The Best Night Creams for Every Skin Concern
December 28, 2022
Your nighttime z’s aren’t called beauty sleep for nothing. During periods of deep sleep, your skin goes into repair, restore and reboot mode, which is why using a night cream can seriously amp up your skin’s glow. Night creams are typically thicker formulas — commonly containing anti-aging ingredients like retinol or deeply moisturizing ingredients — that deliver intense hydration and targeted benefits over the course of a few hours. While this skincare category may feel rich to the touch, you don’t have to break the bank to experience the results. Ahead, we broke down how to use a night cream, why they’re worth adding to your routine and our favorite night creams for every skin type.
What Is a Night Cream?
A night cream is exactly what it sounds like: a moisturizer you use at night. A night cream should be the very last step in your evening skincare routine to help lock in all the products you applied and to help replenish your skin overnight.
Why You Should Use a Night Cream
Night creams are excellent for all skin types because they have a variety of good-for-your-skin ingredients that can moisturize and repair the skin while you sleep. They often have ingredients like vitamins C or E, hyaluronic acid or niacinamide to help soften, hydrate and brighten the skin to ensure that you wake up with your best-looking complexion yet.
How to Apply Night Cream
Applying a night cream is easy:Simply scoop up a quarter-sized amount of the product and dot it on your cheeks, forehead and chin. Gently massage the product into the skin and let it absorb.
The 20 Best Night Creams for Every Skin Type
Here, we’re sharing our favorite 20 night creams to help you kickstart ultimate beauty sleep. Keep scrolling to find the perfect fit for your skin type.
Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Omega Rich Botanical Night Cream
Give your skin sweet dreams with this rich botanical night cream that’s formulated with omega 3 oil, omega 6 oil and fatty acids. It helps soften and visibly renew the skin by morning, leaving your complexion plump and nourished. It’s suitable for all skin types, too.
L’Oréal Paris Age Perfect Midnight Cream
For a drugstore buy that gives you everything you want in a night cream, opt for this anti-aging pick. It’s antioxidant-rich to help repair the skin overnight, minimizing the appearance of lines and dullness over time. Our favorite part? It’s super lightweight and non-greasy.
CeraVe Renewing Night Cream
This ultra-affordable. fragrance-free night cream has all the right ingredients. With hyaluronic acid, ceramides, peptides and niacinamide, CeraVe has you covered in the hydration department. It’s patented MVE Delivery Technology provides a controlled release of hydration over 24 hours. If you’re on a budget but still want high-quality results, pick this product up at your local drugstore.
La Roche-Posay Toleriane Ultra Night Moisturizer
If you have sensitive skin, we understand that trying a new product can be intimidating. But set your worries aside and give this overnight gel from La Roche-Posay a chance. It’s tested on allergy-prone skin and doesn’t have common irritants like fragrance, alcohol, parabens and preservatives. We love this option because it helps restore your skin’s moisture barrier overnight, so you can wake up looking dewy and hydrated.
IT Cosmetics Confidence in Your Beauty Sleep Night Cream
Consider this night cream an anti-aging powerhouse. It works to visibly improve the top five signs of aging including fine lines, wrinkles, dryness and dullness. It’s formulated with hyaluronic acid, ceramides and adenosine to hydrate and restore the skin’s natural barrier.
YSL Beauty Or Rouge Créme Riche
Formulated with the pistil of the saffron flower, this luxe moisturizer works to revive dull skin cells. This cream delivers hydration to the skin’s surface for younger-looking, even-toned and radiant skin. To get the most for your money, warm the cream between your fingers and gently press it onto your face so the formula seeps in.
Lancôme Rénergie Lift Multi-Action Night Cream
Formulated with hyaluronic acid and shea butter, this rich moisturizer offers maximum hydration and a youthful-looking glow. It also targets signs of aging such as loss of firmness and wrinkles.
Youth to the People Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Night Mask with Vitamin C
This moisturizer-mask combo is a must-try if you struggle with dullness or discoloration. It has vitamin C, plus a superberry blend to help revitalize the look of the skin, plus squalane and hyaluronic acid to deeply hydrate.
Skinceuticals Renew Overnight Dry
If you struggle with dryness overnight, this ultra-rich moisturizer is for you. It has a 10% hydroxy acid complex that helps gently slough away dead, dull skin cells, plus aloe, chamomile and evening primrose extract to soothe and restore the skin overnight.
Giorgio Armani Beauty Cream Nera Supreme Light Reviving Cream
This silky cream is a crowd-favorite because it addresses loss of firmness, dark spots, dryness and dullness. It feels super lightweight and creamy to the touch.
Lancôme Absolu Revitalizing Eye Cream
Who says only your face needs TLC overnight? Target crows feet and dark circles while you sleep with this eye cream that helps reduce the appearance of lines and puffiness with grand rose extract, linseed extract and pro-xylane.
Vichy Liftactiv Supreme Night Cream
For a thick nighttime moisturizer that will leave your skin smooth and supple, look no further than this formula. It targets fine lines and wrinkles to ensure that your skin appears more even-textured and toned.We love it because it’s non-sticky, non-greasy and absorbs like lightning.
Biossance Squalane + Omega Repair Cream
Rich and creamy, this moisturizer contains hyaluronic acid, squalane, ceramides and omega fatty acids to deeply plump and hydrate the skin overnight. It also works to maintain and prevent moisture loss over time, ensuring that your skin looks bouncy and fresh every morning.
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Night Cream
Revitalize your skin overnight with this magic night cream that has a time-release retinol complex which works to smooth the skin and combat dullness, wrinkles and fine lines. It also has a proprietary stem-cell extract, plus red algae, and co-enzyme Q10 to support the skin's barrier inside and out.
Augustinus Bader the Cream
Skincare lovers everywhere swear by this cream because it's suitable for all skin types and helps energize the skin overnight. It helps your skin achieve its best look yet: radiant, glowy and strong.
Versed Recovery Mode Advanced Night Cream
Infused with purple tea extract, green coffee, microalgae and marula oil, this night cream works to smooth out your skin for a revitalized, supple and tighter finish by morning.
Kopari Moisture-Whipped Ceramide Cream
For a non-comedogenic formula, opt for this ceramide cream that's still rich and thick, but won’t make your skin look greasy or oily.
Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream
Oily and acne-prone skin types will love this formula that contains seaweed to soothe, marine collagen to plump and sodium hyaluronate to moisturize. Bonus: It has a lightweight finish that doesn’t leave any film or residue behind.
RéVive Moisturizing Renewal Cream
This powerful hydrator works overtime while you sleep. It’s packed with glycolic acid to gently (we repeat, gently) exfoliate, retexturize and renew your complexion. We’re obsessed with the glow this night cream gives our skin. But, it’s definitely an investment, so sleep on it — literally.
The Outset Restorative Niacinamide Night Cream
Soothe your skin overnight with this decadent night cream that contains niacinamide, bakuchiol and a hyaluroset proprietary complex that nourishes and hydrates the skin.
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