Does using a night cream help?

An extensive evening routine that includes a night cream outperforms a basic routine of just a cleanser and day cream. After four weeks, the 49 women who also used a night cream had better hydration (both at the surface and deeper in the skin), less roughness, smaller pores, and fewer crow's feet around the eyes.

Hydration is the most consistently demonstrated benefit. In a comparative study of 72 women, all three tested combinations of day cream, night cream, and eye cream improved hydration after 28 days. Improvements in elasticity and wrinkle depth varied by product. One of the three brands caused more side effects, showing that not every product is equally well tolerated.

For brown spots and uneven skin tone, a night cream containing an ingredient such as Thiamidol (an inhibitor of the enzyme that produces melanin) can provide an additional effect on top of daily sunscreen. After 8 to 12 weeks, results in 95 participants were visibly better than with sun protection alone.

In rosacea, the evidence reveals an interesting difference between 'natural' and 'synthetic'. A night cream with plant-based oils and botanical anti-inflammatory agents reduced redness and blemishes more effectively than a synthetic version. However, the natural cream also lowered skin hydration, whereas the synthetic cream actually increased it. Anyone with rosacea would do well to discuss this with a skin therapist or dermatologist, because 'natural' is not automatically better here.

One small study with 15 volunteers looked at a night cream containing donkey milk in microscopically small capsules. That cream improved hydration slightly faster than a day cream. However, the group was too small to draw many conclusions from this.