Although there are countless products on the market that promise rejuvenated skin, with a look to retinol, results can take weeks or months to show. So what do you do if you want better cuticletomorrow? When I have a date, a special occasion or an important meeting and I want to look my best, I follow a few secrets to get my skin in tip-top shape in just eight hours. Follow these tips to improve your skin overnight:

1. Wash your face

It’s that simple. If you don’t wash your face before going to bed, this could be the cause of your skin problems. Make sure you wash your face every night before bed, even if you didn’t wear makeup. If you really want to wake up with glowing, clean and soft skin, you can try double cleansing, which means first using an oil or balm cleanser to remove makeup and then a gel or cream cleanser (depending on your skin type, gel is ideal for oily and combination skin, while cream cleansers are best for normal and dry skin).

2. Steam your face

To properly start a spa night at home, steam your face for up to 15 minutes, either with a facial steamer, or by boiling some water and standing over the pot (less glamorous, but very economical). The hot steam will soften the skin, allowing all the products and treatments you apply afterwards to penetrate deeper.

3. Avoid teasing your skin

If you want to wake up with better skin, avoid annoying your pimples. Trying to pop them causes more inflammation and redness on the skin’s surface, causing you to wake up with more acne or the pimple looking worse than before. Leave it as it is and follow the rest of the tips to deal with it better than putting your fingers in your face.

4. Exfoliation

Exfoliation is like getting a professional cleaning done from the comfort of your own home. It removes dead skin cells and reveals a brighter and smoother complexion in just one step. An easy way to exfoliate at home is with exfoliating towels, but physical exfoliation can also help remove dead skin cells.

5. Use ice

Unlike steam, ice also has benefits for your skin. It can instantly reduce swelling and inflammation, making your face look brighter and rested. The easiest way to do this is with an ice roller, but you can also simply wrap some ice cubes in kitchen paper and rub them on your face.

6. Drink a glass of water

Before you sleep, make sure you drink a full glass of water. When I drink more water, I immediately notice a difference in my skin the next day. It looks firmer and more elastic and the morning swelling is noticeably reduced.

7. Use a thicker moisturizer

Whatever your skin type, a thick moisturizer as the final step will lock in all the good ingredients you used before with a final dose of hydration. Hydrated skin simply looks better.

8. Use a pimple treatment

If you have areas of your face that you want to pay extra attention to, use a pimple treatment to fight them overnight. Salicylic acid treatments gently unclog pores, while sulfur and benzoyl peroxide are more powerful and can reduce the appearance of acne in hours.

9. Sleep well

If you don’t want to wake up with tired, irritated and swollen skin, there is one thing you can do: get enough sleep. Sleep will make you wake up refreshed and your skin will look its best.