The Dewy Hydrating Step I Recommend for Skin That Looks Tired

Why does my skin look dull under makeup?

Because makeup is unforgiving about surface texture, and dehydrated skin has a rougher surface than it looks like it does. Light hits an uneven surface and scatters instead of bouncing back, so the whole face reads flat no matter how good the foundation is.

When someone tells me their skin looks tired, the first thing I check is whether it is dehydrated or simply overworked. Those are the two answers most of the time.

• Dehydration. Skin low on water loses the plumpness that keeps the surface smooth. Flights, heating, air conditioning and poor sleep all pull water out faster than a routine puts it back.
• Too many actives. An overloaded barrier cannot hold water, which produces the same flat surface by a different route.
• Slower cell turnover, which is genuinely about buildup, and is the least common of the three in the people I see.

Glow is not a thing you buy in a bottle labelled glow. It is what skin does when it is holding enough water and the surface is even.

Can a serum brighten dull skin without exfoliating harder?

Yes, if it hydrates and exfoliates in the same step rather than doing one at the expense of the other. That is the whole design of the Anfisa ÂN-DEW, and for dullness the order of importance is different from how most people read the label.

Gluconolactone matters most here. It is a polyhydroxy acid with a molecule large enough that it works slowly, and it holds water while it does. You get a smoother surface and a more hydrated one at once, which is exactly what a flat complexion is short of.

Hexylresorcinol evens tone by acting on tyrosinase. Dullness and unevenness usually travel together, and a patchy tone reads as tired even when the texture is fine.

Azelaic acid takes down the low-grade redness underneath. Most complexions described as dull have some diffuse pink in them, and calming that changes the overall clarity more than people expect.

Behind those: glycerin and jojoba for water and lipids, licorice root and kakadu plum for antioxidant support, green tea and ferulic acid.

An AHA would resurface faster. On skin that is already tired, faster is not the same as better.

Does hydration actually fix dull skin?

When dehydration is the cause, it fixes it faster than anything else will. When it is not the cause, hydration alone will disappoint you, which is why the check comes before the purchase.

One client came in saying her skin had lost its life. She was not breaking out. The complexion just looked flat and uneven, and worst of all under makeup. We cut back the harsh actives she had accumulated and put this in twice daily as a hydration step. Two weeks later the tone was more even, the skin was less reactive, and the dewiness had come back. There was no peel involved anywhere in that.

I reach for it in two other situations especially. After long flights, and after facials, when skin is temporarily flat and needs water rather than stimulation.

Who it does not suit: skin that is currently stinging or visibly compromised, which needs barrier repair before any acid. Anyone who has reacted to azelaic acid. And anyone whose dullness is really uneven pigment, who will do better with a plan aimed at the pigment itself.