Before. Eye serum goes on clean, dry skin first, then a minute to dry, then moisturizer or eye cream over the top, then sunscreen in the morning. The rule is thin to thick: a light, watery serum needs to sit directly on skin, and a cream on top seals it in and keeps the area comfortable.
Key takeaways
- Serum goes on first, on clean, dry skin, because it is thin and needs to reach the skin.
- Wait a minute before moisturizer so the two layers do not mix and pill.
- In the morning, sunscreen goes on last, taken right up to the orbital bone.
Thin to thick, and why
A serum is thin on purpose. It is mostly water, it carries ingredients like caffeine that are meant to reach the skin quickly, and it dries down to an invisible film within a minute. A moisturizer is thick on purpose. It is built to sit on top and slow water loss. Put the serum on first and it gets to the skin. Put it on second and it sits on a layer of cream, spreads unevenly and mostly evaporates. The order follows from what each texture is for.
- CleanseRinse or cleanse, then pat the under-eye dry.
- Serum firstA grain of rice per eye along the orbital bone, tapped in.
- Wait a minuteDo the rest of your face while it dries to an invisible film.
- Moisturizer, then sunscreenCream over the top. In the morning, sunscreen last, right up to the bone.
The serum behind this answer
EYE Serum
Caffeine and platelet-derived exosomes with a cooling metal tip, for brighter-looking under-eyes.
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The minute in between
The step most people skip is the wait. Apply the serum along the orbital bone, tap it in, and let it dry before anything goes over it. If you layer moisturizer on top while the serum is still wet, the two mix and can pill, which is the little rolls of product that show up when you put concealer on later. A minute is enough. Do the rest of your face while you wait, and the timing takes care of itself. If your serum has a metal-tip applicator, wipe the tip on a tissue and cap it before you reach for the moisturizer, so the next dose goes on clean.
The morning order
- Rinse or cleanse. Pat the under-eye dry.
- Eye serum, a grain of rice per eye, along the bone, tapped in. The EYE Serum goes on cold from its metal tip here, which is where the caffeine does its work on the look of morning puffiness.
- Wait a minute.
- Face moisturizer carried up to the under-eye, or an eye cream if you use one. One of the two is enough.
- Sunscreen, last, taken right up to the orbital bone.
- Makeup, when you are ready.
The night order
- Remove makeup gently, then cleanse. Pat dry.
- Eye serum, same as the morning.
- Wait a minute.
- Retinol, if it is part of your routine, on the nights you use it.
- Moisturizer or eye cream over the top.
The full routine with timings for each step is in a morning and night under-eye routine that takes two minutes.
Eye cream or face moisturizer?
Either. What matters is that something moisturizing goes over the serum. Which product does it is up to you. A face moisturizer carried up to the under-eye with a light touch is usually enough. A dedicated eye cream makes sense if the area is drier than the rest of your face, if your face moisturizer contains things you would rather keep away from the eye (fragrance, exfoliating acids, a high dose of retinol), or if you simply prefer a richer texture there. Using an eye cream and a face moisturizer on the same patch of skin is just two coats of the same thing.
The one exception
Some products called eye serums are not thin at all. If yours is a rich, balm-like texture that does not dry down, it is really an eye cream with a different name, and it belongs in the moisturizer slot: after a true serum, before sunscreen. The texture tells you which slot it belongs in: a watery, fast-drying product goes first and a thick, cushiony one goes last. If you own one of each, you already have a complete under-eye routine and do not need anything else.
Sunscreen is always last in the morning
Whatever else you use, sunscreen goes on top. It works as a surface layer, and anything applied over it thins it out and leaves gaps. The under-eye shows sun damage early, and most people stop their sunscreen an inch short of it. Take it right up to the bone, over the dried serum and moisturizer, and let it set before makeup. The American Academy of Dermatology puts sunscreen and moisturizer ahead of every specialty product for how skin ages, which is a useful reminder that these two plain steps do most of the work in this routine.
If you did it the other way round
There is nothing to undo. Serum applied over moisturizer is mostly wasted and does no harm, and the same goes for sunscreen applied before the serum. Do not add a second application on top to make up for it; just get the order right tomorrow. If you have been layering the wrong way for weeks and wondering why the serum seemed to do very little, this is probably why, and it is worth restarting your four-week and twelve-week photos from the day you fix it.
When to ask a dermatologist instead
Order of application will not solve stinging that does not fade, redness or flaking on the eyelid, swelling that gets worse over days, or a rash around the eye. Those need a dermatologist, and a prescribed treatment for the eye area changes the sequence entirely. If you have one, ask the prescriber where a cosmetic serum and a moisturizer should go around it rather than guessing from a page like this one.
For the rest of the face the sequence is similar but the amounts and the wait times differ; see face serum before or after moisturizer.
Read next
What the caffeine is doing in that first morning slot, and why it needs to be on bare skin to do it, is in what caffeine actually does for under-eyes. If the bigger question is whether you need a serum or a cream at all, start with the eye serum guide.
