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We talked about how your skin changes in your 30s and the best skincare routine for 30s skin to accommodate the change. Now that you know what your skin deals with -dryness, dullness, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation, let’s see what skincare products you should use to take care of those. The best skincare products for your 30s should ideally be dermatologist-approved and anti-aging.
Unlike your 20s, your 30s are when you notice indicative issues with your skin. In your 20s, it’s really hard to pinpoint what the problem is with your skin. You may have multiple issues like dryness, sensitivity, rosacea, acne, and oiliness. But as you age, your skin issues become more prominent.
Plus, they change! For example, you might complain about oily skin in your 20s. But dry skin can be your number one issue in your 30s. I’m 37 and I never thought I’d be more annoyed with facial redness than pimples! But I digress.
The only common ground with all the skincare products you use in your 30s is the anti-aging aspect of them. On the flip side, every skin is unique. And your age alone is not conclusive when you’re deciding what products to use.
Your skin type, prominent skin concern, sensitivity level, and your skin’s familiarity with heavy actives all have a defining role in finding the best skincare products to use in your 30s.
So take everything on this list with a grain of salt. They should simply give you a general idea about what you should be using to treat and prevent wrinkles and maintain youthful skin.
The Best Skincare Products For Your 30s
Whether you’re in your early 30s or your late 30s, find below the best skincare products to use in your 30s.
Dermalogica Ultra Calming Cleanser
A cleanser is a must-have in a skincare routine for all ages. But in your 30s, it is essential. Your cleanser should not dry your face but nourish it.
This one is a non-foaming face cleanser you can use for gentle cleansing both morning and evening. It’s formulated with anti-inflammatory oat and soothing cucumber. And for double cleansers, this is great as a second cleanser.
Related: The Best Anti-Aging Cleansers
The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Exfoliating Peeling Solution
Now that your body is slow at getting rid of the dead skin cells, you can help the process by exfoliating regularly. The important thing is to avoid scrubs that have large and harsh granules in them. The better option is chemical exfoliants like alpha and beta hydroxy acids. Chemical exfoliants work more effectively than physical exfoliants.
You can try at-home peel pads to exfoliate the skin and brighten up your complexion. This will also make your skincare products better penetrate the skin. This affordable exfoliant contains glycolic, salicylic, and lactic acids to speed up skin turnover, boost collagen production, and smooth out skin texture.
Pixi Glow Tonic
Toners are lightweight multi-tasking products that can address several skin concerns. In your 30s, you can improve your complexion by using an anti-aging toner. Or you can use a soothing toner if you have sensitive skin. A salicylic acid toner will help with blackheads, congestion, and enlarged pores.
Similarly, a glycolic acid toner will keep your complexion smooth and fresh. This 5% glycolic acid toner is amazing for daily exfoliation. It also helps brighten the skin and reduce rough skin texture. The alcohol-free formula also has ginseng to increase circulation and aloe to soothe.
SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic
Serums formulated with antioxidants make the best anti-aging serums for your 30s. They are super gentle on the skin and they’re basically the most important skincare products for your 30s. Antioxidants are what help your skin fight free radicals and prevent/treat wrinkles. They undo the damage caused by the sun, stress, pollution, and similar environmental factors.
Serums with vitamin C, vitamin E, or resveratrol can neutralize the skin-damaging effects of sun exposure. And this one combines vitamins C and E with ferulic acid. If you don’t want to use heavy active ingredients, try using an antioxidant serum for your morning routine as well as your evening routine.
Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hyaluronic Glow Serum
Hyaluronic acid is naturally found in your body. But like all other good things, it’s less and less present as you age. Hyaluronic acid is a humectant and it attracts water into the skin. And this hydrating serum is formulated around it! It improves the complexion by plumping up the skin and filling in wrinkles.
It also contains other humectants like lactic acid and light emollients like ceramides. It is the best way to enhance your daily moisturizer. You hydrate the skin with this and use your moisturizer to lock all that water in. Simple as that!
Caudalie Resveratrol Lift Firming Cashmere Moisturizer
As you’ve figured by now, you’ll be doing a lot of moisturizing. However, you should use a more targeted one in your 30s. Besides hydrating like crazy, your moisturizer should have anti-aging ingredients.
If you want to try a daily moisturizer for your morning routine and keep the active ingredients for your evening routine, you can try this anti-aging cream perfect for your 30s. It’s made with resveratrol, an antioxidant that fights free radicals, brightens the skin, and improves your overall complexion.
Drunk Elephant C-Tango Vitamin C Eye Cream
Your 30s are usually when you start noticing fine lines, crow’s feet, dark circles, and puffy eyes. But it’s still not too late to manage them. For that reason, you should never skip using an eye cream. This is a really potent eye cream for your 30s. It’s made with different types of vitamin C and a blend of signal peptides to tackle under-eye circles, wrinkles, and puffiness.
It also packs hyaluronic acid and ceramides to boost hydration. Hydrated under-eyes will make the lines less visible by keeping the skin plump. The fragrance-free eye cream is firming, brightening, and lifting, and is one of the best skincare products you can use throughout your 30s.
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mineral Zinc Oxide Sunscreen SPF 50
If there is one thing that is absolutely irrefutable about aging, it is the fact that sun exposure is the ultimate cause of skin deterioration. But let’s face it, we’ve all ignored the warnings in our 20s because tanning made our teeth look whiter. The least we can do is protect our skin from further sun damage.
That way, we can delay the forming of new lines and age spots. This is a mineral sunscreen for 30-somethings and it doesn’t irritate like some chemical sunscreens. It’s SPF 50 and free of fragrance. Use SPF religiously to prevent the formation of new wrinkles. It’s annoying and they don’t seem to do anything. But SPF is a long-term solution. You will be collecting the benefits in your 40s and so on.
Dr. Dennis Gross Advanced Retinol + Ferulic Intense Wrinkle Cream
Retinol is the most effective anti-aging ingredient in skincare products for women in their 30s. It’s a derivative of vitamin A and it directly targets wrinkles, lines, sun damage, and loose skin. Retinol stimulates collagen production and should be either in your serum or your moisturizer.
If you are new to retinol, learn how to use retinol to get the best results without causing skin irritation. If you’re not, you can try this retinol cream as a daily moisturizer or an anti-aging cream. Besides retinol, it contains ferulic acid, which amplifies the anti-wrinkle effects. And it has polyphenols from botanical extracts to gently renew the skin texture.
Fresh Black Tea Firming Corset Cream
You may not be able to do much about your whole skin, but your neck is going to be bothering you as it’s the closest to your face. In your 30s, you may notice that your neck is not as firm as it used to be. Most anti-aging face creams are suitable to use for your neck as well. But there are also creams that are specifically designed for the neck and decolletage area.
Either way, you don’t want to focus only on your face. This face and neck cream is formulated with antioxidant-rich black tea and signal peptides. It targets wrinkles on the neck and chest and also helps with dark spots on the chest area from sun exposure.
Origins Make A Difference Rejuvenating Hand Treatment
Hands are our Achilles heel! It’s almost impossible to hide signs of aging on your hands. With age, they look more wrinkly and they become transparent and veiny. Hands can have dark spots on them too. There is a procedure called hand rejuvenation and sadly, it’s the only thing available for anti-aging hand care.
Those hands look like inflatable hand balloons. They look ridiculous! Do your best to keep your hands moisturized. And you can start here. This is a rich, moisturizing hand cream formulated with anti-inflammatories and antioxidants to care for dry hands.
Renee Rouleau Advanced Resurfacing Serum
If you’re not using a night cream in your 30s, try this one to let your skin recover and rebound. As your body’s natural collagen production is slower, you can take advantage of the nighttime to kick things up a notch. Nighttime skincare is hours of uninterrupted skincare where there’s no sun exposure or makeup that may interfere with the effects.
Plus, some of the most potent active ingredients work best at night. This serum contains encapsulated retinol with a concentration of 0.4% to renew the skin at night. It also packs a retinol ester to amplify the effects, signal peptides to boost collagen, and antioxidants to revitalize the skin.
Youth to The People Superberry Hydrate and Glow Oil
Oils are the absolute best skincare products for your 30s. They’re so multi-functional! They work as antioxidants and nourish the skin. Because of their lipid-based structures, they make your moisturizer last longer. Plus, most of them even work as illuminators to give you that healthy glow. And not to mention, face oils make the best primers for makeup!
This antioxidant face oil nourishes, and moisturizes the skin, and prevents transepidermal water loss. It eliminates dehydration and flaky skin. And it softens the texture with fatty-acid-rich oils like borage seed and evening primrose oil.
Dermalogica Age Bright Spot Fader
When adult acne kicks in, these babies come in handy. Unlike puberty, the breakouts you experience in your adulthood are not easy to get rid of. They take longer to heal and they tend to leave scars.
This causes the skin to have an uneven texture and tone. And dark spots are not helping! This one can be used both for acne and for dark spots from sun damage. It contains salicylic acid to resurface the skin and niacinamide to brighten dark patches.
Tatcha Violet-C Radiance Mask
Face masks are great quick fixes when you need instant results. We need more of them in our 30s. There are tons of face masks for every single area on your face. You can use intense moisturizers, plumping masks, smoothing, or softening masks.
And this one is a brightening face mask for your 30s, which is always helpful. It’s made with radiance-boosting vitamin C and fruit-derived acids to gently resurface the skin. It’s perfect for waking up dull skin and achieving a radiant complexion instantly.
So these are some of the best skincare products for your 30s. If you really want to get serious about anti-aging and try the notorious A, make sure to check out these retinol creams to use in your 30s.
