Cream vs. serum. Are they equal?

Shelves in our bathrooms groan with bottles and phials: scrubs, gels, face masks, micellar lotions, tonics, day creams, night creams, under eye creams, cream-gels, serums… And these are only the products designed to treat face with. Some of these cosmetics are to be applied twice a day, some of them once a day, others once in a while. Under which category should we put face cream and under which should go for serum with? What is the difference between face cream and serum?

Cream vs serum

Cream is a basic cosmetic that should be used for everyday face care. Serum, in turn, is a preparation used to fight back a particular skin problem and it should be applied as long as the very problem persists. In most cases, such process lasts 28 days, which is the period that our epidermis requires to regenerate completely. Tasks that a serum is supposed to fulfil are, for example:

• delaying skin-ageing processes,
• removal and reducing visibility of wrinkles,
• regeneration/moisturisation/lightening up of wrinkles,
• stimulation of skin self-renewal processes.

Features of face cream:

• dense consistency,
• nourishes complexion throughout a day and protects it against solar radiation, which is provided by SPF content,
• is designed to treat a particular skin type, e.g. oily or capillary, and to take care of skin in a particular time of a day, that’s why we have day and night creams.

Features of serum:

• lighter consistency than a cream, frequently available in the form of a light gel or mousse,
• similarly to cream it regenerates and replenishes complexion with water, yet it brings out the effects faster and is characterized by more intensive action,
• it’s designed to take care of a particular body part, e.g. hair serum, fingernail serum, under eye serum.

What should go first: cream or serum?

Since we finally know that the use of serum doesn’t exclude application of face cream, let’s set the right order of putting both products on our faces. First and foremost, our morning routine should start from precise face cleansing; you can use a gel or special face cleaning oil. Then, you can, but you don’t have to, use face tonic. Now, it’s time for face serum, which contains many active substances therefore it should be in direct contact with skin. The very last step depends on applying a face cream.