Creams

A moisturiser has one job: stop the water you just applied from evaporating off. Everything before it — toner, serum — puts hydration in. This is the step that keeps it there.

Texture matters more than price. Gel and gel-cream for oily and combination skin through an Australian summer; richer balm textures for dry or wind-stripped skin in winter. Most people need both at different times of year, and using the wrong one is usually what people mean when they say a cream broke them out.

If your skin stings when you apply things, or stays dry no matter how much you use, that is a barrier problem rather than a hydration one. Go to Ceramides rather than reaching for something heavier.