6 Pro-Tips For Getting Peak Performance From Your Products

 

If you buy a Ferrari, drive it only to the grocery store in heavy traffic on a street littered with red lights and then complain that it’s not as peppy as you expected, is the car really to blame? Even the best of products can have sluggish performance if not used under the proper conditions. Here are some tips to fine tune your usage and make sure all your products perform like champs. 

Exfoliate

No product will work its best if it has to first get through a layer of dead skin cells to penetrate your skin. The single most important thing you can do for your skin and for the efficacy of every other product you put on it, is to stimulate cell renewal through exfoliation. Vitamin A retinoid products and AHAs are your best strategy here. By getting the top layer of dead skin off, you’ll optimize the results of all your other products and accelerate rejuvenation. Vivant's Derm-A-Gel® Daily Vitamin A, with kojic and lactic acids, is the ideal place to start.

 

Try A Toner

Applied after cleansing and before serums, toners prepare skin to better absorb additional products by clearing residual surface level debris, dirt, oil and even soap residue. This is an essential step in boosting the performance of other follow-on products. Additionally, toners refresh, hydrate and refine skin, while balancing pH. Vivant Normalizing Tonic with glycolic acid is a good, multi-purpose toner for all skin types.

 

Apply Products When Skin Is Damp

Your skin is like a reservoir; it will hold products better when damp. When you get ready to apply your moisturizer or corrective serum, do it just after washing while your face is still a little steamy and moist. Just pat your face with a towel to remove excess moisture, but don’t dry it. This will help your products get deeper into your skin where they can be more effective.  

 

Layer Appropriately

Like getting dressed for a day out, the lightest layer goes on first (serums). Heavier products like a moisturizer or sunscreen go on last. Consider also the active ingredients. The more actives in a product, the higher up the list it goes. Push your actives to the front of the line.

 

Store Away From Light

If you keep your products on the countertop, you risk degrading their potency. Anti-oxidants and plant extracts in particular, are sensitive to light. They should be packaged in dark glass or opaque plastic and kept in a cabinet or drawer out of the light to maintain their strength.

 

 

Bump It Up A Notch

Skin becomes acclimated to products, which means you may notice over time that a product that worked well for you suddenly seems less effective. When that happens, it’s time to move up to the next level. For example, from Vivant’s Derm-A-Gel® starter Daily Vitamin A therapy, you would move up to Exfol-A™ Daily Vitamin A and then to Exfol-A Forte™ Daily Intensive Vitamin A to keep skin tone and texture continually improving. Your treatment should progress with your skin.