Overnight Skincare is An Essential Part of Any Beauty Routine

• Let your skin recover while you snooze, with popular products like Augustinus Bader’s The Face Cream Mask, Laneige’s Water Sleeping Mask, and Youth to the People’s Superberry Hydrate and Glow Dream masks
• Try applying retinoids, peptides and antioxidants before going to bed to give them more time to take effect, or try hi-tech solutions like the NuFace Trinity + Wrinkle Reducer and Solawave’s Red Light Therapy wand

It repair and rejuvenate your face with nighttime serums and K-beauty face masks that work nocturnal wonders away from daily stressors.

Technology’s persistent march has blurred the lines between work and leisure, with screens taking over and the notion of truly restorative sleep acquiring an almost mythical status. But is beauty sleep a whimsical concept, or is there tangible science behind it? Beyond counting sheep lies a realm of rejuvenation, one where skin cells work tirelessly to reverse the day’s damage – and the potential of skincare products takes on a new dimension.

Every night, our bodies embark on a journey of regeneration. Our skin finally gets to focus on repair and rejuvenation, as skin cells undergo a meticulous renewal process. And the quality of our sleep is directly intertwined with the health of our skin.

“At night, cell regeneration takes place, organs repair, and collagen rebuilds,” says Ashley Paulino, product development director at Hero Cosmetics.

Each night, skin damage inflicted by the sun, pollution and daily stressors is reversed – Paulino suggests nighttime is “the best time to apply your favourite skincare products, while your skin is regenerating”. However, to get into this ritual the right way, she recommends “limiting electronics before bed, washing and moisturising your face, and choosing a silk pillowcase help to get a head start on beauty sleep”.

The distinction between daytime and nighttime skincare surpasses mere temporal considerations – it’s a core principle guiding the creation of our routines. Armed with active ingredients like retinoids, peptides and antioxidants, nighttime serums collaborate with the skin’s reparative processes, maximising their impact. A worldwide popular formulation such as Sunday Riley’s Luna Sleeping Night Oil is a good example: the retinol-infused oil works effectively on reducing fine lines, wrinkles and the appearance of pores – the reason why it’s become a staple in so many people’s evening skincare routines.

As an addition to your nighttime routine, Hero Cosmetics recently launched a Mighty Patch for Tired Eyes, hydrogel patches designed to allow users to wake up with revitalised eyes, and creating a more rested appearance. Paulino goes on to further elaborate on the brand’s popular acne pimple patches, renowned for their ability to absorb impurities from pimples within six to eight hours, making them an effective solution for preventing picking and popping and supporting a healing environment while you sleep, aligning with the skin’s natural recovery processes.

So what makes certain products more potent at night? When the sun retires for the day, it carries with it the concerns of daytime – physical issues like UV exposure and environmental stressors – allowing our skin to prioritise restoration, and as we doze off, the skin’s permeability adjusts, promoting deeper ingredient penetration.

“While sleep itself is one of the best treatments for your skin, there are ingredients that can work overtime while you rest,” says Laura Cline, assistant vice-president of product development at Youth To The People. She identifies key ingredients crucial for this purpose, stating that “sources of antioxidants like superfoods, retinol, vitamin C, vitamin E and niacinamide” should be prioritised, as well as “hydration powerhouses like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, glycerine, squalene, aloe and betaine”.

Leave-on masks and serums grant sustained nourishment, extending their efficacy as the night progresses. Like a second skin, sleeping masks create a microclimate of hydration and restoration, magnifying your skincare’s potential and your skin’s strength.

The popularity of masks, including favourites like Augustinus Bader’s The Face Cream Mask, Laneige’s Water Sleeping Mask, and Youth to the People’s Superberry Hydrate and Glow Dream Mask, underscores their impact. The Glow Dream Mask “focuses on antioxidant-rich berries that help combat the effects of free radicals and intense hydration that helps reduce your skin’s natural water loss”, Cline explains, stressing that, “Adopting a nighttime skincare routine is essential as your body goes into restoration mode while sleeping.”

However, the arsenal for bedtime beauty extends beyond topical formulas. Here’s where gadgets enter the game, harnessing the hi-tech power of skin science to work their magic. At the forefront, microcurrent stands out as a crowd favourite, pledging to lift and sculpt your facial contours from the comfort of your home. NuFace is one brand that offers a variety of options to tackle different areas of your face.

The NuFace Trinity + Wrinkle Reducer attachment offers red-light therapy, which contributes to diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles – and is most effective on the clean and dry skin found just before bed, according to NuFace’s co-founder and microcurrent aesthetician Tera Peterson. “It also helps increase circulation, which helps deliver more oxygen and nutrients to the cells, promoting overall skin health,” she adds, noting how these traits can aid in reducing inflammation and supporting wound healing.

Gadgets like Solawave’s Red Light Therapy wand can also transform nocturnal skincare.

“Red Light Therapy is a wavelength that rejuvenates your skin at a cellular level,” says Paige Mueller, head of creative development at Solawave. “We use a safe-for-at-home use wavelength that penetrates the skin to improve and rejuvenate [it], helping reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, dark spots and improve texture.”

Mueller sheds light on the distinctive benefits of using the wand at night instead of the morning. While the timing of device usage is ultimately the user’s choice, she emphasises that “the current we chose to include in our wand actually helps your topicals better penetrate your skin, leading to far better results”. This translates into enhancing the effectiveness of applied skincare serums and creams, an aspect that holds particular significance for those wanting to take advantage of the full potential of their nighttime products.

This way, beauty sleep is not just a fantasy but more of a carefully planned performance where science and our desire for healthy, beautiful skin come together on a journey of restoration.