Laurel, yes, moisturizers also smoothen out the skin’s texture and that would make your serum go on more smoothly. You’re not harming your skin by applying your products in this order, but you are making your serum less effective. As long as you’re ok with it, that’s fine.

Thanks for the reply. Although silicones are extremely common they are not in all moisturizers and not in mine. It does have some oils in it. It just seems that everything goes on smoother when I apply moisturizer before the silicone based serum, but I did wonder what good it would do. It seems texture wise that my particular order for my particular products is fine, as long as I don’t expect big things from the serum going on last?

Laurel, silicones don’t completely prevent the absorption of active ingredients. They have a particular molecular structure with wide molecules between each other so they don’t create an impenetrable layer. Your moisturizer, on the other hand, contains silicones as well, plus occlusive emollients that aren’t always used in serums. Those do create an even barrier, especially if they’re oil-based. So, if you want to reap the antiaging benefits of a serum, always apply it before moisturizer. Hope this helps.

Amber, well said! I agree, you can’t use serum as primer if you want to enjoy all of its benefits. But I’d apply a separate sunscreen even if your moisturizer has SPF. That’s because you’d have to apply several layers to get the level of SPF stated on the bottle and no one does that.

@Natashia
“There is no definite wrong or right way” – Yes there is, if you want to get all the benefits of each product. Like Gio has said, if you want the full anti-aging benefits of a serum, then applying it after a moisturizer won’t allow you to. And you certainly won’t get anything besides a base from a serum if you wear it over other layers of products (sunscreen, foundation, etc)

Anti-aging or break-out control skincare products should be applied first, onto bare skin (that is if you want your skin to absorb their ingredients). Then moisturizer (or you can skip this if your sunscreen or foundation has moisturizer, and if you have oily skin and wearing moisturizer along with other products with moisturizer makes it oilier). Then here’s where you try what looks best: you can apply sunscreen either before or after primer – all depends on how it looks best with the makeup and sunscreen you’re using. If your moisturizer has broad spectrum sunscreen, then of course you don’t need to apply sunscreen (remember to reapply every 2 hours). If you skincare serum has priming benefits then you can try depending on the previous serum application asking the primer step. Or you can try reapplying the serum before makeup as a primer. But whether either of those works might hinge on how many layers of other products you’ve applied before makeup. So, after the skincare, and moisturizer (if you’re using it), you’d have to find what order works best with the makeup products you use. Sunscreen is normally the product that is hardest to mix well with makeup, particularly mineral-based filters (which should be used over chemical filters).