How To Make Your Skin Look Better Overnight (Yes, Really)

As much as I love the Law of Attraction, my crystals, and positive thinking, I haven’t quite willed clear skin into existence yet. I’ll stand in the mirror telling my skin it’s beautiful and clear and strong all night, and I’ll still wake up with those same zits on my face. While there are tons of products on the market that promise rejuvenated skin—we’re looking at you, retinol—those results can take weeks to months to even notice, so what are you to do if you want better skin, like tomorrow? When I’ve got a date, a special occasion, or an important meeting and want to look my best, there are a few secrets I’ve followed to get my skin in tip-top shape (er, the best shape it could be) in just eight short hours. Follow these skincare tips to get better skin overnight: 

1. Wash your face

It really is that simple. If you’re not washing your face before you’re going to sleep, that might be the culprit of your skin issues. Make sure that you’re washing your face every night before bed, even if you didn’t wear makeup that day. If you really want to wake up with bright, clear, smooth skin, you can try double cleansing, which is when you use an oil or balm cleanser first to remove makeup and follow that with a gel or milky cleanser (depending on your skin type—gel is great for oily and combination skin, while milky cleansers are a better choice for normal and dry skin). 

2. Steam your face

To start your at-home spa night right, steam your face for up to 15 minutes, whether it’s with a facial steamer or by boiling some water and standing over the pot (less glamorous but highly cost-effective). The hot steam will soften your skin, making all of the products and treatments you do afterward penetrate deeper into the skin. 

3. Avoid picking

Although it might seem counterintuitive, if you want to wake up to better skin, don’t pick at it. Fight the urge to pop any pimples (a spot treatment is a great physical blocker for this). Popping your zits only causes more inflammation and redness to the skin’s surface, so you could wake up with more acne or that pimple looking even worse than before. Instead, leave it be and know these other tips will help that zit much more than putting your fingers all over it. 

4. Exfoliate

An exfoliator is basically like getting a facial from the comfort of your bathroom. It removes dead skin and reveals a brighter, smoother complexion in just one step. An easy way to exfoliate at home is to opt for a peel pad, like the editor-favorite Colleen Rothschild Glycolic Acid Peel Pads, but opting for physical exfoliation can help remove dead skin cells, too. Celebrity esthetician Joanna Vargas swears by using both modes of exfoliation in her book Glow From Within. 

5. Treat with ice

Contrary to your face steam, ice has benefits for your skin, too. Ice can instantly reduce swelling and inflammation (AKA why you used an ice pack when you scraped your knee as a kid), so it can bring down puffiness and redness. This can help reduce the appearance of active acne and overall make your face look more glowy and well-rested. Plus, we can’t deny it feels so good. 

The easiest way to do this is with an ice roller or cryo sticks, but you can also wrap a few ice cubes in paper towels to rub over your face in a pinch. 

6. Drink a glass of water

Before bed, make sure you’re getting a last-ditch effort of hydration to your skin by drinking a full glass of water. On the days I drink more water, I immediately notice it in my skin the next day. My skin looks bouncier and firmer, and my usual morning puffiness is drastically reduced. In the days leading up to a special event, I put a lot of focus on drinking as much water as I can to nourish and hydrate my skin from the inside out, but it works just as well overnight. 

7. Use a thick moisturizer

Regardless of your skin type, using a thick moisturizer as your last step will lock in all of the good skincare ingredients you used before with a final layer of hydration. Moisturizer keeps your skin bouncy. Plus, hydrated skin just looks better—there’s no getting around it. 

Obviously, “thick” is subjective based on your skin type. If you tend to have oily skin, you’ll likely want to opt for something lighter with a gel-like consistency, while a dry skin type can handle something occlusive and ointment-like.

8. Use a spot treatment

If you have areas on your face you want to pay special attention to, use a spot treatment to help zap it overnight. Salicylic acid spot treatments will clear out your pores in a gentle way, while sulfur and benzoyl peroxide are a bit stronger and can reduce the appearance of acne in a few short hours. If you have a pimple that has come to a head, putting a pimple patch on will help to dry it out overnight.

We often think of spot treatments for acne, but you can spot-treat most skin issues. If you have dry patches, you can focus extra moisturizer on those areas, like the skin on the eyelids or the back of your cheeks. I also love spot-treating any creases or fine lines by focusing extra moisturizer in those areas. 

9. Get a full night’s rest

If you don’t want to wake up with tired, irritated, puffy skin, there really is one thing you can do to fix it: actually get some Zs. Waking up rested and rejuvenated is enough to make you feel fantastic, so it’s not a surprise your skin would follow suit. Use your calming essential oils, brew your favorite tea, and head to bed just a bit earlier tonight. Your morning self will thank you. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maddie Galassi, Senior Fashion & Beauty Editor

Madeline Galassi is the Fashion & Beauty Editor at The Everygirl, where she oversees the fashion and beauty categories of the site. She brainstorms, writes, and edits stories across a broad range of topics including trend reports, product reviews, celebrity style, and more. She’s always keeping a pulse on the latest trends to create timely, exciting content for our readers.

 This post contains a sponsored inclusion from Colleen Rothschild but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board.