These 14 Skincare Products Guarantee You'll Wake Up With Glowing Skin

Woke up with an angry spot gracing your face? We’ve all been there. In fact, it serves as an important reminder that our skin is still working away overnight. Whether you arise first thing looking radiant and rested or dehydrated and exhausted, our skin has ways of making it clear to us that, during the eight hours of sleep we’re supposed to enjoy every night, it continues to function.

But interestingly, the way it functions is different. "Our skin works very differently at night than it does in the morning,” says Anita Sturnham, MD, a GP specialising in dermatology and the founder of Decree skincare. And the good news is the changes our skin goes through at night are mostly universal, meaning there are actions that we can all take to prevent skin upset overnight and ensure we wake up glowing.

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"It’s important to have a more targeted strategy when we’re treating our skin with our p.m. products,” Sturnham adds. Below is everything you should know (and use) to help aid your skin overnight and wake up with a glowing complexion.

Hydrate

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First and foremost, it’s important to load your skin up with hydration before bed. "The very top layer of our skin, the epidermis, opens up at night, making it more prone to transepidermal water loss, meaning water is lost more readily from our skin,” says Sturnham. It is therefore important to give your skin as much nourishing hydration as possible before you hit the hay.

Reverse

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While our skin might be more prone to dryness and dehydration throughout the night, that’s not to say our oil-producing glands aren’t also doing their thing. "Our sebaceous glands become sluggish overnight. They product a much stickier, concentrated sebum, so our pores are more prone to congestion,” says Strunham.

On top of congestion, we might also see pigmentation arise overnight. "Melanocytes, which are our pigment-producing cells, act like soldiers in the day to block aggressors from damaging our DNA. At nighttime, they are kind of worn out and need to be recharged,” she adds. Ensuring melanocytes are healthy will help stop damage that could lead to hyperpigmentation.

Soothe

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The key to a waking up to a good skin day is getting a good night’s sleep before. Therefore, any skincare product that can help aid your night’s sleep is sure to only help the cause. "If we’re stressed after a frantic day, our cortisol levels may be high in the evening. Our skin responds to this with inflammation and reduced ability to repair itself,” explains Sturnham.

Repair

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During the night, our cells go into repair mode, and it’s important to give our skin the ingredients it needs to make the most out of this process. "Fibroblasts, which are our collagen-making cells, and keratinocytes are quite hyperactive at night,” says Sturnham. "Giving them the right building blocks they need, in terms of ingredients like peptides, stem cells and vitamin A, will help fast-track the repair process,” she adds.

Freelance Beauty Editor

Shannon Lawlor is a renowned beauty journalist and has contributed to Who What Wear’s beauty content since 2020. As a leading beauty editor, expert and brand consultant, she has over eight years of experience working for some of the industry’s most esteemed titles, including Who What Wear (of course), Glamour UK, Stylist, Refinery29 and Fabulous. Having also worked behind the scenes with some of the industry’s biggest brands and retailers, Shannon has a unique insight into what people really want from their beauty routines. Understanding that beauty lovers seek honest, open and responsible advice, she has it made her mission to demystify the intimidating world of beauty, taking a no-frills approach to the most relatable topics. While Shannon is the first to admit she doesn’t hold the answer to every beauty question out there, she is dedicated to sharing her expert insights in a bid to help. As a self-proclaimed lazy girl, Shannon has an affinity for easy-to-use, foolproof beauty products and has made it her mission to scope out the best of the best. When she’s not working, Shannon is likely soaking in the bath or giving no-holds-barred beauty reviews on Instagram from her bathroom floor.