Day Cream: The Sidekick of Night Cream, now with Sun Damage Fighting Action

Using day cream, I feel, is simply a logical extension of using night cream. If you're going to moisturize your skin at night, why not continue the good work and moisturize during the day too? Applying a good day cream in mornings after you wash not only keeps your skin moisturized, ultimately helping to reduce wrinkles, but it also has the immediate benefit of making your skin smoother for easier and better makeup application.

Day creams differ from night creams in that day creams are, in general, not as thick as night creams. The thinner cream absorbs faster and allows you to get on with your morning routine without waiting forever for it to absorb.

Day creams also often have other features not generally included in night creams, such as SPF. I use a separate, stronger sunscreen, so it is not vital for me that my day cream have an SPF. However, if you aren't planning on using a separate sun screen, or if you don't have the time/desire to apply many things in the mornings, make sure you have a day cream with SPF. It's important to make sure your skin is protected from the harmful effects of the sun every day, not only on the summer or just on sunny days. Damage from sun exposure can lead to uneven skin tones, premature wrinkles, sun spots, or even cancer, so taking simple actions to protect yourself is vital for your health and beauty.

Olay offers a few day creams with UV protection, including Age Defying Anti-Wrinkle Daily SPF 15 Lotion and Complete Defense Daily UV Moisturizer SPF 30. Both are good options, but for a combination lotion and UV protector, my favourite is L'oreal Happy Derm. The lotion provides a couple challenges though: 1) it's a bit hard to find and 2) the colour is terribly off putting. The lotion is a light peach colour and it tends to come out of the pump top somewhat unmixed with spots of bright orange where the colouring has separated from the lotion. The bright orange colour can be a bit scary for the faint of heart, but rest assured it won't turn your skin day glow orange.

If, like me, you use a separate sunscreen in the mornings, your face cream doesn't have to have SPF, although if the cream you use does have UV protection that's fine too. However, if you're looking for a day cream, and you don't need the SPF protection, I'd suggest Nivea DNAge Day Cream. It's the counter part to the night cream I mentioned in the last post and I find it works beautifully.

No matter what day cream you decide on, make sure that it meets your needs for moisturizing and that it includes a SPF protection, unless you have separate SPF protection that you use on a daily basis.