Day vs. Night Creams: should you use both ?

Your skin requires different types of care depending on the time of day. What is the difference between a day versus night cream? Do you need to buy a completely separate product? Let’s find out.

What is a day cream?

During the day, the skin is subject to harmful UV rays, environmental stresses, pollution, and cosmetics. Because of this, creams are designed to provide as much protection and support as possible. For example, Merlot’s Grape Seed Moisturizer contains SPF protection and is non-oily. SPF works against photoaging, burning and contains antioxidants that fight free radicals with ingredients such as caffeine or natural extracts such as grape-seed. Daytime moisturizers are designed to be light, with non-greasy formulas that easily absorb into your skin and allows pores to breathe. They create a smooth but oil-free canvas for cosmetics to glide on easily.

While many daytime moisturizers contain some anti-aging properties such as alpha hydroxy acids and retinoids, they tend to be light on these compounds. If you use products containing these properties too much, it can have adverse effects on your skin-- becoming more sensitive to the sun. In addition, day creams must be versatile for everyday use. If there are too many active ingredients in one product, their effectiveness can be reduced. Thus, a daily moisturizer with the perfect balance of ingredients is necessary to maintain a healthy skincare routine.

What is a night cream?

When you sleep, your body recharges-- and so does your skin. At night, your skin does the heavy lifting. The bulk of its restoring, regenerating and repairing is completed while at rest. Thus, night creams are focused on recovery and slow-absorbing moisturization. They are designed to penetrate over the course of several hours. Since there is little to no concern about sun exposure, they also contain higher concentrations of anti-aging compounds such as glycolic acid, hyaluronic acid and retinol.

The resulting product is a cream that is often richer, thicker or heavier than most day creams. They tend to be more oily, thus it isn’t an effective primer under makeup.

Why use both types?

There is a big difference between day and night creams, both in purpose and texture. While using a night cream in the morning (or vice versa) will not cause a calamity, the desired results may not be as effective.

In short, if you use the night cream during the day, your skin may feel heavier, greasier and will be less protected from the sun.

If you use the day cream during the night, your skin will not receive the full range of anti-aging and deep moisturizing ingredients contained in the nighttime product.

The decision between using two moisturizers or one is a personal choice. However, to maximize skincare results, using a specific product for the day and night is ideal. 

Check out Merlot's day cream and night cream for yourself today!