How to Choose the Right Moisturizer for Your Face

First, Determine Your Skin Type

Every person’s skin is unique, but there are a few common skin types that may help you to identify where your skin fits in the most. The three main skin types are known as Oily, Combination, and Dry. You can also have a few additional skin concerns or focuses, like Mature or Sensitive skin. Knowing your skin type will help you determine your perfect moisturizer.

The Bare-Faced Method

The bare-faced method is the easiest way to determine your skin type at home. First, cleanse your face with a mild cleanser and gently pat dry. Leave skin bare (and do not apply any additional moisturizers, serums, or treatments). After 30 minutes, examine your cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead for any shine. After another 30 minutes, evaluate whether your skin feels parched, especially if you smile or make any other facial expressions. If your skin feels tight, your skin is likely dry. See a noticeable shine on your nose and forehead? Your skin is most likely combination. Or, if there is shine on your cheeks, forehead, and nose, you most likely have oily skin.

What Face Moisturizer Ingredients Are Right For Me?

Now that you’ve narrowed down your skin type, here are a few ingredients to look out for when it comes to choosing the right moisturizer.

Humectants

Every single skin type will drink up these hydration superstars. They attract water, helping to draw in hydration and lock it in place. The most commonly used are hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and niacinamide. They’re cornerstones of many moisturizers, known for their ability to soothe, hydrate, and plump skin. Because they’re known for their lightweight feel, they’re ideal for any skin type.

Emollients

Rich emollients smooth and soften skin, helping to prevent water loss. They’re often seen in moisturizers as squalane, camellia oil, and ceramides. These ingredients impart a silky, radiant look and feel, ideal for dry skin, as well as mature skin that’s seeking repairative protection.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants work by protecting and healing skin from environmental factors, and can even prevent skin from future damage. The most common antioxidants are Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and green tea. Each has their own specific, free radical-fighting benefits. They’re ideal for each and every skin type.

When Do I Apply A Moisturizer?

You’ve narrowed down your skin type, as well as the best moisturizer ingredients for you. But it’s all moot if you aren’t applying your hydrator correctly.

Morning and night, after cleansing, toning, and applying a serum (if you partake), use a pearl-size amount of moisturizer and place it onto your palm. Apply a dot to each cheek, your chin, and your forehead. Then, using your (clean!) fingertips, massage gently in upward and outward strokes.

The Best Moisturizers For Combination Skin

If you tend to have both dry and oily sections on your face, you probably have combination skin. Your ideal moisturizer is most likely a gel cream. You want a boost of hydration, but not too thick of a cream to alter your natural moisture reserve. A gel moisturizer is a happy medium between light-as-air texture and soothing hydration.

Combination Skin Should Try: The Silk Cream is perfect for almost any skin type (and combo skin will love it!), thanks to a trinity of fermented Japanese superfoods, which restores healthy-looking radiance. The visibly firming moisturizer also has a complete liquid silk protein, which parallels the amino acid structure of human skin to super hydrate your skin’s surface.

The Best Moisturizers For Dry Skin

Those that have dry skin need extra emollients, ceramides, and peptides that soften the skin’s surface and drench it with hydration. Dry skin loves pampering, so restore it with hydrating moisturizers, rich masks, and beauty oils. Especially dry? Try massaging in a cream moisturizer and then sealing in the juicy hydration by layering a face oil on top.

Dry Skin Should Try: The Dewy Skin Cream is the best moisturizer for dry skin. The rich, moisturizing cream plumps skin for a dewy, healthy glow – thanks to antioxidant-packed Japanese purple rice, Okinawa Algae, hyaluronic acid, and our superpowered Hadasei-3™ Complex (a trinity of Japanese superfoods that restore healthy radiance). The rich texture increases hydration, radiance, plumpness, and overall texture and firmness.

The Best Moisturizers For Sensitive Skin

If you have sensitive skin, you may still have oily, dry, or balanced skin, but it reacts to new products or environments—and eczema, dermatitis, and hives may even occur regularly. It’s best to avoid synthetic fragrances and aggressive treatments, and your ideal moisturizer is most definitely fragrance-free and hypoallergenic.

Sensitive Skin Should Try: Indigo Calming Cream has a fresh, newly updated formula. The fragrance-free cream has been proven to calm visible irritation and relieve itchy skin, thanks to Japanese indigo and colloidal oatmeal (an FDA-designated skin protectant). What sets this innovative cream apart from others is the addition of colloidal oatmeal, which has helped earn it the coveted National Eczema Association seal of approval for its ability to soothe irritated, eczema-prone skin on the face and beyond. Whether as a face cream or spot treatment, The Indigo Calming Cream offers a luxurious way to heal visibly stressed or eczema-prone skin for a calmer, stronger skin barrier.

100 percent of panelists in a clinical study saw an improvement in softness and suppleness immediately, an improvement in the appearance of the skin barrier after one week, and an improvement in visible redness and evenness of skin tone after four weeks. The emotional benefits of using the new Indigo Calming Cream are worth noting, too. In a clinical study self-assessment questionnaire, 86 percent of panelists noted that the product left them feeling like their skin was healthier after just one week.

The Best Moisturizers For Oily Skin

Those with oily skin tend to shy away from face moisturizers because they can feel greasy or have used a hydrator in the past that led to clogged pores. But finding a lightweight moisturizer that balances oil can make skin not only feel better, but also look healthier.

Oily Skin Should Try: The Water Cream is pore-reducing, balancing, and lightweight‚ making it great for those with oily skin. The clarifying water cream releases a burst of hydrating nutrients and pore-refining botanicals for healthy, balanced skin. The unique formula delivers deep hydration, without leaving skin sticky or greasy, too. And the cream employs a few powerful Japanese botanicals, including Japanese wild rose (for tightening pores and smoothing texture) and Japanese leopard lily (to control excess oil and clarify skin). It also has the trademarked Hadasei-3 to restore skin’s radiance.

The Best Moisturizers For Mature Skin

A nourishing and intensely hydrating cream can help boost healthy aging. Look for rich creams that revitalize very dry skin, as well as options packed with antioxidants and ceramides to protect from free radicals, support the skin’s barrier, and nourish.

Mature Skin Should Try: The Indigo Overnight Repair Serum is a cushiony cream that visibly calms irritation, strengthens the skin’s barrier, and balances the skin’s natural microbiome. Even after just a single night of use, the treatment has been shown to improve skin’s radiance, softness, and suppleness, as well as improve texture and tone. It’s ideal for mature skin, but has been shown to strengthen and hydrate any skin type, too.