The two dreaded words no one wants to hear: dull skin. If you’re looking at your face and thinking it looks a little less bright than usual, there’s still hope! Read on to find out how to prevent your skin from looking and feeling dull.

step 1: increase your water intake

Hydration, hydration, hydration. We honestly can’t say this word enough! Getting enough water each day is so important for bringing life back to your skin. Water helps keep your skin hydrated (imagine that!), and helps maintain your skin’s elasticity. It can also help reduce the signs of aging, like fine lines and wrinkles.

step 2: exfoliate regularly

So, all you have to do to get rid of dull skin is moisturize, right? We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but … wrong. To get to the root of the dullness, dry, flaky skin needs to be treated with more than just moisturizer. When you exfoliate, you’re sloughing off the dead skin cells, and you’re allowing newer, plumper skin cells to come to the skin’s surface, which leads to a brighter complexion.

There are a lot of different ways to exfoliate your skin, both with and without products!

You can use an exfoliating cleanser (try Skin Resurfacing Cleanser, a dual-action exfoliating cleanser that helps retexturize skin with Lactic Acid) or face scrub (we like Daily Microfoliant for its rice-based powder that helps polish skin and balance uneven skin tone).

When it comes to how often you should exfoliate, we recommend a minimum of once a week — but you can try 2-3 times per week, depending on your skin type and the exfoliant you use. For example, Daily Microfoliantand Daily Superfoliant are both gentle enough for daily use. Start slow and build to a greater frequency as your skin allows.

step 3: use Vitamin C

The benefits of Vitamin C for the skin are widely known, but just in case you’ve been living under a proverbial rock — we can’t overstate how important this ingredient is in helping to brighten skin. This skin care powerhouse is one of the most potent antioxidants available — it helps stop the causes of dark spots and hyperpigmentation, firms skin, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and defends against oxidative stress and free radical damage.

We’ve taken Vitamin C a step further with our ultra-stable Vitamin C Complex, comprised of two Vitamin C molecules to provide enhanced functionality in fighting oxidative stress. We’ve boosted this antioxidant complex with the latest biotechnology, extending the Vitamin C’s potency to fight free radical damage. Incorporate Vitamin C into your daily morning skincare routine with BioLumin-C Serum, a high-performance serum that enhances skin’s natural defense system to brighten, firm and help dramatically reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

step 4: moisturize daily

The key to consistently brighter skin is a combination of exfoliation, addressing uneven skin tone, and hydration. However, many people struggling with dull skin focus solely on exfoliation and evening skin tone — missing out on the brightening benefits of hydration. Moisturizing the skin is an important step not just in your daily skincare routine, but in the overall brightening of the skin. The solution? A supercharged daily gel moisturizer that helps to combat free radical damage with Vitamin C and delivers instant luminosity — so that you can hydrate brighter. BioLumin-C Gel Moisturizer features a weightless, Vitamin C-rich gel formula that works to help strengthen skin’s moisture barrier — and delivers immediate, glowing results.

step 5: always use spf

This should be another skin care no brainer — you should be using sunscreen Every. Single. Day. Did you know that spending just 30 minutes unprotected in the sun can undo a month’s worth of effort in fighting hyperpigmentation? Incorporating SPF into your daily skincare routine is dull skin defense at its most basic level! Sunscreen helps prevent damaging UV light from introducing new dark spots; this prevention step promotes brighter skin. Try Invisible Physical Defense SPF 30, an invisible, weightless sunscreen that blends easily, helps defend against free radical damage, and helps soothe skin.