[Routine Help] Order of skincare ingredients (not products)?

Routine Help

Hi all! Apologies if this has been asked before — I looked but couldn’t find this exact question. I’m curious if anyone has any insight as to the most effective order of specific ingredients (rather than the order of products, thin to thick, etc)?

Since you can buy all kinds of products that contain various ingredients (ie, a cleanser or serum with salicylic acid, a toner or serum with squalene, a toner or moisturizer with aloe, etc) is there a recommended order generally? Is it specific to what you’re trying to achieve? Or is it just preference / trial and error?

I’ve got a winning combo of rosacea+kp+acne+dry skin so my skin needs are vast. I generally try to keep it pretty simple, not overdo the actives, keep it moisturized, but my current routine isn’t doing much so as I look to slowly switch out products, I wanted to see if there’s an ingredient order I should be paying attention to or if that even matters.

Thank you very much!

Posted Nov 1, 2025, 8:08 PM UTC

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