Why does my skin pill?

[WildRunner]

Wise people of the internet, please help!
I've recently turned 40 and have dry skin, prone to chapping.
For the last year, I've been cheap and cheerful with skincare: Superdrug hot cloth cleanser morning and night, and moisturiser either from the same range or from Aldi (or whatever treat arrives in my Birchbox).
Make-up is light, Bare Minerals Pro.
Recently felt I needed more moisture, so took advantage of Nip &a Fab offer in Superdrug. So I now use the glycolic scrub 3-4 evenings a week, and Dragon's Blood serum every morning.
I LOVE both - skin has never looked better. But my skin is pilling terribly after moisturiser, and it makes my make-up look shit. I have a 75 minute commute, and do serum and moisturiser at home, then put in make-up when I get to work, so everything has loads of time to sink in. What am I doing wrong, and how can I stop my face falling off?

Eucerin cream is really good for dry skin, I use the stuff that has the horrid words "with 10% urea" (yeah I don't know what it means either). It's amazing for overnight repair - I kept getting chapped skin and terrible irritated skin round my eyebrows, and this is the only stuff that's worked for me. And boots sell that and a Roche Posay day cream like it which is lighter :) (The Eucerin one I have is in a metal tube, the Roche Posay is in a small plastic pump tube)

skin cream urea explained

Now I've heard a lot about La Roche Posay but never seen it in a shop. I like the sound of that being light - dry as my skin is, I hate the feeling of gunk on it. Is the pilling due to my skin flaking then, and not getting enough hydration?

And that's a really interesting article, Ginger, thank you!

What is skin pill?

I think it's your new serum or moisturiser.
Mine does same if i wear a certain one (loreal) but not others.

Like a jumper does - I put moisturiser on and my skin seems to roll off in grey bobbles when I touch it. I've probably not explained it well - will try to post a photo in the morning.

I blame the serum too - try using less product, you may need to experiment a bit with the proportions to see what works.

It'll be the serum. I love the nip and fab pads but haven't ventured further than that. Check the ingredients - if it's pilling it's almost certainly silicone. You might be able to avoid this by patting on any offending products. I DETESTED the classic smashbox primer until I did this and it then magically filled my pores

The primer I was using did this so I started using Nivea post shave balm instead. That works a treat and my make up doesn't budge.

Agree it's probably the serum. I've noticed this can happen with products that are high in silicones... check the ingredients lists on your products for silicones such as dimethicone.

Yep. Silicone in serum + oil in moisturiser = pilling.

It's not your skin pilling, it's the combination of products you're using- especially as their not all from the same company.
Stop mixing them up and it will be fine.

Using a mixture of products is fine, as long as you leave time between each thing.

It will be the silicone though, undoubtedly in the serum, possibly in the moisturiser. I have the dragon's blood serum and haven't noticed pilling so it might be the moisturiser. Elemis Marine Cream was the worst ever for that. Nightmare product.

I get this if I use more than one (creamy) product at a time. I have try skin on my forehead so I use (a tiny bit of) oil there and wait for it to dry and then put on moisturizer. I think you have too many products going on!

It's not your skin it's the product! I can't use certain Moisturisers for the same reason it's like they sit on the skin and don't sink in.

Thank you all - good to know it's the product and not my actual face! I never had it with just the moisturiser (although I have with other moisturisers), and I don't have it with just the serum, so it must be the combination. I love the serum, so will experiment with other moisturisers.