The Neveen Edit

Can You Use These Together? Skincare Routine Checker

Skincare routine checker by The Neveen Edit: can you use retinol, vitamin C, acids and niacinamide together?
How to use my skincare routine checker: add your products, pick morning or night, read your results
Don’t mixSplit or go slowlyFine togetherBoost each otherDoubling upSkin check
Your skin (optional, pick any)
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How it works, FAQs and sources

Pop in your products (paste the ingredients, or just type a short name like "anua azelaic") and pick morning, night or both for each one. Hit check and it tells you what's fine together and what's better split between morning and night. It'll also flag it when you've doubled up on something, and put your routine in order for you.

Red means don't mix. Amber means split them or go slowly, green is fine together and blue means they actually help each other. Grey is for doubling up.

Every warning comes with the study behind it. If you use prescription skincare, your prescriber has the final say.

Skincare routine checker questions

Can you use retinol and vitamin C together?

Yes, you can use both in the same routine. The easy way is vitamin C in the morning under your sunscreen and retinol at night. Vitamin C under sunscreen actually gives you extra protection (study), and retinol is usually a night product anyway, so splitting them just makes sense.

Can you use niacinamide and vitamin C together?

Yes. The "never mix them" warning comes from old tests on pure ingredients in a lab, and it doesn't apply to the serums we use now. A 60-woman trial used a serum with niacinamide, vitamin C and tranexamic acid all together, and it worked and was well tolerated (study).

Can you use retinol and niacinamide together?

There's no known problem with these two. Lots of retinol serums already have niacinamide in them (CeraVe's Resurfacing Retinol Serum is one), because niacinamide is calming and plays nicely with almost everything (study).

What really shouldn't be mixed?

Two pairs to keep apart. Prescription tretinoin with benzoyl peroxide, because benzoyl peroxide breaks tretinoin down (study). And dapsone gel (Aczone) with benzoyl peroxide, which can stain skin and hair orange (study). Stacking a retinoid with a strong acid on the same night is worth avoiding too, since that's a fast route to red, peeling skin.

Sources the checker is built on

Every warning and tip in the checker comes from one of these. Tap the button to see them all.

Show all 109 sources

What not to mix

What works well together

Sun sensitivity and doubling up

Dark spot pairings

Acne pairings

Retinoids and anti-ageing

Exfoliating acids

Vitamin C and sunscreen

Moisturisers and gentler routines

Pregnancy

More on dark spots

More on acne and redness

More on anti-ageing

Gentler acids

Soothing and hydrating ingredients

More on sunscreen and vitamin C

Fungal acne and seb derm

Pore-clogging ingredients

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