Summer Skin
It is one of the most common questions we hear once the weather warms up: what goes on first, the serum or the sunscreen? The order sounds like a small detail, but get it wrong and you can quietly undo the very protection you are trying to build. Here is how to layer it correctly.
Should you apply serum or sunscreen first?
Apply your serum first. Sunscreen is always the last step of your morning routine, after everything else has been absorbed. Serums are made of small molecules designed to sink deep into the skin and do their treatment work. Sunscreen is designed to do the opposite: sit on top as a shield between your skin and the outside world. If you flip the order, the sunscreen blocks your serum from absorbing, and layering serum over sunscreen disturbs the barrier you just put down.
Why does the order matter so much?
Think of your routine as moving from treatment to protection. Everything that treats and nourishes the skin goes on first so it can be absorbed. The shield goes on last so it can stay put and do its job all day. When the sequence is right, each step supports the next instead of competing with it.
The simple morning sequence
- Cleanse with a gentle brightening wash, like the Vitamin C Face Wash.
- Treat with an antioxidant serum, like the Rescue Serum, a concentrated vitamin C and squalane formula.
- Moisturize if your skin needs it.
- Protect with a broad spectrum sunscreen as your final step.
Where does moisturizer fit in?
Moisturizer goes after your serum and before your sunscreen. A quick note that surprises people: sunscreen does not really work well built into a moisturizer, because moisturizer is designed to sink in while sunscreen needs to sit on top. That is why a dedicated sunscreen, applied after your moisturizer, gives you far more reliable coverage than a moisturizer with SPF alone.
How high should your SPF be, and how often should you reapply?
You do not need to chase the highest number on the shelf. A broad spectrum SPF 30 screens about ninety-seven percent of UVB rays, and SPF 50 is only marginally higher at ninety-eight percent, so anything above SPF 50 is not doing meaningfully more. What matters far more is reapplying every two hours, choosing a cream rather than a spray so it goes on evenly, and adding a hat and sunglasses. Even the sun coming through a car window adds up over time.
The step that makes the biggest difference in summer is what goes underneath.
