In September 1944, Seventeen published its first issue in New York, the first magazine aimed squarely at teenage girls. All 400,000 copies sold out in six days. The editor, Helen Valentine, had borrowed the title from a Booth Tarkington novel. Nobody had asked teenagers what they wanted before, and it turned out they wanted quite a lot.

Skincare for teenagers has had a slower version of that story. For decades it meant a harsh scrub and a bottle of something that stung. Shai Eisenman started Bubble around a plain complaint, that so little innovation had happened at the entry-level end of skincare, and she has said the line began as a teen brand and now aims at everyone. Bubble says its products are fragrance-free, developed by an all-female in-house team with consulting dermatologists. A Bubble moisturizer is the clearest example of that thinking: boring in the best way, and sorted by skin type instead of by promise.

The trick is to read the four jars as four answers to one question. Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer is the cream, for normal to dry skin, with aloe leaf juice, avocado oil and glycerin on the label. Level Up Balancing Moisturizer is the gel for oilier, combination skin. Cloud Surf Water Cream is the lightest of the lot, the one I would hand a friend who says she hates the feeling of moisturizer. Power Wave is the super hydrating option for skin that drinks up whatever you give it.

Then the extras. Soft Swerve is a barrier restore balm for chapped patches, Star Dew and Morning Rays are the two eye creams, and Winning Ticket is a gold edition of Slam Dunk.

Wash your face, wait a minute, and then look in the mirror before you moisturize. If your skin feels tight, the cleanser is too strong, and no cream will fix that. It is the quickest way to learn whether the routine needs a change at the top, not the bottom.

Bubble's cleansers are a nice study in contrast. Fresh Start is the gel, the one for a shiny forehead by the end of the day. Soft Launch is the cream cleanser, the softer choice for dry or easily upset skin. Cosmic Silk is a milky toner that works as a second hydration step, and Bounce Back is the mist version, which lives happily in a gym bag.

For serums, Water Slide pairs hyaluronic acid with peptides and Day Dream pairs vitamin C with niacinamide for tone and texture. Put Water Slide under a moisturizer if your skin feels dehydrated, and save Day Dream for the morning. Solar Mate is the daily mineral SPF 40, and Sun Rise is the same idea in a stick, which is the one I would keep in a pocket for reapplying over a day of football or a walk between classes.

A pairing I like: Soft Launch at night and Slam Dunk straight after. Both are gentle, both come in the same soft palette, and together they make the most boring and most reliable evening routine I know.

What I would skip: layering the vitamin C serum with a new exfoliating product on the same night. One new active at a time is plenty for young skin.

Press a gel cream onto the back of your hand and watch how fast it disappears. If it takes a minute to sink in, it will feel heavy under sunscreen. The good ones are gone in seconds and leave the skin a bit bouncy.

Laneige's Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Intensive Moisturizer is the hyaluronic one, in a tidy little blue pot. Clinique's Moisture Surge Intense 72H is the richer end of the hydrator idea, a cream from the lipid-replenishing side, while Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel for Skin Barrier Repair is the pump-bottle gel, named for barrier care. Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer is the classic of the group, and Glow Recipe's Cloudberry Bright is a refillable cream, which I like for anyone trying to waste less.

Summer Fridays' Rich Cushion Cream Ultra Plumping Moisturizer is the plush one, and I would keep it for a dry night rather than a humid day. The INKEY List's Omega Water Cream Oil-Free Moisturizer + Niacinamide is a good match for anyone whose skin gets oily by the afternoon, and Dermalogica's Calm Water Gel Moisturizer is the water gel of the group.

Compared with the Bubble jars above, these are the next step up when you want a different texture, not a different philosophy. Try one at a time, for two weeks each, and keep notes.

What I would skip: a thick cream on a humid morning when a gel would do. You will feel it by lunchtime.

Most sunscreen mistakes happen at the top of the routine, not the bottom. A cleanser that strips the face leaves it so dry that any SPF will pill, and you stop wearing it. Start gentle, and the sunscreen goes on better.

Banu's Chamomile Jelly is a jelly cleanser made for pore clarifying, and Kiehl's Calendula Deep Cleansing Foaming Face Wash is the foaming one, with calendula in the name. Arencia's Fresh Rosehip Rice Mochi Foaming Cleanser is the bouncy, playful one, and ma:nyo's Pure Soybean Cleansing Milk is the one for a face that dislikes foam altogether.

Sunscreen is the real reason to care about a light moisturizer. First Aid Beauty's Hydrating Sunscreen Milk SPF 45 is comfortable on dry skin. Glossier's Invisible Shield Priming Sunscreen SPF 50 is the one that works as a base for makeup. Biossance's Daily Hydration Mineral Face Sunscreen SPF 50 with squalane is a mineral option, and Sephora Collection's Daily Sunscreen Cream SPF 30 is the plain, practical one for school or work.

A gel cream from the grid above, then one of these in the morning, is the routine I would give to a younger sister.

What I would skip: skipping sunscreen because a moisturizer mentions hydration. Bubble itself says its Slam Dunk is a moisturizer, not a sunscreen, and the same goes for every cream in this edit.

One Bubble moisturizer and one sunscreen is the whole plan, and my pick for a first jar is Slam Dunk if your skin runs dry and Level Up if it runs shiny, with Cloud Surf as the backup for anyone who hates the feel of cream.

Use it for a few weeks before you change anything else, and wash with something kind. Skin that gets three new products at once cannot tell you which one it liked. Seventeen sold out in six days because it spoke to teenagers as though they had opinions. Your skin has some too, and a small jar of moisturizer is a good way to listen.

If your skin is acne prone, I keep a longer list of acne safe moisturizer picks, gels first.

If you like a gel cream, I also put together a shiny face moisturizer list covering oil control and glow options.