After many years as a Beauty Advisor, I have probably done hundreds, if not thousands, of makeovers of all sorts on women of all ages. The one thing that all of these had in common is that the final outcome was totally dependent on the condition of the client’s skin. We have all been told a million times before that it is important to cleanse, tone and moisturise. Most of us are great at doing this in the morning, before putting on our face of makeup.

What a lot of women don’t realise is that even though it is great to have a morning routine in place, it is even more important to have an effective night time routine. It is overnight that the skin is able to repair and rejuvenate itself. Making sure that you go to bed with a clean face means that your skin can breathe, effectively eliminate toxins, and any skin care products that you apply will be at their most effective.

If you are anything like me, the last thing you want to do at night is go through a protracted routine. After a long day looking after the children, the husband, the house and work, it can often feel like there is no more time for myself; all I want to do is roll into bed, and pass out into a deep slumber as quickly as possible!

What I have done to make implementing an evening routine as simple and as easy as possible is to set up a drawer in my bedside table with a selection of quick but effective products that can be applied while I am half asleep and that takes less than five minutes to cover me from my face to my toes.

The first and most important step is to cleanse the skin. If you really want to, use your regular wash off cleanser; I just can’t be bothered! Instead, I use a pre-moistened cleansing wipe like Olay’s Express Daily Facials. The trick to getting an effective clean similar to a rinse off cleanser is to cleanse twice using two wipes especially if you are removing makeup. The first wipe loosens the makeup and grime; the second wipe removes any residue. If you are using a wipe, you don’t need to use a toner.

After cleansing, your skin is the perfect canvas for a serum if you need it. Serums are not something that I recommend for all women. Rather, they are a treatment product that can be added to your routine when and as needed. If your skin needs brightening, lifting or you want some anti-age benefits then a serum is a concentrated way of getting these products onto your skin. Serums have smaller molecules which can penetrate the outer layers of the skin better, which is why they should be applied prior to moisturiser. Dot the serum over your face, and press in gently.

Moisturising is the next step, and it is very important to have a separate night cream if your day cream has sunscreen in it. There are many suitable night creams on the market at all price points, from bargain basement sorbelene cream, to top of the range creams such as Crème De La Mer and La Prairie. Choose a cream based on the needs of your skin. Young normal skins need fewer bells and whistles and can often get away with a very basic cream; a mature dry skin probably needs a more expensive cream loaded with anti aging ingredients. Most of us need a medium range cream full of antioxidants to help fight the environmental aggressors that surround us all the time. Try a few until your find the right one for you. I am currently using Lancôme’s Primordial Nuit, which is lovely and light on my combination oily skin, while also helping to minimise the development of my fine lines. L’Oreal’s Skin Genesis range is also fantastic.

An eye cream is then applied. In my experience, one eye cream cannot treat lines AND puffiness. Most anti-line creams have ingredients in them to help plump up the fine lines; these plumpers will certainly not improve any puffiness you may have. Since I suffer from both of these issues, I use an anti-line cream at night and a different anti-puffiness cream in the morning. I have been using Olay’s Regenerist Eye Lifting Serum, and I just love it! Use much less than most beauty advisors recommend. They usually recommend an amount equal to a grain of rice; I think half that much is enough.

Some women, including me, may need one more step, which is to apply a refinisher. If you are suffering from blocked pores, small pimples under the skin, or fine surface lines, a refinisher such as Clinique’s Total Turnaround Concentrate, or Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair will help to refine your skin through gentle exfoliants such as fruit acids.

Those three or four steps take no more than 3-4 minutes, but will take years off your appearance. You now have a couple of minutes spare to take care of the rest of your body.

Apply a thick and rich hand cream, taking special care to massage around your cuticles. With two children under two, a manicure is a forgotten luxury, but this 30 second treat last thing at night means m hands always look presentable, even without any polish. I really like Clarins’ Hand and Nail Cream, but it is quite pricey, so I treat myself to this little luxury only at night when I know it is not going to be washed off only minutes later.

Follow this with a quick foot massage. If the skin on your feet is in relatively good condition, then you can use the same cream that you use on your hands. I can’t bring myself to use the Clarins cream on my feet, though, so I use Neutrogena’s Norwegian Formula foot cream, which is lovely and rich. If your feet are in bad condition, then you will need a heavier duty cream that has some type of skin dissolver in it, like Eulactol heel balm, which contains urea.

Lastly, using the residue on your hands from your hand and foot creams, quickly swipe your legs and your arms for a quick moisture boost.

And there you have it, a head to toe treatment in less than five minutes, with everything you need right at your bedside. The only thing that could be better for your skin would be an unbroken night’s sleep, but I think I will have to wait another twenty years for that to happen!

What are your favourite products for an evening routine? And how do you manage to do your routine every night?

You can catch more beauty and style articles by Chic Mummy at http://chicmummy.blogspot.com.