Combining skincare - retinol, acids etc

[Gryffindora]

I'm so confused! I have:

Glycolic acid
Hyaluronic acid
Vitamin c serum
Retinol

My plan is:
To apply the vit c serum in the morning and the retinol at night. And to use SPF.

BUT

Do I use the glycolic acid and retinol on separate days?
Can I use hylauronic with everything? Google seems to say yes but I'm confused by how some acids are different to others.

On top of this I also have normal serums and moisturisers to apply over the top.

Am I overloading my skin or doing this wrong?

I layer skincare products and my routine and the order I apply them is as follows :-

Morning :-

Cream cleanser, glycolic acid toner, hyaluronic acid, caffeine solution on eye area, vitamin c serum, eye cream, moisturiser with SPF 50

Night :-

Double cleanse ( oil based then cream), salicylic acid toner, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, retinol, eye cream, night cream

I've been doing this for 3 months now and my skin has never looked better!

Vitamin C and retinol shouldn't be applied at the same time.

Vitamin C and niacinamide shouldn't be used at the same time.

Retinol should be used on a night. Wait at least 30 minutes after applying before using anything else to give it chance to sink in.

ALWAYS use a high SPF during the day if you use retinol.

Hyaluronic acid can be used with everything.

Hope that helps!

Following as find this immensely confusing too! Need to understand it once and for all!

Hope you don't mind me jumping in OP -
@colourbynumbers your post is so helpful but could I ask a few questions?

Do you use a face oil at any point, like the Ordinary organic rose hip oil for example?

Not sure I know how to figure out which are oil based and which cream cleansers...?

If you use the Ordinary do you include Buffet anywhere?

Oh and could you recommend a retinol? X

@agteacht I don't use any face oils, so I can't help with that, I'm afraid!

The oil cleaner I use is the Garnier oil based micellar water and I use a Nivea cream cleaner.

I've just ordered The Ordinary Buffet serum - I will use it both morning and night and apply it after cleansing and toning, before my other products.

I also use these The Ordinary products:-

• Glycolic acid 7% toning solution
• Hyaluronic acid 2% + B5
• Caffeine solution + EGCG
• Vitamin C suspension 23% + HA spheres
• Niacinamide + Zinc
• Retinol 1% in squalane

I also use The Ordinary High Adherance Silicone Primer - amazing stuff!

If you haven't used retinol before, I recommend starting with The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in squalane to let your skin get used to it before moving on to a higher %.

Thank you so much that is so so helpful.

I have granactive retinoid from the ordinary but guessing that's not as strong as the retinol (need to read up).

I also use the caffeine and hyuralonic acid products which are great but wasn't sure if I should be using buffet instead of HA or additional to.