Glass Skin? How to Get the Luminous Skin of Your Dreams, Makeup-Free

The goal here is skin that is so plump, hydrated, and smooth-textured, it glistens and reflects light.

What’s required? Ultra-refined pores, smooth texture, ample hydration, and exfoliation.

The last one might sound counterintuitive. Exfoliation is drying, right? Wrong. Exfoliation clears dead skin cells to optimize product performance and allow moisture to enter the skin, making it essential to healthy, hydrated skin.

So how do you get the right balance of refining, plumping, and hydrating?

Start with a hydrating cleanser. Cleansing Milk is ideal for this pursuit with its creamy, moisture-rich formula. Grapeseed oil quenches the skin with lipid-replenishing fatty acids and vitamin E. The formula is also loaded with antioxidant, skin-soothing goodness to support the skin barrier.

For skin that’s on the oily side, opt for our Green Tea Cleanser. This antioxidant powerhouse helps balance the look of oily skin while nourishing the moisture barrier with vitamin E, flavonoids, and polyphenols.

Add some mechanical exfoliation to the equation with our hydrating, water-based Buffing Grains. This universal cleanser can be used on its own or added to either Cleansing Milk or Green Tea Cleanser to turn it into a scrub.

We know, you’ve always thought toners dry the skin. The opposite is true. The acids in your toner loosen and lift away dead skin cells to allow hydrating and nourishing ingredients to penetrate the skin, reducing the appearance of pores and smoothing texture in the process.

Our top choice for refining and moisture-infusion? Skin Nourishing Toner. With a blend of clinical mandelic acid, rosehip oil, green tea extract, kiwi fruit extract, honey, and niacinamide, this clarifying tonic refines, soothes, and saturates.

Glass skin is all about plump, hydrated skin. When it comes to moisture, few ingredients pack more punch than hyaluronic acid, which can bind and retain up to 1000 times its weight in water. But HA is not a small molecule, and in many skincare formulations, it’s too large to penetrate the skin. To more effectively support skin’s own hyaluronic acid, look for oligopeptides, messenger molecules that help visibly boost the look of elasticity and plumpness. You can find oligopeptides in our Rejuv Rx peptide concentrate and our Derm-A-Renew retinoid and peptide serum.

The other essential for maximizing the skin’s look of volume and radiance is vitamin C. This antioxidant helps support the look of firmness and elasticity, making skin appear lifted and smoother. It also brightens and brings a luminance and radiance to skin. Our Pure C + E pairs vitamin C with vitamin E, an antioxidant partner that helps support healthy-looking skin.

For a lighter but no less intensive sousing, Totaloe, our calming and hydrating gel, brings a tsunami of hydration. This humectant, oil-free formula combines soothing whole-leaf aloe with niacinamide, sea algae extract, and green tea extract to comfort skin and help defend against the visible effects of environmental stressors, in addition to providing that fresh-from-the-water appearance. It also leaves skin feeling lightly firmed.

To refine texture and infuse the skin with nourishing and hydrating ingredients, use our Algae Soft Mask a couple of times a week. Algae is rich in nourishing mineral elements, omega 3 fatty acids, essential amino acids. The high phenolic content in algae gives it potent antioxidant properties to help defend skin from the visible effects of environmental stress. Polysaccharides support smooth, supple-looking skin. Plus, algae has an exceptional ability to regulate and maintain moisture.

For instant brightness and lift, try FF3 Manuka Enzyme Lift, a hydrating and revitalizing mask. Manuka honey plus pineapple enzymes are a glow-intensity workout for tired, stressed skin. It gently resurfaces, clears dead cells, and infuses moisture, delivering velvety smooth and bouncy-feeling skin.