Can anyone explain the difference

[lottiequeen]

... between hyaluronic acid, Retinol, collagen cream and just moisturiser. In an effort to perk up my increasingly saggy and wrinkled face (especially around the eyes), I splashed out at the weekend and bought all of them. I now have no idea which to use, whether to put them all on at the same time and if so, which order to use them.

No I cannot explain the difference. I am as baffled as you are.

However I can tell you that my colleague aged 27 and my daughter aged 19 both use Hyaluronic acid and the products are from The Ordinary. I am going to have a look myself. I used to use HA many years ago in an Estée Lauder serum. I remember it made my face tingle slightly. I believe the HA causes increased rate of renewal of skin cells.

My understanding is HA adds moisture to skin or locks it in. I use that in the morning (ordinary) & put moisturiser on top. In the evening I'm using retinal to speed up cell renewal (?) & again moisturiser.

Don't know about collagen cream.

Don't mess around with Retinol if you don't know what you're doing!

You absolutely need SPF50 every single day if you use it, or you can get sun damage as it makes your skin extra sensitive. You can also start peeling etc. if you start off too strong - start every third day or so and slowly build up, and back off immediately if you notice redness or tightness.

I'd really recommend doing some reading first, the other products are safe to mess around with though. The Fantastic Skincare threads on here are a great place to start.

Hyaluronic acid - hydrates, more efficiently than moisturisers in my experience
Collagen cream - should be moisturiser with collagen, right? So probably makes the skin softer
Moisturiser - Use after the hyaluronic acid

The collagen is eye cream so I guess it s moisturiser. My face does tingle so this is the retinol not the HA, then?