skin smoother and helps the products that follow absorb better. Overdone, it leads to redness, irritation, and sensitivity, so more isn’t automatically better here.
Step 3: Toner
Toner, if you use one, goes after cleansing and exfoliating. It’s typically a lightweight, water-based formula that sweeps away any leftover residue, adds a bit of hydration, and preps your skin for what’s next.
It’s not a required step, but for a lot of skin types, it’s a nice one to have.
Step 4: Serum
This is where things get more personal. Serums are concentrated formulas built to target specific concerns — aging, dullness, dryness, acne, hyperpigmentation, redness, and more. Vitamin C, for example, is most commonly delivered this way.
You can use more than one serum, but this is a spot where restraint pays off. Stacking active ingredients doesn’t automatically mean better results — sometimes it just means irritated skin. If you’re running more than one serum, it’s worth checking with your esthetician that they actually play well together.
Step 5: Retinol
Retinol comes after your serums.
This is one ingredient we always recommend introducing slowly. Retinol boosts cell turnover and kickstarts collagen and elastin production, which is exactly why it’s such a popular anti-aging ingredient — but that same potency means your skin needs time to acclimate before it can handle it without irritation.
Start with just two to three nights a week. Once your skin adjusts and shows it can tolerate it, you can gradually work up to nightly use if that’s what your skin needs. There’s no prize for rushing this one — going slow now means fewer breakouts, less redness, and less flaking down the road.
Step 6: Hyaluronic Acid
HA comes after your serum. It’s a humectant, meaning it pulls in and holds onto water, which is what gives skin that plumper, more hydrated look and feel.
We’re especially fond of hyaluronic acid here in Arizona, where the dry climate has a habit of pulling moisture right out of your skin. It works well across nearly every skin type — yes, including oily skin.
One important caveat, though: hyaluronic acid is not a substitute for moisturizer. We once had a client who’d dropped moisturizer entirely because she assumed her HA serum covered that job. Once we added moisturizer back into her routine, the difference was immediate — her skin felt plumper, more hydrated, and noticeably more balanced. Think of HA as one piece of your hydration strategy, not a replacement for the rest of it.
Step 7: Eye Cream
Eye cream comes after your serums and HA. The skin around the eyes is thinner and more delicate than the rest of your face, which is exactly why these products are formulated differently — targeting dryness, fine lines, crepiness, puffiness, or dark circles.
We had a client who bought a firming eye cream and just wasn’t seeing results, which surprised us, since we knew the product worked. So we asked how she was applying it. Turned out she was only using it in the morning — and applying it after her SPF. Her reasoning made sense to her: she only cared about looking firm while she was awake.
We tweaked her routine instead. She started applying it both morning and night, moved it earlier in the sequence — after serum, before moisturizer — and by her next visit, she was finally seeing the changes she’d been hoping for. Sometimes the product isn’t the problem. How you’re using it can be everything.
Step 8: Moisturizer
Moisturizer is one of our non-negotiables. After your treatment products have had their moment, moisturizer locks in hydration and supports your skin barrier.
Even oily skin needs it. Skipping moisturizer to avoid excess oil often backfires — the goal isn’t to avoid moisturizer, it’s to find one formulated for your skin type. At night, feel free to swap in a richer night cream if your skin wants the extra support.
Step 9 at Night: Facial Oil
If facial oil is part of your routine, it’s the very last step at night. And yes, we can already hear our oily-skin clients bracing themselves: more oil? Really?
Hear us out — the right facial oil can genuinely transform skin, and that includes oily skin, where the right formula can work like fighting oil with oil. We love oils especially for aging, dry, or dull skin. Because they tend to be heavier, they belong at the very end of the routine, after everything else has had a chance to absorb.
Step 9 During the Day: SPF
During the day, SPF is your final, non-negotiable step. It protects against UV damage, helps prevent premature aging, and — most importantly — lowers your risk of skin cancer.
You can spend real time and money improving your skin, but none of that holds up without protecting it from daily sun exposure. And here in Scottsdale, that protection matters year-round, not just in summer.
The Easy Rule to Remember: Thinnest to Thickest
If you ever lose track of the exact order, fall back on this: apply products from thinnest to thickest.
As you move through a routine, texture tends to build naturally — lightweight toners and serums first, then HA, eye cream, moisturizer, and finally heavier products like facial oil. During the day, SPF always closes things out.
Let Each Layer Absorb
Don’t rush. Give each product a moment to settle in before layering the next one on top — it helps everything sit better on your skin.
Ever finish a routine and notice little flakes or balls of product rubbing off your face? That’s called pilling, and it’s often a sign of layering products too quickly, one on top of another before the last one had time to absorb. A little patience goes a long way here.
Be Careful With Active Ingredients
One of the most common mistakes we see is underestimating just how powerful active ingredients really are. Retinol, exfoliating acids, vitamin C, and concentrated serums can do wonderful things for skin — but overuse, or combining too many actives at once, tends to backfire into redness, irritation, or new sensitivity rather than better results.
That’s why we don’t recommend piling every popular ingredient into one routine. Your skin doesn’t need what’s trending — it needs what actually works for you. An esthetician can help you figure out which actives you need, how often to use them, and which combinations to avoid. It can save you money too — there’s no reason to own three products doing the same job.
What If I Just Want Something Simple?
Then keep it simple. We’d much rather see you consistently use three good products than own ten you barely touch.
Start here:
Cleanser → Moisturizer → SPF
Stick with that for a while. Then ask yourself what you’d actually like to change — dark spots, acne, dryness, fine lines — and that’s when it makes sense to bring in a targeted serum or treatment. You don’t have to jump from three products to eight overnight; build gradually, as it makes sense for your skin.
Your Routine Should Work for You
There’s no universal “perfect” routine — your skin type, age, environment, goals, and lifestyle all shape what actually makes sense for you. At Collab Medspa, we start with the basics and build from there, based on what you actually want to improve.
Above all, we want you in a routine you’ll stick with — because even the most expensive product in the world does nothing sitting unused in the bottle.
Start simple. Stay consistent. Build from there as your skin changes.
And if you’re ever unsure what goes where, bring your products in. We’ll help you sort out what you need, what you don’t, and exactly where each one belongs in your routine.
