WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DAY AND A NIGHT CREAM AND DO YOU REALLY NEED BOTH?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DAY AND A NIGHT CREAM AND DO YOU REALLY NEED BOTH?

So, what does the skin need during the day?

Snowberry’s Dr Badenhorst says, “during the day the skin is exposed to all kinds of environmental stressors, including the damaging UV rays, pollution, dry air, bacteria from being touched, makeup, and many more! All this adds up to a significant strain and your skincare products need to be there to help your skin protect itself as much as possible.” Typically, your day cream will contain barrier building compounds like ceramides as well as vitamins and antioxidants to help fight those daily stressors. Additionally, day creams are usually less rich than their night-time counterparts, or in particular, less occlusive so they absorb faster and work better under the rest of your daily routine (such as makeup and/or sun protection). Here is the low-down on supportive ingredients you will find in your Snowberry day creams:

Inca Inchi Oil – this oil is particularly suitable for the care of inflamed, dry and mature skin. It has strong cell-regenerative properties and activates the cells and increases the skin’s metabolism and skin elasticity. In addition, this oil smooths calloused skin and absorbs quickly to leave very little oily residue.

Cupuacu Butter – A natural plant ingredient from the seeds of the Cupuacu tree with moisturising, hydrating and high water-absorbing properties, meaning it helps to protect the skin’s barrier function and reduce water loss during the day.


Hold on, but what about sun protection! Shouldn’t my day cream have an SPF in it?

This is a VERY good question, and one we are asked frequently since neither of our day creams do contain an SPF. The answer is yes you should absolutely be using SPF daily to protect your skin from harmful UV rays, we just believe we are better off with two separate products.

This is because in our view it really isn’t possible to provide effective sun protection in a 2-in-1 product, which is primarily a moisturiser, and certainly not with a moisturiser that includes a natural sunscreen such as zinc oxide. While it might seem less simple to add this extra step into a routine, this does ensure that the SPF product is able to perform its job effectively and protect you from harmful UV rays. Our Everyday SPF30 is a perfect solution. It is 100% natural, lightweight and invisible on the skin and goes superbly under makeup. You can read all about it here.

OK then, so what about night-time skincare?

For our skin, night-time is all about rejuvenation, replenishment and repair. Snowberry’s Dr Badenhorst points out that at night-time our skin goes into recovery mode and needs rich moisturisers to hydrate deeply and active ingredients to repair the day’s damage. Key ingredients you will see in our Rejuvenating Night Cream to support this process are:

Echium Oil – this unique and rare oil is easily absorbed, helps to hydrate deeply and is an excellent source of saturated fatty acids and phospholipids for the skin – both extremely useful in overnight repairs!

Antarcticine – a glycoprotein that protects the skin against dryness and encourages the skin’s own natural regeneration, reducing wrinkle depth.

Saccharide Isomerate (Pentavitin) – a deeply moisturising, 100% natural plant derived ingredient which, due to it’s unique composition is able to provide very long lasting hydration, up to 72 hours after application!

Wolfberry (Goji) – an exotic antioxidant to help combat the day’s free radical damage and also an excellent skin softening agent.

Of course, the primary function of a day or night cream is to hydrate so there are unsurprisingly ingredients that cross over. Important additions you will find in all our moisturising creams include ceramides, hyaluronic acid (or more accurately, its smaller molecule cousin, sodium hyaluronate) and the Snowberry Gardens’ produced Harakeke Seed Oil. These are all extraordinary ingredients we believe skin benefits from all day long, however there are some key differences and using both a day and night cream will help support your skin to protect itself during the day and repair overnight.
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