Gentle Exfoliation
Makeup that won't sit flat. A moisturizer that seems to stay on top of your face rather than sink into it. Skin that reads tired in photographs after a perfectly good night's sleep.
Most of the time that is build-up. Dead cells stack on the surface faster than they shed, and everything you apply afterwards has to get through them first. The Resurface line clears that layer with fruit acids instead of grit, so what you put on next can actually reach skin.
Three products below, with a guide underneath on how often to use them and what not to pair them with. If you want the simplest starting point, it is the Resurface Renewing Lotion — a few drops on a cotton pad, two or three evenings a week.
Why skin stops looking fresh
Skin renews itself on a cycle of roughly a month when you are young, and that cycle slows with age. Cells that should have shed stay put. The surface they leave is uneven, so light scatters off it rather than bouncing back, and the word people reach for is dull.
That same layer is why products start to feel like they have stopped working. A serum cannot get through a surface clogged with what should already have gone, so it sits on top and you conclude it was a waste of money.
Often it was not.
Clearing that layer is the job. The argument is about how.
Acids or grit
A scrub works by abrasion. An acid works chemically, loosening the bonds that hold dead cells to one another so they let go on their own. Acids are more even: a scrub reaches only where the grains land, and presses as hard as your hand decided to that morning.
Alpha hydroxy acids — glycolic, malic, lactobionic — are water soluble, so they work across the surface. Salicylic acid is oil soluble, so it reaches down into a pore. Resurface carries both, which is why it suits congested skin as well as dull skin.
Which one do you need
| If your skin is… | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dull, rough, makeup sitting unevenly | Resurface Renewing Lotion | $83, 200 mL. AHAs with salicylic acid and niacinamide, plus tamarind seed polysaccharides that hold water at the surface. Swept on with a cotton pad after cleansing. The niacinamide is there to make the acids easier to tolerate. |
| Showing fine lines, and you want renewal overnight | Resurface Night Cream | $83, 50 mL. Glycolic and malic acid for renewal, with lactobionic acid and gluconolactone — gentler polyhydroxy acids — alongside them. Ceramides and hyaluronic acid put back the hydration exfoliation can cost you. Layers over the lotion. |
| Congested through the T-zone, wanting a reset | Resurface Peel Mask | $23.50, 10 mL. Activated charcoal microspheres with kaolin and olive kernel powder. Massage in, leave it on for five to six minutes, rinse. The cheapest way to find out whether exfoliation is what your skin has been asking for. |
| Happier with a scrub, or exfoliating body as well as face | Resurface Alpha Hydroxy Peel Scrub | $73, 150 mL. Fruit acids carried in a scrub base with hydrolyzed wheat bran, so chemical exfoliation runs alongside the physical. Can be mixed into your cleanser. One to three times a week. |
| Combination skin, and you would sooner buy the routine assembled | Resurface and Renew Skin Kit | $178. The Purifying Cleanser Gel, the Renewing Lotion and the Night Cream, which come to $233 bought singly. That is the whole evening sequence for $55 less. |
How to build it into an evening
Exfoliation belongs at night. Freshly exfoliated skin is more vulnerable to UV, and the renewal it prompts happens while you sleep anyway.
The sequence is short.
Cleanse. Sweep the Renewing Lotion over face, neck and décolletage on a cotton pad. Then either your usual serum and moisturizer, or the Night Cream, which was formulated to follow it.
Two or three evenings a week is plenty to begin with, and skin new to acids often does better on one. Include the neck and décolletage, which age faster than the face and get attended to less, but go lighter there because the skin is thinner.
Then the step people skip: sunscreen the next morning. Going out unprotected undoes the work. For one that leaves no cast, we wrote about finding a sunscreen with no white cast.
What not to stack
Acids and retinol on the same night is the common mistake, and the irritation gets blamed on whichever product was newer. Alternate instead: retinol Monday and Thursday, acids Tuesday and Friday, nothing active on the rest. Our complete guide to retinol covers how to introduce it without the peeling phase everyone dreads.
And do not exfoliate skin that is already sore. If it stings, is flaking after sunburn, or is mid-reaction to something else, wait. Exfoliation is maintenance, not rescue.
Worth reading alongside this
- Signs your skincare isn't working — foundation that will not blend, products that stop absorbing, what each means.
- The post-summer reset — when it is safe to exfoliate again after a season of sun.
- How collagen works — why surface renewal and firmness are connected.
- Hyaluronic acid — what to pair with acids so the surface holds water.
Shipping is on us above $125. Starting small? The Resurface Peel Mask is $23.50.
Questions people ask
What does exfoliating actually do?
Exfoliating removes the layer of dead cells sitting on the surface of the epidermis. That layer makes skin look dull, feel rough and hold makeup badly, and it stops serums and moisturizers reaching live skin. Clear it and two things follow: the surface reflects light more evenly, and whatever you apply next has a better chance of working.
How many times a week should you exfoliate?
Start at once a week and build from there. Most people settle around two or three evenings on an acid formula, though that is an average rather than a target, and thin or reactive skin may want no more than one. Tightness, shine without softness, or stinging from products that used to be fine mean you have gone past what your skin wants.
Can you exfoliate sensitive skin?
Usually yes, if the formula is chosen carefully and you go slowly. The Renewing Lotion includes niacinamide and salicylic acid specifically to lower the chance of irritation during exfoliation, and the Night Cream leans on lactobionic acid and gluconolactone, larger molecules that penetrate more slowly than glycolic acid. Patch test along the jaw first. If your skin is reactive rather than merely sensitive, our range for redness-prone skin is the better starting point.
Should you exfoliate in the morning or at night?
At night. Newly exfoliated skin is more vulnerable to UV, so a morning routine puts the most exposed version of your skin into the brightest part of the day. Evening also fits how skin behaves, since renewal happens overnight.
Can you use AHAs and retinol together?
Not on the same night, at least not while you are getting used to either. Both prompt cell turnover, and together they overshoot, leaving skin flaking and sensitised. Alternating evenings works well. Skin used to both may tolerate more, but there is rarely anything to gain by rushing.
Do you need sunscreen if you exfoliate?
Yes, and this is the one rule here with no exceptions. Exfoliation thins the layer that was absorbing some of the UV for you, so unprotected sun afterwards costs you more pigment than you removed.
If you will not wear sunscreen tomorrow, do not exfoliate tonight.
What is the difference between a scrub and an acid exfoliant?
A scrub works by friction, taking off whatever it touches. An acid dissolves the bonds holding dead cells on, which is more even, because it does not depend on where the grains land or how hard you press. Scrubs do give the immediate smoothness people like, and the Resurface Alpha Hydroxy Peel Scrub does both.
Does texture improve before tone?
Usually. Smoothness and the way makeup sits only need the dead layer gone, so they shift first. Tone and the look of fine lines depend on renewal repeating, so they follow your skin's own turnover rather than the calendar.
Can you over-exfoliate, and how would you know?
Easily, and more often than people under-exfoliate. The tell is skin that looks shiny but feels tight, reacts to products it used to accept, or reddens more readily than it did. That gets mistaken for dehydration and treated with more product, which makes it worse.
Stop the acids until it settles, keep to a gentle cleanser and a hydrating moisturizer, then reintroduce at half the frequency.
Which Resurface product should you start with?
The Renewing Lotion, for most people. It is the easiest to control, and it slots into a routine you already have without displacing anything.
To test the idea for less, the Peel Mask at $23.50 will tell you in one use whether your skin likes being exfoliated.
Are the Resurface products suitable for all skin types?
The line was formulated for all skin types. That is not the same as every skin wanting the same frequency: oily and congested skin tolerates more, thin or reactive skin less. If you are under care for a skin condition, or using prescription retinoids or acne medication, ask whoever prescribed them before adding acids.