Beauty · November 6, 2016

Order of Operations for Your Face

Remember PEMDAS. You remember. You remember your middle school math teacher drilling that phrase into your head. “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally,” which stood for Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction. And I didn’t have to look that up. Neither did you. That shit stays with you forever.

The entire point of the phrase was to help you remember the Order of Operations in a math equation. I used to make up little phrases like this in law school to help me remember different things. The weirder my phrases were, the more likely I was to remember them come test day.

Now I don’t know about you, but I love skin care products, (how’s that for a transition). That little checkout line at Sephora with all the samples gets me every time. And our medicine cabinet in our master bathroom is filled with oils, serums, moisturizers, eye creams, masks and a few things I can’t even name. I got to thinking recently, that I’m not sure of the perfect order in which I should apply each of these things. I need an Order of Operations for My Face.

I consulted an esthitician friend of mine who helped put me on track. She reminded me that the order of application is important because it will ensure you get the full benefit of each product. Incorrect use could mean that the expensive face cream you’re slathering on is doing NOTHING. Based on her advice and the directions on every skin care product I own…I tried to put together my own Order of Operations phrase. But I was having trouble coming up with a good one that had no curse words. So my friend Chelsea came to the rescue with this gem. And I’m fairly certain the phrase is true too.