THE BEST SKIN CARE ROUTINE FOR DRY SKIN
Are you part of the dry skin community and constantly craving a complexion that doesn’t feel tight or look dull? You’re not alone—and you’re certainly not in the minority. With a need for a heavy dose of hydration and carefully crafted products that won’t cause irritation, a dedicated skin care routine for dry skin is essential.
But where to start? What products to use and what is the best way to layer your toner, essence, serum and moisturiser? Well here at Cult Beauty, we’ve curated the ultimate skin care routine for dry skin with the best face products for dry, sensitive skin... because thirsty complexions need more than just a quick swipe of moisturiser.
In This Article
- The Best Morning Skin Care Routine For Dry Skin
- The Best Evening Skin Care Routine For Dry Skin
- The Best Skin Care Routine For Dry Skin FAQs
THE BEST MORNING SKIN CARE ROUTINE FOR DRY SKIN
STEP ONE: CLEANSE
Start your day by cleansing your skin with a formula like Kate Somerville’s Goat Milk Moisturising Cleanser. Powered by Manuka honey, skin soothing goat’s milk, jojoba and avocado oils, this gentle but highly effective face wash nourishes your complexion, conditions and ensures your skin is perfectly moisturised and ready for the rest of your routine.
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STEP TWO: TONE
Layering hydration throughout your skin care routine for dry skin is key for locking essential moisture, so spritz your skin with a toner like Zelens’ Provitamin D3 Fortifying Mist to flood your complexion with much needed hydration. An ideal pre-serum, this moisture-boosting hero will instantly improve absorption while boosting your skin’s resilience. What’s more, with encapsulated provitamin D3 in the formula it reinforces skin’s natural ‘shield’ preventing any unwanted irritation.
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STEP THREE: SERUM
Next up, apply a lightweight serum. Our go to? BYOMA’s Hydrating Serum. Enriched with fatty acids, cholesterol, a ceramide complex and hydrating squalane and glycerine, this potent potion quickly makes dryness a thing of the past! Make sure you apply this to damp skin following your face mist for the best results.
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STEP FOUR: EYE CREAM
For the delicate undereye area we suggest applying an eye cream that tackles not only hydration issues but other skin concerns too. Case in point? Community Sixty-Six's Hydrating Eye Cream. Powered by a dynamic blend of caffeine and niacinamide, featherlight formula that helps to reduce the appearance of puffiness, fine lines and dehydration while also brightening dark circles. Enriched with hydrating hyaluronic acid and spinach leaf extract, this non-greasy eye cream doesn’t stick or pill making it perfect pre-make up.
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STEP FIVE: MOISTURISE
Then, a must in any skin care routine for dry skin is a hard working day cream like Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare’s Alpha Beta pH Balance Replenishing Cream. Offering 24-hours of hydration, this lightweight lotion is infused with phytic acid, linoleic acid and phospholipids to protect the skin's moisture barrier and acid mantle. Not only that, but it also reduces redness, excess oil and of course effortlessly fights dry, flaky skin. Ideal for supporting the health of your complexion, it works to ensure your skin feels restored and resilient.
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STEP SIX: FACE OIL
To lock all your hard work in, we suggest adding a face oil. Pai Skincare’s Rosehip Bioregenerate Oil for extra hydration. Carefully crafted using volcanically sourced CO2 supercritical extraction, this stand out solution is infused with omegas 3, 6, 7 and 9, plus antioxidant carotenoids help to repair and protect skin against environmental stress and visible damage. A serious multi-tasker, this super serum not only helps with dry skin and flakiness but addresses irritation, redness, blemishes, dull skin tone, fine lines, scars and sun damage too.
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FINAL STEP: SPF
And to finish everything off? Two fingers' length of SPF is a must. Supergoop!’s Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50. Offering high levels of sun protection in a silky, smooth texture, this SPF deflects against UVA and UVB rays, is completely invisible, water and sweat-resistant, fast-absorbing and is deliciously scented. Infused with nourishing basil leaf extract, hydrating panthenol and sunflower, rosemary and rice antioxidants to shield against the impact of pollution, it ensures your skin is suitably sun ready from head to toe.
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THE BEST EVENING SKIN CARE ROUTINE FOR DRY SKIN
STEP ONE: FIRST CLEANSE
Gently but effectively remove the remains of the day (without making your delicate complexion feel tighter or more uncomfortable) with a non-foaming cleanser. CeraVe’s Hydrating Cleanser with Hyaluronic Acid for Normal to Dry Skin is specifically formulated to fit seamlessly into a skin care routine for dry skin. Calling on a blend of three essential ceramides (1, 3 and 6-11), it gentley removes dirt, grime and make up while boosting the health of your moisture barrier.
STEP TWO: DOUBLE CLEANSE
A skin care routine for dry skin should always include a double cleanse. Use the same Kate Somerville Goat Milk Cleanser again for a luxurious second step that refreshes without leaving skin tight. If you want to try something different, dry skin also does well with an oil cleanser too. We love Erborian's Centella Cleansing Oil. Infused with centella asiatica, it soothes and comforts your complexion while effortlessly breaking down make up and sunscreen all while supporting your hydration levels.
STEP THREE: EXFOLIATE
Upscale your routine and buff away dead skin cells with a gentle exfoliator. Dermalogica’s Daily Milkfoliant is a powder-turned-milk formula that gently exfoliate your skin. Powered by nourishing botanical extracts, skin-softening oat and coconut extracts as well as an arginine-rich blend of AHAs and BHAs, this smoothing potion also stars a cocktail of hyaluronic acid, moisturising lipids and essential minerals like magnesium and potassium to seriously elevate the look and feel of your complexion.
STEP FOUR: TONE
Once you’ve exfoliated, you can reapply your Zelens Provitamin D3 Fortifying Mist to help improve the absorption of your serums and moisturiser. If you prefer a different type of toner and want something you can pat, Then I Met You’s Living Sea Cleansing Tonic may be something to consider. Powered by 86% deep sea water (sourced from Gangwon Korea), papaya extracts, seaberry and persimmon extracts, this cleansing tonic is nourishing, revitalising and won’t strip skin. Plus, you can use it to remove make up or as a midday skin refresher too!
STEP FIVE: SERUM
Follow this with a hydrating serum. Offering a targeted solution to your complexion, serums are an essential in your skin care routine for dry skin. You can use the same serum you did in the morning, or something more intense like Paula’s Choice’s 7% Ectoin + Hyaluronic Acid Milky Hydrating Serum instead.
STEP SIX: EYE CREAM
Next up, dab on your Community Sixty-Six's Hydrating Eye Cream. To elevate this for your evening routine, apply Dieux Skin’s Forever Eye Masks on top to help the eye cream absorb better. For an added boost – leave your eye masks in the fridge to cool them and help with depuffing.
STEP SEVEN: MOISTURISE
And finally, it’s time to apply your night cream. Offering a more concentrated dose of moisture than a dry cream, these luxurious skin care essentials restore, repenish and revive complexions while you sleep. Specifically formulated for dry skin, Medik8 Advanced Night Restore moisturiser is the answer to pillowy-soft skin come morning. Powered by Medik8’s midnight repair complex (featuring saskatoon berry, peptides and dragon fruit extract), it deeply nourishes skin and offers pollution protection while you sleep. Plus, with the addition of a ceramide-rich formula it helps to improve the health of your skin barrier to reveal smoother, plumper skin when you wake up.
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BEST SKIN CARE ROUTINE FOR DRY SKIN FAQS
What are the 7 steps of skin care?
As discussed above, the 7 main steps within skin care are cleanser, toner, essence, serum, eye cream, moisturiser and sunscreen.
Is hyaluronic acid good for dry skin?
Yes — hyaluronic acid (HA) is great for dry skin, but (and this is important) only when used correctly. Hyaluronic acid is a humectant and pulls water into the skin like a magnet but that also means it pulls water from wherever it can (including the deeper layers of your skin). If you use hyaluronic acid and you don’t seal it in with a moisturiser, there’s a high chance that your skin will feel drier than it did before.
Is vitamin C good for dry skin?
Yes, vitamin C is good for dry skin but it does have some caveats. Some people with dry skin can be susceptible to irritation, especially if the strength of the vitamin is high. It can also be quite a drying ingredient, so we recommend to always choose a lower concentration of it and always layer with a hydrating moisturiser. We recommend Medik8’s C-Tetra Advanced as it contains both a stable form of vitamin C and phyto exosomes for controlled delivery— meaning there is no barrier disruption to the skin.
And there you have it — a complete skin care routine for dry skin. With consistent use, you’ll soon wave goodbye to dullness and dehydration and say hello to comfort, glow and long-lasting hydration.
Rina is Cult Beauty’s Midweight SEO Copywriter and has always had a passion for beauty and skin care (rich moisturisers are her obsession). What started as a love for The Body Shop and their famed Born Lippy lip balms (in ‘Watermelon’ of course!), she is now more interested in finding products with proven effectiveness instead of broken promises. A loud and proud VIEVE fan, Rina owns nearly every item of the range and recommends the brand to anyone who will listen... When she’s not intently reading ingredient lists, you can find her either immersed in multiple true crime podcasts or a fantasy romance novel, with an *extra* hot cappuccino in hand.
