The Best Skincare Products for Dry Skin, in Three Easy Steps

The Best Skincare Products for Dry Skin, in Three Easy Steps

A routine for the best skincare products for dry skin only needs three steps: a cream or balm cleanser, a hydrating serum or essence, and a rich face cream. Here is what I would put in each step and how to layer them.

Tatcha was built on a trip. Founder Vicky Tsai has said that she went to Kyoto worn out by constant travel and a punishing career, and that what she learned there about caring for skin helped her skin and herself heal. The brand's own story describes the Tatcha Institute in Tokyo, founded in 2010, and a blend of double-fermented Akita rice, Uji green tea and Okinawa algae that the brand calls Hadasei-3. I like starting a dry skin routine with that story, because it begins where dry skin begins: with the cleanser.

For the best skincare products for dry skin, the first step is a wash that does not leave you tight. Tatcha The Rice Wash is my lead pick. It is a non-stripping cream cleanser with Japanese rice powder, hyaluronic acid and red algae, on a pH-neutral amino acid base. First Aid Beauty Ultra Gentle Pure Skin is a fragrance free cream-to-foam wash with colloidal oatmeal. The INKEY List Hydrating Cream-To-Milk has rice milk and hyaluronic acid, and The Ordinary Glycolipid Cream Cleanser is a non-drying option for makeup removal. Elemis Pro-Collagen, CLINIQUE Take The Day Off and Farmacy Green Clean are the balms, and the Clinique one is labeled non-comedogenic. Farmacy also makes a Green Clean Gentle Creamy Cleanser for mornings.

A quick test: after rinsing, wait a minute. If your skin feels tight, the cleanser is too strong.

Big numbers collage for Best Skincare Products for Dry Skin: six products from Tatcha, First Aid Beauty, The INKEY List, The Ordinary, Elemis and Dieux, each set beside a large numeral
Best Skincare Products for Dry Skin

Cream cleansers and cleansing balms

Serums and essences that hold water

Step two is where dry skin gets its water back. Use these on damp skin, right after cleansing, so the hydration has something to hold onto. Pat, do not rub, and give each layer a few seconds before the next. The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 is a serum with five forms of hyaluronic acid and ceramides, labeled non-comedogenic. Torriden 5D Hyaluronic Acid Ultra Hydrating Serum delivers multi-layered hydration with panthenol and allantoin, and it is fragrance free. Experiment Super Saturated is a juicy barrier serum with 30 percent glycerin and polyglutamic acid. Caudalie VinoHydra is a fast-absorbing serum with grape water, and The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Hyaluronic Acid is the one for firmness. For a lighter layer, Tatcha The Essence is 100 percent Hadasei-3, rhode Glazing Milk is a milky essence with a ceramide trio, and LANEIGE Cream Skin is a milky toner with ceramides and peptides.

Pairing tip: pat a toner or essence in with your hands, then press a serum over it before your cream goes on.

What I would skip: stacking three hydrating serums in one go. Pick one essence and one serum, and let the cream do the sealing.

Hydrating serums, essences and toners

Rich creams for the last step

The last step has to hold everything in. Dieux Instant Angel is a lipid-rich cream with peptides, squalane and ceramides. EADEM Cloud Cushion is a dewy cream with three plant ceramides that works as a makeup-ready base. Summer Fridays Rich Cushion Cream brings hyaluronic acid and squalane, and the brand says it delivers up to 24 hours of moisture. Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream is built around the brand's patented TFC8. Youth To The People Superberry Dream is a night cream and mask in one, with vitamin C, squalane and hyaluronic acid. Topicals Like Butter is made for dry, sensitive skin with colloidal oatmeal and madecassoside. fresh Lotus Youth Preserve is a night cream labeled non-comedogenic, and Caudalie Resveratrol-Lift is a retinol alternative night moisturizer with multi-peptides.

How to wear it: warm a small amount between your palms and press it over your face and neck, then take what is left to the backs of your hands.

What I would skip: a mask-style night cream in the morning under makeup. Keep Youth To The People for bed and choose EADEM or Summer Fridays for daytime.

Rich face creams

Building your dry skin routine

Keep the routine simple and go in the same order each time. Cleanse with a cream or balm, press in an essence or serum while your skin is damp, and seal it with a cream. If your skin feels tight by midday, the cleanser is usually the first thing to change. Choose fragrance free where you can, and add only one new product at a time so you can tell what is working. Then let the routine settle for a few weeks. Dry skin tends to reward patience more than a long shelf.