Here’s Why The Best Skincare Routines Start At Night

Work smarter, not harder is a failsafe career mantra, but it can also apply to other aspects of life…like say, skincare. While we focus a lot on laborious morning routines as the key to putting our best face forward, it’s possible to flip that script: a routine that can actually be sown the night before. There’s also something to be said about discovering products that do exactly what they promise, and with minimal user effort, because who couldn’t use that kind of efficiency and dependability in our hyper-scheduled times?

Laneige, the brand that perfected nighttime skincare, has two hero products that promise to do all those things and more. The Water Sleeping Mask is a hydrating overnight mask that, as the name suggests, you can sleep in to wake up with a dewy, hydrated visage the next morning. Their Lip Sleeping Mask is the cult lip counterpart, beloved for its buttery texture, ultra-nourishing ingredients and fun flavors. The best part is they’re intended to be used at night for the most efficient skincare routine.

Ahead, discover why these power-packed pre-bed rituals can ease up precious daytime hours.

1. It Makes Winterizing Your Skincare Easy

On the plus side, colder months call for cozy moments like snuggling up in your favorite throw with a hot chocolate; on the flip side, it can wreak havoc on the skin. Winter air tends to be dry with less humidity, and indoor heating sucks any remaining moisture out of air. As a result, our skin loses essential hydration and moisture in a process known as transepidermal water loss, leading to an impaired skin barrier. A winter routine needs to address the skin’s water loss, as well as have occlusive skincare agents to seal that water into the skin. The Water Sleeping Mask is enriched with a probiotic-derived complex* that helps support the skin’s moisture barrier, and also contains squalane and glycerin, two moisturizing ingredients.

2. It Can Calm Sensitive Skin

If you deal with dry, sensitive skin, the thought of globbing on just any cream may make you nervous. That’s why looking for gentle ingredients made for even the most delicate skin is key. Enter Cica Sleeping Mask, your secret weapon to soothe while strengthening the skin’s moisture barrier. It’s infused with their unique proprietary Forest Yeast Extract, a calming and even more effective ingredient than madecassoside that’s more commonly used in cica products. The formula helps reinforce the skin’s moisture barrier for positively nourished skin in the AM.

3. It Gives Big Lip Energy

If you know you’re going for a lip-centric look the next day, slather on the Lip Sleeping Mask the previous night. The next morning, dab on some more before a shower (the heat and steam really help soften the skin). Then, use a damp towel to gently rub lips so the dead skin flakes off. Another round of lip mask goes on to keep your freshly-renewed lips soft till lipstick o’ clock. When it’s time for lip color, it goes on like butter with not a flake in sight.

4. Certain Powerhouse Ingredients Work Their Magic At Night

Some ingredients just don’t play as well with sunlight, and retinol, a potent anti-aging powerhouse is one. Most products containing retinol are suggested for nighttime use. It’s also infamously drying and irritating, and is best tolerated when cocktailed with ingredients that soothe and hydrate, like a sleeping mask. If you’re looking to streamline your routine even more, Laneige’s new Retinol Firming Cream Treatment makes for the perfect cocktail for revitalized skin. It’s infused with Pure Retinol as well as a 5D Hyaluronic Acid Complex which helps skin retain hydration.

5. Skin Contact Remains Uninterrupted

Sleep is pretty much the only activity that we’re not multitasking our way through. This turns out to be an unexpected bonus for skincare application, because the ingredients get time to work without life coming in the way. A good tip is giving your skincare time to absorb, and try sleeping on your back. An added bonus for Laneige’s Sleeping Masks are that they’re quick absorbing, so by the time you wake up in the morning, you’ll see their deeply hydrating effects.

6. It Eases Up Frantic Mornings

If you’d rather slam a second coffee in the morning instead of spending that time on your beauty routine, you are not alone. That’s why it makes sense to turbo-charge your nighttime ritual so your mornings are simpler and easier. As much as most of us love the thought of slathering on a quick mask on the day of big meetings or events, it doesn’t always happen. So, a mask especially designed to be left on all night to reveal a dewy, soft complexion the next morning is literally speaking all my love languages.

So there you have it, multiple reasons to take your nighttime skincare rituals more seriously and start waking up to renewed, nourished skin.

*Lactobacillus ferment lysate + trehalose