
Our Best Hydrating Serums for Dry Skin
Whatever your skin type, there’s no time like the present to add a hydrating serum into your daily skincare routine. You don’t want to wait until winter when the cracks have already started to appear.
Dryness vs Dehydration
Dry and dehydrated skin may look and feel the same but their causes are different. While dehydrated skin lacks water, dry skin lacks lipids (or natural oils). Dry skin is also a skin type you may have been born with (it can also change with age and the seasons) rather than a skin condition like dehydration that all skin types can experience.
To tell dehydrated skin from dry skin, you can try a simple pinch test. If you pinch the skin on the back of your hand or cheek for a few sections and it snaps back instantly, your skin is probably not dehydrated. Dry and dehydrated can also present in different ways. Dehydration is usually linked to dullness, darker under-eye circles and premature signs of ageing, such as wrinkles and fine lines, being more visible, whereas dry skin can often appear flaky, red and irritated.
Benefits of using a hydrating serum
Applying a hydrating serum before your daily moisturiser can make all the difference in quenching parched skin. Their lightweight formulas can penetrate deeper and more quickly, delivering their potent concentration of active ingredients and deep hydration to where they’re needed and giving noticeable results faster. Whereas your moisturiser locks in hydration to the outermost layers of the skin, a facial serum targets skin health on a cellular level.
Hydrating serums: What to look for?
We’re big fans of humectants, which are designed to act like a sponge and attract and retain moisture, to help keep your skin hydrated. When choosing your next hydrating serum, humectants hyaluronic acid and glycerin should top the list of ingredients to look out for. Antioxidant-rich serums, such as vitamin C serums, can also help to strengthen your skin and protect it from environmental aggressors like pollution and UV rays, which can damage your skin barrier and balance, making it prone to dryness and irritation.
For more tips on when and how to apply serums, click here.
Our best dry skin serums
Advanced Génifique serum
Twenty years of research and a total of 15,000 five-star reviews have made this hyaluronic serum our no.1 serum and best hydrating serum. Suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin and combination, it is enriched with seven prebiotic and probiotic-derived extracts plus hyaluronic acid to help flood drier skin with moisture and aid the skin’s natural barrier recovery. The result, when applied morning and night in long gliding stokes working from the centre of the face outwards, is a healthy, happy and younger-looking complexion.
*At 1 March 2021