Glass Skin? How to Get the Luminous Skin of Your Dreams, Makeup-Free

What is “glass skin”? It’s a social media-fueled trend that refers to skin that’s impossibly smooth, luminous, dewy, and seemingly unachievable without some above-average makeup skills. We’re here to tell you it is achievable without any makeup at all. But it will take an above-average skincare routine. That’s where we come in.

Trends like “glass skin” or “cream skin” aren’t new, but “dolphin skin” is taking it to the next level. You may have seen celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, and Kendall Jenner rocking the look thanks to their makeup artist Mary Phillips who reportedly coined the term describing this incandescent look.

While generally achieved with makeup, we think the best way to achieve this ethereal glow is through a consistent skincare regimen to nurture the luminous glow of healthy skin.

The goal here is skin that is so plump, hydrated, and smooth-textured, it glistens and reflects light like you’ve just emerged from the water in all your radiant glory.

What’s required? Ultra-refined pores, smooth texture, ample hydration, and exfoliation.

The last one might sound counterintuitive. Exfoliation is drying, right? Wrong. Exfoliation clears dead skin cells to optimize product performance and allow moisture to enter the skin, making it essential to healthy, hydrated skin.

So how do you get the right balance of refining, plumping, and hydrating?

1. Hydrating Cleanser

Start with a hydrating cleanser. Cleansing Milk is ideal for this pursuit with its creamy, moisture-rich formula. Grapeseed oil quenches the skin with lipid-replenishing fatty acids and vitamin E. The formula is also loaded with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory goodness to bolster the skin barrier.

For skin that’s on the oily side, opt for our Green Tea Antioxidant Cleanser. This reparative powerhouse regulates sebum while nourishing the moisture barrier with vitamin E, flavonoids, and polyphenols.

Add some mechanical exfoliation to the equation with our hydrating, water-based Buffing Grains. This universal cleanser can be used on its own or added to either Cleansing Milk or Green Tea Antioxidant Cleanser to turn it into a scrub.

2. Nourishing, Refining Toner

We know, you’ve always thought toners dry the skin. The opposite is true. The acids in your toner loosen and lift away dead skin cells to allow hydrating and nourishing ingredients to penetrate the skin, reducing the appearance of pores and smoothing texture in the process.

Our top choice for refining and moisture-infusion? Skin Nourishing Toner. With a blend of mandelic acid, rosehip oil, green tea extract, kiwi fruit extract, honey, and niacinamide, this clarifying tonic repairs, soothes, and saturates.

3. Plumping Serums

Dolphin skin is all about plump, hydrated skin. When it comes to moisture, no molecule packs more punch than hyaluronic acid, which can bind and retain up to 1000 times its weight in water. But HA is not a small molecule, and in many skincare formulations, it’s too large to penetrate the skin. To more effectively increase hyaluronic acid in the skin, look for oligopeptides, which are messenger molecules that activate the body’s store of hyaluronic acid to dramatically boost elasticity and plumpness. You can find oligopeptides in our Rejuv Rx peptide concentrate and our Derm-A-Renew vitamin A and peptide serum.

The other essential for maximizing the skin’s volume and radiance is vitamin C. This superstar antioxidant is the essential co-factor for collagen production, so it enhances firmness and elasticity making skin appear lifted and smoother. It also brightens and brings a luminance and radiance to skin. Our Pure C + E pairs vitamin C with vitamin E, essential for healthy cell function and repair.

4. Moisturizers

There are two types of moisture for skin: water and oil. Dehydrated skin needs water. Dry skin needs oil. Both hydration (water) and moisture (oil) are essential for an elastic, buoyant, dewy appearance. However, your skin may need more of one than the other.

If your skin is craving moisture, Marine Skin Nourishment Cream is your top pick. Our most intensive moisturizer blends marine minerals and proteins with grape seed oil, oat protein, sea algae extract, and whole leaf aloe for the ultimate replenishment.

For a lighter but no less intensive sousing, Totaloe Calming and Hydrating Gel brings a tsunami of hydration. This humectant, oil-free formula combines healing whole leaf aloe with niacinamide, sea algae extract, and green tea extract to repair and protect from UV stressors in addition to providing that fresh-from-the-water appearance. It also has a lightly firming effect.

5. Moisture Boosting Mask

To refine texture and infuse the skin with nourishing and hydrating ingredients, use our Algae Soft Mask a couple of times a week. Algae is rich in nourishing mineral elements, omega 3 fatty acids, essential amino acids. The high phenolic content in algae gives it potent antioxidant properties to protect and repair skin from photodamage. Polysaccharides induce cell regeneration. Plus, algae has an exceptional ability to regulate and maintain moisture.

Exercise to increase circulation and bring more oxygen and nutrients to the skin.

Eat a healthy, antioxidant diet to protect and nourish skin from the inside out.

Get plenty of sleep to enhance the body’s natural cellular repair cycle.

Try to keep your stress levels down. Stress creates inflammation, which damages cells and undermines healthy skin structure.