Gel creams and water creams are a crowded lane, so here is how I tell them apart. Tatcha The Water Cream is oil-free and refillable, and it is the one for pores and texture. CLINIQUE Moisture Surge 100H is a gel-cream the brand says delivers up to 100 hours of hydration, and its page even suggests using it over makeup as a dewy highlighter. LANEIGE Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Gel Moisturizer has mint extract and feels cold on application, which is exactly why I reach for it in summer.

The INKEY List Omega Water Cream adds 5% niacinamide and a ceramide complex, and Dr. Jart+ Vital Hydra Solution Water Cream is the glow option, with advice to apply it on damp skin. Sofie Pavitt Face Skin Jelly is an oil-free gel moisturizer with a satin finish, made for layering under makeup. MAKE Beauty Succulent Skin Gel Cream leans on aloe, cactus and agave, and Dr. Loretta Barrier Repair Gel Cream is fragrance-free with ceramides and peptides.

Pairing tip: use one of these on top of the Aqua Bomb Hydrating Toner in the morning, and keep the richer overnight step for the Sleeping Mask.

What I would skip: a second gel cream on top of your gel cream. If your skin still feels dry, add a face oil or a balm instead of another water layer.

Essences are the step people skip, and they are the easiest way to make a gel cream feel richer without swapping it. Tata Harper Hydrating Floral Essence is a rose-infused mist, and the brand says it sits lightly under moisturizer or makeup. AUNU Mānuka Essence uses medical-grade Mānuka honey with three molecular weights of hyaluronic acid, and you shake a few drops into your hands and pat it in. Ranavat Radiant Rani Brightening Saffron Essence is a silky milk essence with niacinamide and vegan squalane, and Agent Nateur holi (water) is a pearl and rose hyaluronic spritz with Bulgarian rose water.

Then there are the more active ones. Augustinus Bader The Essence combines the properties of a mild chemical exfoliant, a toner and an essence, Royal Fern Phytoactive Skin Perfecting Essence also includes gluconolactone, and Dr. Loretta Barrier Enhancing Milky Essence is built around niacinamide and glycerin. Sarah Creal Moisture Source Bi-Phase Brightening Essence pairs a water phase with a squalane oil phase, so read its page before you pair it with anything else.

What I would skip: layering two exfoliating essences in the same routine. Pick one, and let the belif toner do the plain hydrating job.

Start with the toner, then a serum if you use one, then the True Cream Aqua Bomb, and use the Sleeping Mask at night after or instead of moisturizer. The eye gel goes on morning and night with the ceramic tip, moving from the inner corner outward. In the morning finish with the SPF 45 cream, and keep the Korean Glow Sunstick in a bag for midday. If your skin runs dry, choose the water cream from the second row that feels richest to you and keep the mask for nights. If it runs oily, the toner and the True Cream alone are plenty. Give any new step a couple of weeks before you judge it.

If belif aqua bomb is already your day cream, this last shelf is where I would look next, starting with nights. belif makes two richer cousins, the Moisturizing Eye Bomb and The True Cream Moisturizing Bomb, both built on peptide, ceramide and squalane. For a sleeping mask, LANEIGE has the Water Sleeping Mask with three types of hyaluronic acid and the Bouncy + Firm mask with its Peony & Collagen Complex. Origins Drink Up uses avocado butter and Swiss glacier water, CLINIQUE Moisture Surge Overnight is the oil-free one, and the Sisley-Paris Velvet Sleeping Mask leans on saffron flower extract to calm skin.

Under the gel cream, a serum does the heavy lifting. Torriden DIVE IN uses 5D hyaluronic acid, Caudalie VinoHydra is lightweight and fast-absorbing, and The INKEY List Polyglutamic Acid serum also works as a makeup base. For eyes, The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG is water-based and aimed at puffiness, while Glow Recipe Guava and Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye go after the look of dark circles. Then the mists: Caudalie Grape Water is 100 percent grape water, and CHANEL Hydra Beauty Essence Mist can go under or over makeup.

What I would skip: a sleeping mask and a heavy night cream on the same night. One of them is plenty.