On 15 August 1967, Vogue ran an interview headlined "Can Great Skin Be Created". In it, Carol Phillips sat down with a New York dermatologist named Norman Orentreich and asked him, basically, what a doctor would do about faces. The piece landed on Leonard Lauder's desk, and he hired Phillips to lead a line built on the answer. A year later, Clinique was at the counters. One magazine interview and a whole skincare brand.

That is the story to keep in mind when you shop a Clinique moisturizer. The brand started as an allergy-tested, fragrance-free line, sold by consultants in white lab coats at brightly lit counters, with light-green clinical packaging and a chart that sorted you into a skin type. The earliest routine was three steps: facial soap, clarifying lotion, moisturizer. I find that oddly modern. Plain formulas, a simple order, no perfume to get in the way. A published edit already covers Moisture Surge on its own, so this one lines up the whole range.

The trick is to pick by texture, not by name. The first grid is the Clinique range. Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion+ is the old-school lotion, which one listing describes as pure urea, glycerin, pro-lipids and hyaluronic acid for very dry to dry-combination skin. The Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel is the lighter one for the same family. Moisture Surge 100H is the gel-cream, and Clinique says it is oil free and fragrance free, with aloe bioferment, hyaluronic acid and vitamins C and E.

Then the job-specific ones. The Moisture Surge SPF 28 Sheer Hydrator and Superdefense City Block SPF 50 are for mornings outside. Smart Clinical Repair is the anti-aging cream, Even Better Clinical Brightening Moisturizer with Vitamin C is for dullness, and Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream with Microbiome Technology is the one for skin that flushes easily.

Put the moisturizer on last, not first. A creamy layer on top of a bare face is fine, but under it a good cleanser and a light toner do half the work.

Clinique's original three steps are still here. All About Clean Liquid Facial Soap is a gentle cleanser, the nearest thing here to the brand's first step. The All About Clean Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser adds hyaluronic acid for a foamy wash. Clarifying Lotion 2 is the toner in that old trio. Skin type was the organizing idea at the counter in 1968, and the toner still carries that logic.

Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm is for makeup, and it is the step I would add if you wear a full face. The All About Eyes pair comes as an eye cream with vitamin C and a de-puffing eye massage serum for dark circles, and I would pick by morning versus night. Clinique's Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Clearing Serum with Vitamin C and Smart Clinical Repair Wrinkle Correcting Serum are the treatment layers, and both go on before the cream.

I would use the gentle liquid soap at night, the vitamin C serum in the morning, a gel-cream on top of both. It is a little like the brand's three-step idea, stretched into two halves of a day.

What I would skip: the foaming cleanser and the balm in the same wash if your skin tightens. Use the balm only on makeup days.

Touch a gel cream with a dry fingertip and it tells you a lot. If it feels like water and sinks in quickly, it will layer under sunscreen. If it leaves a film, it will do better at night.

Clinique's Moisture Surge is the gel-cream most people start from, so here are the others to compare. First Aid Beauty's Hydrating Dewy Gel Cream adds hyaluronic acid and ceramides. belif's True Cream Aqua Bomb pairs hyaluronic acid with niacinamide. LANEIGE's Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Gel Moisturizer uses mint extract, so it is the one I would put in the fridge for summer.

Estée Lauder's DayWear is a matte, oil-control gel cream with antioxidants, for shiny skin. Origins GinZing is an energizing gel cream with caffeine and niacinamide, made for mornings. Glow Recipe's Plum Plump is refillable, and Summer Fridays' Cloud Dew is a gel cream built for a sensible daily routine. Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Water Cream is a refillable gel with niacinamide.

Next to Clinique, the main question is finish. Some of these are dewy, some matte, and Moisture Surge lands in the middle. Pick the finish you like under makeup first.

What I would skip: a dewy gel cream under a matte foundation on a humid day. The two will fight, and your base will slide.

Split your day into two jobs: protect in the morning, repair at night. A moisturizer with SPF is not a night cream, and a night cream is not sunscreen.

For night, Estée Lauder's NightWear Plus is an antioxidant night detox cream, and Origins' Night-a-Mins is a resurfacing one. Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Night Moisturizer contains retinol and is refillable, and Murad's Retinal ReSculpt is an overnight cream built around retinal. Retinoids are active ingredients, so introduce any of them slowly and ask your dermatologist if you are unsure.

For mornings, the SPF options are lighter. Supergoop's Triple Prep is a weightless SPF 40 moisturizer, Peter Thomas Roth's Water Drench is SPF 45 with hyaluronic acid, Ultra Violette's Supreme Screen is an SPF 50 moisturizer and primer, and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer comes in SPF 30. Clinique's own SPF options are in the first grid, so you can compare them side by side.

A pairing I like: the morning SPF moisturizer, then the night cream without SPF, each doing one job. That is simpler than a single product that tries for both.

What I would skip: a retinol night cream the same evening you start a new acid serum. Add one active at a time.

Honestly, my pick for a first Clinique moisturizer depends on your skin. Lotion+ or the gel for dry or mixed skin, Moisture Surge if you want a gel-cream, and one of the SPF options for mornings you are outside. Buy one, use it for a month, and then decide.

Clinique began as a simple idea from a magazine interview: great skin might be created, and a routine might be the way. So I would keep the routine short and boring, which is what works for most skin. Give each new product a few weeks before you add another, and let your skin tell you what it likes. You do not need the lab coat. You only need three steps and a little patience.

For more than the Clinique gels, my shiny face moisturizer guide compares oil control formulas with glowier ones.