A shelf of new products is exciting. Using all of it on the first night is the most common way to regret it.
If several unfamiliar products go on at once and your skin objects, you have no way of knowing which one to blame. You either abandon everything or keep guessing.
Patch test first
Inside the elbow or behind the ear. A small amount of each product, once a day, for two days.
It is dull and it takes a weekend. It is also the difference between a mild reaction on your arm and an angry one across your face.
Introduce them over two weeks
- Days 1 to 3: cleanser and moisturiser only. These are the gentlest and the foundation of everything.
- Days 4 to 6: add the toner.
- Days 7 to 9: add the eye cream.
- Day 10 onwards: add the serum, every other night at first.
- From day one: sunscreen every morning, regardless of the above.
The serum comes last because it is the most active thing you have opened.
If something stings
A brief tingle when a serum goes on damp skin is common. Burning, redness that lasts, or itching is not.
Stop that product. Go back to cleanser and moisturiser for a week. Reintroduce every third night.
You do not have to use everything every day
Sleep masks are two or three nights a week. Serums can be every other night. Only cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen are genuinely daily.
What you have bought is a list of options, not a checklist.
What to do with what you already own
Do not run two routines at once. Finish the old cleanser before opening the new one, or you have two of everything and no idea what is working.
The exception is sunscreen. Never ration that one.