Cosmetics may be the noisiest shelf in all of retail: big promises, unpronounceable ingredients, packaging that seems to say everything and says nothing. Yet skincare, looked at calmly, is one of the simplest things there is. It takes three steps — cleanse, moisturise, protect — and the discipline to repeat them. Everything else is refinement. This guide does not promise you a different skin: it gives you the reading grid to choose products that make sense for you, to understand what to expect, and to stop buying by accumulation. As always, we close with a real selection from the Dedal catalogue — products tested, documented, useful.
1. Before the product, know your skin
The most common mistake is not choosing the wrong product: it is choosing before knowing which skin you are choosing for. Skin is not the same for everyone, and it is not even the same as itself across the seasons. Recognising your own type is the move that makes every later purchase more precise and less random.
Dry skin feels tight after cleansing, looks dull and may flake: it asks for rich, nourishing textures. Oily skin produces excess sebum, shines especially in the central zone of the face and tends toward blackheads: it prefers light textures and cleansers that clean without stripping. Combination skin — the most common — pairs a shinier forehead-nose-chin with more normal or drier cheeks, and should be treated zone by zone. Sensitive skin, finally, is not a type of its own but a cross-cutting condition: it reacts with redness and discomfort, and rewards short, gentle formulas.
A useful home test: wash your face with water, apply nothing and wait an hour. If you feel widespread tightness, your skin tends dry; if shine appears on the T-zone, it tends combination or oily; if it stays comfortable and balanced, you are lucky. Everything else starts here.
2. The minimum routine: three steps, not ten
The twelve-step routines circulating online are fascinating but almost always useless for a beginner. The unspectacular truth is that healthy-looking skin is built with three steps done well and repeated: cleanse, moisturise, protect. If you add one product at a time and observe what changes, you will really understand what you need. If you add five at once, you will never know which one works and which is bothering you.
In the morning: cleanse gently, apply a moisturiser and, during the day, sun protection. In the evening: cleanse to remove sebum, pollution and make-up, then moisturise. This skeleton works for every skin type; only the textures and the choice of individual products change. Building more before stabilising these three steps is like furnishing a house before laying the floor.
The invisible fourth step: protection
If the fundamental steps are three, there is a fourth that during the day is worth as much as the others combined: sun protection. The sun is the main driver of visible skin ageing — spots, loss of firmness, wrinkles — and it acts all year, even when overcast and even in the city. Applying protection in the morning, as the last step before make-up, is the most effective way to protect the work of every other product. Without it, serums and anti-ageing creams work against the current. Choose a high factor for the face, apply it generously and, if you spend a long time outdoors, reapply. It is not a seasonal product: it is the most everyday of them all.
3. Cleansing: the step that decides the others
Good cleansing does not just "clean": it prepares the skin to receive everything that follows. Cleanse too aggressively and the skin reacts by producing more sebum or getting irritated; cleanse too little and creams and serums work on a dirty surface. It is the most underrated and, at the same time, the most important step.
Gels, foams, oils: which texture
Gel cleansers are the most versatile choice for combination and oily skin: they dissolve sebum leaving a clean, crisp feel. A purifying gel cleanser like the one from La Roche Posay is designed for skin prone to impurities that wants a decisive but non-stripping cleanse. Foams are airy and gentle, suitable for daily use even on more reactive skin: a cleansing foam like Shiseido's Clarifying Cleansing cleans softly without leaving the skin rigid. Oils and balms, finally, are best for dissolving make-up and water-resistant sunscreens, and are often the first step of the so-called evening double cleanse.
Double cleansing, without dogma
Double cleansing — first an oil, then a water-based cleanser — makes sense in the evening if you wear make-up or heavy sunscreens: the first step dissolves what is oily, the second removes the residue. It is not a daily obligation nor a rite to follow to the letter. In the morning, for most people, a gentle cleanser or even just water is enough. Listen to your skin, not to the trend of the moment.
4. Exfoliation: gentle and occasional
Exfoliating means helping the skin shed dead surface cells, for a brighter, more even look. The problem is that almost everyone overdoes it: aggressive scrubs used daily thin and irritate. Better little and gentle. Konjac sponges, for example, are a very light mechanical exfoliation: a konjac cloth for sensitive skin like the one from Beter massages the surface without micro-abrasions and suits reactive skin too. Once or twice a week is more than enough; if the skin turns shiny-tight or redness appears, you are overdoing it.
5. Moisturising: the heart of the routine
If you had to save one product besides the cleanser, it would be the moisturiser. Moisturising does not mean just "adding water": it means helping the skin retain the water it has and keeping its protective barrier intact. Even oily skin needs moisture — it often produces more sebum precisely because it is dehydrated and "frightened" by overly aggressive cleansing.
The choice of texture follows the skin type: fluid and fast-absorbing for combination and oily skin, richer and more enveloping for dry skin. Among the most common active ingredients is hyaluronic acid, a molecule that holds water and gives skin a more relaxed, plumped look in the immediate term: a day cream with hyaluronic acid like Eurostil's is a good starting point for light daily hydration. For those seeking a comfortable texture all year round, a balanced face cream like Carl&son's Face Cream works well both in the morning under protection and in the evening.
An honest caveat: no cream "erases" anything permanently. Cosmetics improve appearance, perceived firmness and the comfort of the skin; they are not medicines and do not promise cures. Anyone who promises you that is selling, not explaining.
The actives you will hear named
Beyond hyaluronic acid, a few ingredients come up again and again on labels and are worth recognising. Niacinamide is a versatile, well-tolerated active, valued for the even, smooth look it gives the skin. Vitamin C is known for radiance and for the antioxidant effect that helps defend the skin from environmental stress, and it suits the morning. Cosmetic retinoids act on surface renewal and are used in the evening, gradually, because they can dry the skin at first. The golden rule with actives is a single one: introduce one at a time, a few weeks apart, so you know what to credit for an improvement — or a discomfort. Piling them all on at once is the fastest way to irritate the skin and lose track of everything.
In what order to apply
When products become more than one, order matters: the practical rule is to go from the lightest texture to the richest, so each can penetrate before being "sealed in" by the next. On a clean face you start with any watery serums, then the moisturiser, and finally — only during the day — sun protection as the closing layer. The eye contour goes on before or after the face cream, depending on its texture. You do not need to follow the order like a rite: you need to remember that a rich cream applied first blocks the way for the more fluid actives, and that is one of the most common wastes.
Sensitive skin: less is more
If the skin often reacts with redness, itching or stinging, the winning strategy is to remove, not add. Short formulas, without intense fragrance, applied over an essential routine give the skin time to calm down. When you introduce a new product, first test it on a small area — the crook of the arm or behind the ear — and wait a couple of days: it is the simplest way to avoid surprises on the face. And if something bothers you, stop and return to it only when the skin is settled. Patience, with sensitive skin, is the most effective ingredient.
6. Eye contour: is it really needed?
The skin around the eyes is thinner and more mobile than the rest of the face, and it is the first to show tiredness and the signs of time. A dedicated eye product is not essential for everyone, but it makes sense when you want a texture designed for that delicate zone, less rich than a face cream so as not to weigh it down. An anti-ageing eye contour like the one from La Roche Posay focuses on hydration and daily comfort; for those seeking a richer, more treating formula, an eye balm like Estée Lauder's Revitalizing Supreme offers a more enveloping texture. In both cases, apply a minimal amount — the size of a grain of rice — patting with your ring finger, the one that presses least.
A word on make-up
Make-up is not skincare, but it lives alongside it and deserves a couple of words. A few well-chosen products go further than a drawer full of them: a quality mascara like Chanel's Inimitable opens up the eyes in a single gesture, while a light everyday alternative like the Bourjois mascara is perfect for daily use. A creamy-textured lipstick like Glam of Sweden's Soft Cream adds colour without drying the lips. The rule is the same as for skincare: always removing make-up in the evening is as much a part of wearing it as applying it, because the skin needs to breathe overnight.
7. The body, not just the face
We all focus on the face and forget that skin is the largest organ of the body. Legs, arms, hands and feet endure the same stress of climate and washing, and a body lotion after the shower is the cheapest and most underrated step of the whole daily routine. Applied on still-damp skin, it locks in moisture far better. A generous format like the nourishing body lotion from Instituto Español in 950 ml makes sense precisely because the body asks for volume: a small bottle is gone in a week, a large format carries you through the cold months without a thought.
Shower and hands: the steps we forget
Body cleansing follows the same logic as the face: better a gentle shower gel that does not leave the skin tight. A shower gel like the one from Elizabeth Arden cleanses leaving a light scented note, without stripping. And then there are the hands, the most exposed part of the body and often the first to show age: washed dozens of times a day, they deserve a cream kept within reach — by the sink, in your bag — and applied whenever they feel tight. It is the thirty-second gesture that makes the most visible difference in the long run.
8. How to read the label without panicking
The INCI — the ingredient list — looks like a wall of Latin and chemistry, but it follows two useful rules. First: ingredients are in order of decreasing quantity, so the first five matter far more than the last twenty. Second: complicated names are not synonymous with "bad", and natural names are not synonymous with "safe" — water is called Aqua, hyaluronic acid Sodium Hyaluronate, and many allergens are of plant origin. You do not need to understand every entry: you need to know that position counts, and to distrust the promises shouted on the front of the pack more than the ingredients on the back.
9. Seasonality: skin changes, so does the routine
The same person has different needs in January and in July. In winter, cold and heating dry the skin: switch to richer textures, insist on hydration and protect against chapping. In summer, heat and humidity call for lighter textures, slightly more frequent cleansing and — all year, but even more in summer — sun protection. You do not have to overhaul everything: just lighten or enrich the textures and watch how the skin responds. A smart routine breathes with the seasons.
10. The most common mistakes
The first is changing too often: skin needs weeks to show the benefits of a product, and those who change every few days never give it time to show results. The second is over-cleansing: the more aggressively you wash, the more the skin reacts. The third is skipping moisturiser on oily skin, which stays dehydrated and produces even more sebum. The fourth is using too much product: a cream absorbs in small amounts, the excess just sits on the surface. The fifth is being guided by scent or packaging instead of the real need of your skin.
Mini-FAQ
Do I absolutely need a serum? No. A serum is a concentrate of actives you add once the base — cleansing and moisturising — is already solid. It is a refinement, not a foundation.
Do expensive products work better? Not necessarily. Price depends on research, packaging and brand at least as much as on efficacy. Many affordable formulas do their job very well; what matters is the fit with your skin, not the receipt.
How often should I replace an opened product? Look at the open-jar symbol on the pack (e.g. 12M = twelve months after opening). Creams and formulas with few preservatives should be used within those months; if they change smell or colour, throw them away.
Can I use the same product for face and body? Better not: facial skin is thinner and more reactive, and body products are often richer and more fragranced than the face appreciates.
The selection
A coherent base to build your routine, all from the Perfumery and Cosmetics category of the Dedal catalogue:
- La Roche Posay Purifying Cleansing Gel 200 ml — decisive cleansing for impurity-prone skin.
- Shiseido Clarifying Cleansing Foam 125 ml — gentle daily cleansing.
- Beter Konjac Cloth for Sensitive Skin — light mechanical exfoliation.
- Eurostil Day Cream with Hyaluronic Acid 50 ml — light daytime hydration.
- Carl&son Face Cream 75 ml — balanced year-round hydration.
- La Roche Posay Anti-Ageing Eye Contour 15 ml — comfort for the most delicate zone.
- Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme Eye Balm 15 ml — rich, treating texture.
- Instituto Español Nourishing Body Lotion 950 ml — body nourishment in a generous format.